Educational Leadership with Technology Focus
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Seminar in Personalized Learning and Leading with Technology

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Visitors and Residents

6/5/2015

5 Comments

 
       Dave White at the University of Oxford (2013) offers an interesting dissection of the way people engage with the internet.  He provides a continuum between the two ways of engaging with the internet. One he describes as a “Visitor” on the internet.  Visitors go online, perform whatever task they need to accomplish, and leave without leaving a trace that they were there.  The other side of the continuum he describes as a “Resident” of the internet.  Residents have a presence on the internet and live a part of their lives online.  Residents remain visible online while visitors do not see the need to engage with others on that platform (“Not ‘Natives’ & ‘Immigrants’ but ‘Visitors’ & ‘Residents’”, 2008).
       For myself, I am very tech-saavy but I am definitely closer to the visitor side of the continuum.  I have accounts on facebook, instagram, and twitter but mostly use them to peruse what other people post and to keep up on current events.  I rarely comment or engage with many people outside my friend group.  I upload pictures, but my profiles are all private and only people I allow can see my page.  I use google drive regularly in my classroom and share/edit/comment with my students on their work but it is within a closed system and I do not post anything publicly to the web.  While I have a classroom website that is open to the public, I do not use it to engage with others.  My website is a place for me to share information or certain websites with my students.
       Visitors are described as “unlikely to take advantage of any feed based system for aggregated information you may put in place. They are also unlikely to blog or comment as part of a course” (“Not ‘Natives’ & ‘Immigrants’ but ‘Visitors’ & ‘Residents’”, 2008).  This describes my method of learning.  I am not as comfortable posting questions on a blog or networking site to find answers. I am more comfortable looking up credible sources and attempting to find answers through them.  As a learner, I am far more comfortable gathering information that I need from the internet, synthesizing it, and producing a product that will only be for my professors to read.  The thought of posting my thoughts and comments publicly is difficult for me, but I can see the value in it.  
       I know being a visitor and not over the age of 30 is maybe unusual but White explains that it has little to do with technological skill level or age.  I am an example of this because I am good with technology and enjoy using it, but do not necessarily have an online presence.  White states that most people over the age of 55 are visitors, but not always, and not everyone under the age of 25 is a resident (“Not ‘Natives’ & ‘Immigrants’ but ‘Visitors’ & ‘Residents’”, 2008).
       This master’s program will definitely challenge my way of learning and engaging with the internet.  I will no longer be able to go online, accomplish a specific task and log off without leaving a trace.  I will have to maintain my identity through my weebly website and comment and post on my peer’s blogs as well.  This will allow me to move towards the resident end of the continuum.  

Resources
Visitors and Residents [Video file]. (2013, May 31). Retrieved from

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFBadv04eY
White, D. (2008, July 23). Not ‘Natives’ & ‘Immigrants’ but ‘Visitors’ & ‘Residents’”. 

       [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2008/07/23/not-natives-immigrants-but-visitors-residents/
5 Comments
Polly Macuga link
6/6/2015 02:56:52 pm

My experience has been very similar to yours with the exception being that I am over 30. Having teenagers has made me become tech-savvy. I have been more of a resident in my personal life. This program will also challenge me to become more of a resident than a visitor in my professional life. I look forward to the challenge and also look forward to helping my students become not only residents but good digital citizens.

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Lexie Nielsen
6/7/2015 05:15:57 am

" I look forward to the challenge and also look forward to helping my students become not only residents but good digital citizens." - LOVE this Polly!

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Lexie Nielsen link
6/7/2015 05:14:46 am

Andrea,

I really enjoyed reading your post. I guess I always assumed that people with a facebook, instagram, or twitter account are interacting with others through these forums- but you on the other hand use them to keep up to date on things but don't interact much with others. In this case, these tools are very useful to you, but you "don't leave a trace" online. I am sure there are lots of other people who are using the internet in this way. I think its perfectly OK to be under 30 and not a resident online. It will be interesting to see how your thoughts on this shift throughout the program. :)

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Jake Bowker link
6/7/2015 09:08:58 am

Andrea,

I feel the same way as you in the sense that I am fairly competent with technology, but I prefer to use the Internet as a virtual library of information from credible sources. As Dr. White discusses in his video, though, visitors tend to be convergent and residents are nebulous in their thinking. I do not want to be convergent with my ideas and would rather grow my mindset by collaborating with others. I'm not timid, but I sometimes forget that the Internet allows us to reach out to billions of others in the world in order to enhance our thinking. I can't believe how easy it is to dismiss that fact. I look forward to sharing ideas with you and everyone in our cohort so that I might become a better teacher for my students' sake.

You also mentioned that you use Google Drive often in your classroom to share ideas with your students. I'm just now beginning to do that with my AVID students, and it seems so effortless to monitor. However, that's like being a resident of a small city and forgetting we live in a big world. Good stuff, Andrea!

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Nona Richard link
6/8/2015 10:22:57 am

Andrea,

Thanks for your thoughts. I am beginning to use the internet more and more to collaborate with other teachers throughout the country with common curriculums, and I would love to know more about using Google Drive with my students. I teach second grade, and my students are yet to be able to type in any manner sufficient for word processing. I see that you are a fifth grade teacher, and I would love it if you could share information about how you would adapt what you do to meet the needs of second grade students with limited word processing abilities. I try my best to be the "guide on the side" instead of the "sage on the stage" but am in this program to learn how to better integrate technology to meet this aim.

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    Andrea Jacobs

    Fifth Grade Teacher
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