This week’s readings had me reminiscing on my relationship with educational technology as a student and as a teacher. In both of these roles, as technology changed and became more accessible, my relationship with these items did as well. It has also been a while since I’ve taken a long look at the digital literacy framework. Where I am at in my year plan, it was like preaching to the choir. My first unit I teach with all my classes K-5 is “Digital Literacy and Digital Citizenship.” We cycle through a myriad of topics from password protection, safe/unsafe online interactions, conflict resolution, reliable online sources, and more. I am a huge fan of the CommonSense Media resources and I was surprised, yet reassured when I saw they were also cited at the bottom of the framework document as well.

My earliest memories of EdTech were these black and green screen computers in my Grade 1 teacher’s classroom. We would put floppy disks in the slot at the bottom of the console to play educational computer games during center time. As I progressed through elementary school, I got to play more educational computer games in a computer lab with PCs lined up in a row. My grade 5 class received a singular iMac that we took turns playing more games, and typing out the occasional story or two. Looking back now, EdTech was viewed as another resource to invoke play based learning, but had very little practical function in terms of digital literacy. The technology was also very scarce in physical resources and time with larger quantities. The constraints of time and money were working against my teachers, and we all suffered for it. It wasn’t until middle school where we began to learn about how to use MS Office and basic email, where technical literacy became the focus. Trips to the computer lab in the library were planned by homeroom teachers to complete or finalize a project. Technology was only used as a “substitution” (as the SAMR model would define it). Strangely enough, this is the point where, out of school, I was online gaming, exploring music databases, engaging with blogs, and seeing the birth of video sharing. Technology at school was function, while at home, it is creative. These realms did not start blending until secondary school where web design, coding, graphic design, and filmmaking became electives. The essential coursework still used technology in the same functional role that I had been accustomed to. Online courses being offered were daunting because no one knew what they looked like and how they could replace face-to-face interactions. They were perceived to be leaving their students in the deep end and it was sink or swim. This fear persisted for me when I approached University and only took face-to-face over online. Despite this, I still had to engage with learning management systems (LMS) like Blackboard and Canvas. In class, we had even more technology integrated into the classes with iclickers to respond to questions and take pop quizzes, document cameras for real time learning, and personal laptops were encouraged. I noticed a lot of my peers stopped using notebooks, pens, and other standard materials that were previously coveted. Technology was plentiful and quickly became the standard for learning.

When I started teaching, I wanted to take all of the technological skills I had learned in the past and bring them into the classroom. I knew how to use a lot of it, and I was keen to introduce my students to the world of technology. Very quickly I learned that, like my teachers of the past, time with devices and costs were my biggest road blocks. I had to teach with what I had and when I had it. It became really difficult to create transformative learning opportunities for my students when there wasn’t always enough time to complete a task within the time frame of the tech booking. I quickly fell into the substitution trap. I wasn’t satisfied with my practice, but to others looking in, it was innovative to even have students on computers period. For one year of my early teaching career, I was blessed with around the clock access to iPads, Computers, and any educational tech toy accessory I could think of. The staff, students, and I had an incredible year utilizing the resources to make learning interactive, fun, and worthwhile. Shortly after that contract came to an end, I was assigned to be a computer prep teacher where went through the motions of teaching my students how to use certain programs, their applications, and then…COVID happened. I was preparing to come back to the classroom after being locked down for several months when I came to this realization:

In my teaching and learning careers, all of the learning around EdTech was about the technicality/function of the device/app/tool/toy, but there was nothing being done about digital citizenship. In the span of a decade long teaching career, I’ve noticed that students had turned even more toward the digital sphere, but being safe, kid, critical, and responsible was never part of the conversation. Something big needed to change.

I began exploring how to integrate digital literacy and citizenship into my practice in a way that would provide students the foundations and jumping off points to keep the conversation going throughout the year. Every year would tackle different topics, or extend lessons from past years. It was a multi-year commitment, but as I have been watching my students move through the grades, the students take digital literacy very seriously. From password protection to clickbait, they recognize what these concepts should look like in our context, and seek appropriate help when they are unsure.

As I move into a new phase of my career, my goal is to stay on top of the latest digital literacy phenomena, continue bringing new topics to my classes, and keep my students well informed on navigating through the digital sphere. If we are to expect students to be these intuitive and competent technology users, our job is to give them the safe space to cultivate creative and critical thinking skills around technology use. The BC Digital Literacy framework will require changes and revisions to mirror the direction in which technology shapes our world and educational spheres, but teachers and students cannot wait if they are to continually move with the times. Keeping the knowledge gaps small and making constant incremental changes is a lot easier to manage than a huge gap in understanding for teachers and students to overcome. It is about always having digital literacy and citizenship in mind when you provide access to digital devices and online spaces.