I (Digi)think, therefore I am!

Weaving its way through the first block in the unit Open and Networked Higher Education as I read for my MONHE, is a singular thread which has taken me on a reflective and critical journey through issues of digital permeation and digital immersion, enhancing my awareness of digitization, digitilization and post-digitality in the world we are living in – not least, an increased awareness on my part as to how all this has affected the teaching profession.

Photo by Timothy Hales Bennett on Unsplash

That digital media has been affecting and guiding our personal lives for a good number of years at this point is no novelty and insofar as it was out of personal choice as to how and when to use a number of apps, then it was all well and good.  As digital media stole into our lives inadvertently and without discrimination (Jandric et al. (2018) adequately describe it as “without anyone’s permission [having] entered the classrooms in both student’s and teacher’s pockets (via their mobile devices), immersed into the pedagogical process”), it started informing and guiding the way we carry out tasks in relation to our jobs. Back in 1998, Negroponte stated that "being digital will be noticed by its absence, not its presence." Fast forward 24 years and it is no longer a matter of if, rather how to make the best use of digital media and tools to empower ourselves as teachers and learners.  

It was not so long ago, only a few years back in fact, that student attendance was still jotted down on paper and here I am today using Classter for taking attendance, but not only, for publishing assignments, having them verified, inputting grades and publishing the said grades as well as making use of an additional messaging system over and above emails and group chats.  And how can I possibly forget that when Covid happened, overnight I had to learn how to create virtual classrooms on Microsoft Teams, carry out synchronous lessons as well as asynchronously assist students via chat and emails.  The availability of hardware, software, good internet connections and a degree of digital competence(s) are a definite requirement to allow for a seamless flow in my learning/teaching journey as I read through a book in my bedroom, access an article via my mobile phone as I wait in the car or work on a task on my laptop at home.  It comes as no surprise therefore that Redecker (2017, p.9) has identified up to 22 competences in a digital competence framework that inform the educator’s work, whether it is to liaise with others, to create and distribute content or to improve assessment modes.  The prevalent discourse is that digital skills are paramount, apart from being an ongoing process and it is a must to learn and re-learn, adapt and improve on such skills. 

Today, despite the fact that as a teacher I am back in the physical class, there is no going back on what we have learnt and taken onboard, more specifically in recent years; rather I envisage a future that makes better and more use of blended and networked teaching/learning.  Whilst it is true that different people have different preferences and learning modes, there is no debating the fact that, especially within HE, eLearning can open up spaces, possibilities and flexibility, in a bid to prove for real that “we are the campus” (Bayne et al., 2020, p. xxix).  This particular Master’s in Open and Networked Higher Education has allowed just that.  Furthermore, it is allowing us to move into the future with new pedagogical methods that go beyond teacher instruction and content distribution, permitting more horizontal collaborative and networked methods in teaching/learning.   As a student myself once again, I embrace this wholeheartedly.

Block 1: Digital Engagement and Digital Competence

References:

Bayne, S., Evans, P., Ewins, R., Knox, J., Lamb, J., Macleod, H., O’Shea, C., Ross, J., Sheail, P. & Sinclair, C. (2020). The Manifesto for Teaching Online. The MIT Press.

Jandrić, P., Knox, J., Besley, T., Ryberg, T., Suoranta, J., & Hayes, S. (2018). Postdigital science and education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(10), 893-899. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2018.1454000

Negroponte, N. (1998, Dec 1). Beyond Digital. Wired. Negroponte | WIRED

Redecker, C. (2017). European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators: DigCompEdu. Publications Office of the European Union. https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC107466