….and so it begins

It’s the start of unit 2 student-led seminars and I’ve just finished my 1st online duty shift.  It’s been very interesting and a little enlightening to focus on being a seminar lead this evening and I’ve tried to ensure my posts were a mix of ‘engaging through example’, and encouraging other participants to post.  I’m not certain I’ve got the balance right, but I’ll have further opportunities to practise later in the week.

We were given access to read the evaluation of Unit 1 and it was interesting to read student comments – far more revealing than the scores really.  I was a little anxious that one respondent suggested that “there are some participants taking over most of the discussions” and do hope that our seminar participants aren’t discouraged by this and tempted to adjust their online discussion behaviours as a result!

I also used the time ‘on-shift’ to watch one of Karen’s recommended resources, the TEDTalk by Douglas Belshaw on ‘The essential elements of digital literacies’.  As well as being entertained, I was very engaged by some of his ideas e.g. that:

• Digital Literacy should actually be plural – Digital Literacies – and I will stick with the plural as it actually makes more developmental sense
• The progression towards Digital Literacies should focus on interests. This would surely add the ‘so what’ element for individual learners
• Digital Literacies change over time – leading to a further suggestion that DL is a condition, not a threshold that you reach
• There is ‘No one Digital Literacy to rule them all’ – a quote for LOTR fan readers

I used this as a basis to encourage interest in the ‘Reading and Resources’ section of the introduction to the topic, and hope that my title: ‘Successful Kid, LOLCATS and Pepperspray Cop’ will be intriguing enough to engage participants in discussion. Let’s see!

Belshaw, D. (2012). The essential elements of digital literacies. TEDxWarwick