What a Digital Immigrant English Teacher Was (Is)

When Dr Towndrow concluded with a statement that, “We should not be a digital immigrant with an old mind…” I wondered if it is ever possible for a digital immigrant, or any immigrant for that matter, NOT to carry at least aspects of the past, cultural patterns and social and mental predispositions.Is it not a natural tendency of an immigrant to rely at least partly on old skills or habits or predispositions in learning new things?

When computer-based grading system was implemented and computer- assisted instruction was introduced in the private school where I used to teach, ranting complaints from the old teachers reverberated in the faculty room for long… Their hostility was evident in their biting comments and innuendos.

In my mind, the struggle against new policies, particularly that which have to do with the use of computers, was understandable and something to be expected. To the administrators, however, the old teachers’ responses were unreasonable or unacceptable. It was a forcefully worded letter of appeal from the teachers concerned that eventually put on hold the administration’s ambitious plans.

Digital immigrants do need extensive and effective training. They need to learn the basic skills to adopt to the demands and culture of new technology. Old mentality cannot be easily done away with at least in the transition period. Depending on one’s attitude and aptitude, it may take a while for one to develop confidence in the use of technology. Sometimes, a series of workshop is necessary on the basics of handling computers.

Well, it’s like they were still wearing some of old favourite apparels, but they were beginning to blend them well with the new ones.

Learning to Learn How to Teach DL Skills & Strategies

After our group report, Dr Towndrow used cooperative learning technique to draw out the skills and strategies in teaching the four core skills underlying digital literacy: locate, evaluate, use and create information.

The activity made me wonder what skills and strategies (if there is any) do I possess. In terms of the first skill (locate), I can claim that I do have facility for this, but with the last one (create), I have to admit that I can only create power point presentation, no more.

Even though I am not currently teaching in a regular school, I was struck by how much extra work I have to do to catch up with the level of technical know-how expected of the educators of the 21st century.

Learning to learn the DL skills and strategies is not easy to accomplish. This is probably the most important justification for taking this course.

With the session dealing with the first skill, ‘locate,’the journey of learning to learn how to teach DL skills and strategies has just began…

Uses of the Internet

What moved me to write this blog were the interesting news I encountered the other night.

The first was entitled Most common passwords revealed
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/6710257/most-common-passwords-found.

The other one was, Quake survival? There's an app for that
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/6708550/quake-survival-theres-an-app-for-that/.

Based on the first news, the ten most commonly used passwords were:
1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou*
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123

What are your passwords? Maybe it’s time to do some changes as scammers and hackers are on the run. These people are the ones who endanger the welfare of members of the cyberworld community. After being a victim of a phishing scam myself, I know full well what it is like. They invade your privacy, steal personal information, trace your steps in the web and/or unlock your passwords especially in your internet banking and credit card transactions.

Scary and dangerous internet may be, it also provides enormous comforts. All sorts of transactions and shopping may be done in just one click on the mouse or keyboards. Getting the best bargains worldwide is common now as sending someone cheers and thanks is easy. If internet were not invented, the chance of meeting old classmates and friends back in the primary and secondary levels would remain little if not nil. Without the internet, the belief that the “the world is small” would not become “so, so, so small.” Real time chats and video conferencing with someone 6,000 miles across the globe would only happen in dreams.

Technology at its best is exemplified well in the second news. The Haiti victim’s access to internet through his I-phone helped him save his own life. He was trapped under the rubbles of the hotel he stayed in for three days, but he made it out alive. Thanks to I-Phone.

Again, technology may be good or bad, or it is both good and bad. It is up to us to decide how we may use it to promote the best interests of the human race.

The Double-Edge Sword

Who creates (not created) the internet? I have never thought of this before. Or, who owns the internet? Groping for an answer to this puzzle, I began surfing until I was led to a blogger’s site: http://lessig.org/blog/ForeignPolicy.pdf.

Most parts left me awestricken. Lessig’s blog centres on gruesome monsters, called ‘commons’, invading the internet. Commons, I reckon, are courts and corporations blocking some portions of the cyberworld for selfish interests. Because of the commons, the innovative and democratic potentials of the internet as a resource and an opportunity are diminished. What pervades is an atmosphere filled with greed that fuels desire for more power. The disclosure of what the internet has become and is becoming caused me uneasiness and fear. I could imagine the looming destruction awaiting the cyberworld. How spooky!


As to the other parts, admiration overwhelms me, particularly Lessig’s mentioning of the initial objectives of the creators of internet. According to Lessig’s blog, internet aims to innovate all peoples all over the world and to open infinite doors for growth and development of human conditions. I was moved by the claim that USA promoted democracy not only on earth but also in cyberspace. Sadly, no one envisaged the twists and turns ahead. No one saw the dangers of a free cyberworld. No one seemed to have anticipated the probability of selfish desires overshadowing the potentials for equal sharing of opportunities.

Is there something I can do to avert this invasion? Nothing really that I could think of, except perhaps by disseminating this information to others, say students, family and friends, to heighten the level of their awareness of the situation. An individual may be powerless in the face of institutional greed, but by binding together with other individuals, possibilities are created.

Internet is a double-edge sword. On the one side, it opens doors leading to success in economics, education, commerce, politics, etc. On the other, it is a fiendish tool for scammers, hackers, and, yes, commons.

Let us keep our eyes open.

Janus Faces of Technology

The memory of what happened is still etched in my mind. It was July 2009 when I sat in front of my EEEPC perplexed with legs trembling and sweat oozing down my cheeks. How I wanted to cry but tears refused to flow. The haunting fear and the sense of extreme loss I felt inside me were overwhelming. The reason: I could not open my most important email account. ‘Incorrect password’ flashed in front of me every time I tried to log in no less than twenty times.

Then an incident few days ago flashed back in my mind. I received an email from someone who introduced himself as part of Yahoo Team. He used business-like language and requested me to type in my password. The convincing words and sincere tone and presentation of the message had me, unaware that it was a trap. Unknowingly, s/he accessed my account and began sending false information to my family and friends. Good thing I had two hand phones, one in roaming status and another for local use. My sister and a good friend were so worried about “my being lost in Europe without money” that they immediately sent me sms. I alerted Yahoo at once about the phishing scam and after several days, I recovered control of my account.

From that point on, I became wary about technology. The experience discouraged me from using the internet for sometime. It was a self-imposed punishment for being stupid and trusting… Now I utilize technology with caution because I met its two faces—one is grim and unyielding while the other’s gentle and attractive.

I know I better watch out. Somewhere out there in the cyberspace someone’s watching.

My First Post

I am blogging now, one thing that just over a week ago was out of my mind. That I am doing this owes to the course called Digital Literacy, which at the last minute I decided to enlist in this semester. A number of reasons prompted me to take this module.First, I certainly do not qualify as ‘digitally literate’, so I figured I’d learn enormously from it. Second, I wish to overcome my ambivalence towards the use of ‘hi-tech’ in language teaching. While deep inside I have a hunch that computer softwares can enormously enhance language instruction, my lack of understanding makes me feel unsure about it. Finally, the schedule fits perfectly into my timetable.

I attended the first session loaded with a mix of anticipation and apprehension. In the session, the two lecturers had identified and effectively addressed some common misconceptions about digital literacy. They also highlighted the increasing importance of digital literacy in addition to its complex definitions. They went an extra mile to comfort us with the thoughts that one does not have to be IT savvy before taking up this module. While I attended the first session with a wait-and-see attitude, I came out of it convinced that I had to take the module.

In my mind, this module promises to be exciting and very useful. I look forward to the realisation of such promises.