Intro Blog

  Blog Post Week 7  After looking through the readings there was one idea that stood out to me, learning is no longer just an individual process it’s something we build together as online users within our own digital environments. Both Cefa (2023) and Stahl (2021) focus on how technology is evolving and changing where and how students learn.  One part of the readings I connected with is the shift from individual learning to collaborative knowledge building. Stahl (2021) argues that learning happens through interaction and what he labels group cognition, understanding develops through discussion and collective thinking rather than singular thought. A strong example of this is the Virtual Math Teams (VMT) project, where students worked together online to solve maths problems. Instead of learning individually, they built understanding through group interaction. This shows how digital platforms can support deeper learning when collaboration is the main driver of education....

  Digital footprint is a part of a person that will never disappear. This makes old mistakes and poor words visible to anyone in the future, be it in jobs or relationships with other people. Interestingly, a person’s digital footprint and digital identity is not only dependant on what they release to the internet, but also what hackers or scammers can gain access to and exploit others for.  In a study conducted by Feher (2019), it was found that what people believe is they control around 70 percent of their online presence and the remaining 30 percent is all uncontrolled such as hacking or data leaks. Of course, users can control what they upload to social media or other internet sources however, what if they are part of that 30 percent that have no control over the information being given out. An example of this can be seen through password and information leaks which shows a lack of data protection and the part of the digital identity that users cannot control. There have be...

  Last week, digital curation was the focus which included finding sources with reliable and relatable information. The end of this topic that looks at generative AI and digital storytelling is interesting because of the misinformation that AI can give a digital learner, but also the potential for teaching that it provides.  An idea that can be explored from the readings provided this week is the relation between interactive engagement with the learner and AI, and how it can enable digital storytelling to help people learn. Kim & Li (2021) notes that digital storytelling is a good tool because it makes learning more personalised and engaging to students. As a result, the motivation and creativity of students is enhanced instead of sitting through the regular routine of lectures or getting spoken to. For example, Canva offers an AI teaching tool that can generate resources to be used in classrooms.    https://www.canva.com/ai-for-teachers/  Using AI like this...

With the multitude of websites, sources, and other learning platforms, it can be difficult to focus down to the key information that you may need. The internet is an easy place to get lost in especially with the increasing amounts of information that is uploaded on a daily basis. As a result the practice of digital curation is an important skill for modern learners, wether that be for educational purposes or just for regular people in their spare time, like learning a skill or information on a interesting topic.  Digital curation, through what sources say, is an individual experience and can have a range of emotional, cognitive, and personalised learning experience ( Tsybulsky, 2020). This means that each person who tries to digitally curate will have different results depending on how much the topic interest them, leading to higher motivation and greater results with sources that relate to the topic one is researching. 60% of students with a negative experience found it more diff...

 Technology has basically always been part of my learning. Throughout high school and now in further study, I’ve used laptops almost every day for notes, assignments, research, and communicating with teachers. Most of my work is done through online platforms like Google Docs or learning management systems where we submit assignments and check feedback. I actually like being able to access everything in one place and not having to carry heaps of paper around. It also makes group work easier because everyone can edit the same document at the same time. During COVID lockdowns, technology became the only way to learn. At first, online classes felt weird and it was harder to stay focused. It was easy to get distracted at home, especially with social media or other tabs open. But over time, I got better at managing my time and working more independently. I realised that online learning can be really flexible, like being able to rewatch recorded lessons or pause videos when I don’t under...