Topic 1: Reflective Summary

This week’s topic focused on exploring the concept of digital “visitors” and “residents”, drawing on our own experiences and theories by Prensky, Cornu and White.

By engaging with other members of UOSM2008, I was able to gain a deeper understanding and new thoughts on the topic.  When reading Nicole’s response, I realised I could relate more of my own experiences to this week’s theories (at the time of my first blog post, I could only think of one example: my mum as a digital “visitor”).  Though my view of the older generation was not the same as Nicole’s, I did find it useful in reading an alternative opinion.

Francesca’s blog provoked new questions on digital “residents” and “visitors”.  Her post highlighted a large portion of older professionals that are digital “residents” due to their online presence and use of online networking.  This provoked me to consider whether digital ‘residency’ is a potential issue if both our personal and professional lives are online – it now feels like people have to choose to be offline, than online, like a reverse “visitor”.

Though we were all set the same topic and reading, I found it really interesting how each blog was different, with a different focus in every argument.  I also discovered how style can impact a blog.  The strength of Nicole’s introduction, with the inclusion of an external quote, is something I would like to include in future blog posts.  Additionally, other blogs managed to embed Youtube videos within their text to make their work more visually engaging, whereas my hyperlink was less effective.

The most important aspect I’ve learnt from Topic 1, however, is the value of reading other member’s blogs, even if opinions differ.  Ultimately, they still spark new topics of debate which we wouldn’t get if we simply read the set texts.