Digital inclusion - why participation is important

Much of the debate around open education has focused on formal education, but education is not limited to formal approaches. For many youth organisations and charities, education is about helping young people build confidence and life-long skills. This participatory approach to education means the ‘digital-inclusion’ of adults is less about accessibility of educational content and more about participation in online practices and engaging with young people in the online world. 

This post is an edited version of my paper written to explore the principles of digital openness, how these could align to organisational approaches. The debates here form the backdrop to my project for H818, and outline my beliefs about inclusion in the open landscape. It asks why barriers exist and whether inclusion really matters in our context.

Cameron Gray 'The Journey Begins' http://parablevisions.com/?page_id=2338

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Defining education

The Scout Association defines education as ‘a life-long process which enables the continuous development of a person’s capacities both as an individual and as a member of society’ (World Scout Bureau, 1998, page 7). We are a non-formal educational movement where young people and adults work in partnership, learning by doing through a structured framework of activities and experiences. 

The pedagogical approach is comparable, in my opinion, to social constructivism, in which individuals learn through their interaction with others and the world around them (Palinscar, 1998, Vygotsky 1978).  It also reminds me of John Seely Brown’s notion of ‘social learning’ , as it suggests that we define ourselves by the societies we belong to (Brown and Adler, 2008). Learning is about participation (with others and the world) and therefore we ‘learn to be’ as well as learn about ‘things’. Consequently ‘how’ we learn is just as important as ‘what’ we learn as we are constructing our identity through our community interactions (Hager andHodkinson, 2009). This is important when considering the digital openness of non-formal education, as the barriers are not just ‘what’ can be accessed, but also ‘how’ to participate in the online world.

So ‘education’ from a Scouting perspective is essentially about personal development and ‘learning to be’, within a values-based community, supported by adults working alongside young people. Therefore it is not just about subject matter expertise or specific skills and knowledge, but about life-long personal skills, developing confidence and engaging with the world in a positive way. ‘Education’ is non-formal, and manifests as an approach to life realised through participation.

Digital openness and open education

Open education is loosely defined by the Open Education Working Group (2014) as ‘any practices and activities that have openness and education at their core’ (page 8). Veletsianos (2010) notes that educators can shape or be shaped by openness. But openness means different things to different people. Defining openness, within a digital context, is important if we are to be shaped by it. The Oxford English Dictionary (2004) defines ‘open’ as not being closed, or as accessible or available. Thus digital openness could means making things available using digital technologies. The debates around open education mainly focus on formal education, and they converge around discussions about availability and talk about open access, open content and open resources (McAndrew, 2010).

Our definition of education however, is grounded in participation, and Weller (2011) reminds us that openness is not just about what technology can do for us, but also about our practices as scholars or educators. Networked participation is one of the three formats of open practices described by Veletsianosand Kimmons (2012) who highlight the importance of having and maintaining a digital presence. Developments in ‘social’ technology, tools like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, have also created a new emphasis on participation (Jenkinset al, 2005). 

Accordingly, if the definition of education is ‘learning to be’ and personal development happens through participation, then open education is surely about finding the opportunities to do this within the online world. 

So digital openness in this context, refers to exploring and being open to new, participative experiences in the online world. As a result, open education is not just about making educational content freely available to all (although there is plenty of educational content available to adults and young people) but about digital participation. At a very basic level this means that adults supporting young people in Scouting should be participating and interacting with young people online.

Barriers to online participation and digital inclusion

The UK Government defines digital inclusion as ‘having the right access, skills, motivation and trust to confidently go online’ (Cabinet Office, 2014). Discussions about the barriers to inclusion can fall neatly into the three categories of availability, accessibility and acceptability (Lane, 2009). 

Availability looks at the physical access to the online world, and considers economics (whether people can afford technology) and connectivity (the infrastructure, like broadband, that allows people to access the internet). Accessibility concentrates on usability barriers, that is the skills and the ease by which people can use the internet. Debates about digital literacy dominate this area, as well as discussion about accessibility of content or software for those who have disabilities or alternative needs. 

A lack of digital skills and the means to access the online world are not necessarily the only, or the biggest barrier that people face. The third category of digital inclusion barriers come under ‘acceptability’ and this relates to social empowerment, or having the motivation and confidence to go online. The Cabinet Office’s (2014) research found that 62% of people said that the most important reason for not being online was that they were ‘not interested’. Their lack of interest may be the result of many different factors. Some people see the online world as irrelevant for them, and thus it needs to be made relevant if they are to be motivated to participate. Others are dissuaded from participation because of their fears of the online world. This could be a fear of crime, attack, or a fear of venturing into the unknown and exposing themselves or their identities. Participation means vulnerability, and individuals need to be given the confidence to overcome this. 

Digital exclusion may arise through a combination of factors and each digitally excluded person will have their own reasons and set of circumstances (Lane, 2009). Digital inclusion is about overcoming all of these challenges (access, skills, motivation, and trust) and not just one. But does digital inclusion matter for adults in The Scout Association?

Does inclusion matter?

The simple answer is yes. If education is a life-long process of development as an individual and as a part of society then adults as well as young people should be participating and interacting online. However there are challenges to overcome in assisting online participation. 

Adults and young people within the organisation can help to remove the skills barrier, sharing and developing the digital literacies others need for online participation, just as they would when developing skills like hillwalking or archery. The purpose and method of Scouting are about engaging with the world in a positive way. The online world is a part of the world and therefore it has to be relevant for adults to participate within it. If adults are to be role-models and support young people where they are, then the values of Scouting should override any motivational barriers to digital inclusion, although adults in Scouting may need to be reminded of this. 

The largest barrier to overcome is trust. This will need both education and a focus on values. There are practical ways of overcoming security and privacy fears, but adults also need to address concerns about identity and openness. This must include practical ways of talking about how values should guide online identity and activities. It also includes understanding that openness is not an ‘all or nothing’ approach and so that volunteers can explore the online world with confidence and develop their own openness. It is also about helping adults to take the skills they already have, for example: identifying and mitigating risk, planning tasks and activities and developing codes of behaviour; and apply them in the online context.

Open practices, or digital openness, is really about seeking out new experiences and participating in new ways through the online world. Just as in the 'offline' world, there can be tensions between the principals and the practicalities (Lane, 2009) which we need to help adults explore and manage. 

Adults in Scouting do amazing things with young people every day, and whether they are climbing a mountain or using social media they should use the values and methods of scouting to understand that the online world is just another ‘undiscovered’ world of opportunity. Thus they can be part of the ‘open landscape’, exhibiting their values, being appropriate role-models and effective 'digital' citizens working in partnership with young people.

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Brown, J.S. & Adler, R.P. (2008). Minds on fire: Open education, the long tail, and Learning 2.0. EDUCAUSE Review, 43(1), pp.16-32
Cabinet Office (2014) Government Digital Inclusion Strategy, 13 April 2014
Hager, P. and Hodkinson, P. (2009) ‘Moving beyond the metaphor of transfer of learning’, British Educational Research Journal, 35 (4), pp.619–38
Jenkins, H., et al. (2005) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, MacArthur Foundation.
Lane, Andy (2009). The impact of openness on bridging educational digital divides. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(5), pp. 1–12.
McAndrew, Patrick (2010). Defining openness: updating the concept of “open” for a connected world. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2010(10), pp.1–13.
Oxford English Dictionary (2004) ‘Open’, Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press
Palincsar, A.S. (1998). Social constructivist perspectives on teaching and learning. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, pp.345–375.
Veletsianos, G. (2010). A definition of emerging technologies for education. In G. Veletsianos (Ed.),Emerging technologies in distance education (pp. 3-22). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.
Veletsianos, G. and Kimmons, R. (2012) Assumptions and challenges of open scholarship. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 13 (4) pp.166–189  
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society. London: Harvard University Press.
Weller, M. (2011). The digital scholar: How technology is transforming scholarly practice. A&C Black.
Open Education Working Group (2014) The Open Education Handbook.
World Scout Bureau (1998) Scouting: An Educational System. World Scout Bureau. Switzerland. 

Project plan version XXO

As you know I am using this space to share my project for H818 and the work that I am doing around this. Part of this is to help me to share, and part of it is to make myself think out loud and be able to go back and look at how my thought processes have changed and developed.

So here is the next version of the project (I have forgotten what version).

Being Prepared. Adopting a values-driven approach to digital inclusion within a volunteer organisation.

Purpose. Scouting volunteers do amazing things with young people every day, but for some there still exists a fear of using online tools. Reminding volunteers of the values and methods of Scouting can help to overcome their fears and understand that the online world is another ‘undiscovered world’ of opportunity.

Linking to the conference theme: a focus on Inclusion. Looking through the lens of 'inclusion', the project will investigate the wider issues of digital inclusion as seen through the four barriers identified by the Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy (Access, Skills, Motivation and Trust)

Project aim and scope. The project’s aim is to explore barriers in relation to making the online world accessible to volunteers, focusing on motivational and trust barriers. Firstly, the ‘access’ barriers relate to connectivity and availability, over which the organisation has less influence and work is being undertaken by the government to address this. Secondly there already exists a wealth of debate about the ‘skills’ barrier, and it is assumed adults will need to learn new skills.

The ‘motivation’ and ‘trust’ barriers are social and psychological, as well as practical barriers to digital inclusion. These barriers require volunteers to explore their fears about safety and identity, and be able to translate their ‘offline’ selves to the ‘online’ world. The project activities will look at existing research and practices to identify the issues surrounding these barriers, in order to educate volunteers and provide a sound basis for taking an approach that links back to the values and methods of Scouting.

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Over the next few weeks I will be exploring the motivation and trust barriers, which neatly follow on from the discussions that Amanda Palmer brought up in the last blog post. So please feel free to share your thoughts or experiences about the barriers of being online, from a social or psychological perspective. 

The art of asking or making ourselves more vulnerable

One of our tasks last week was to take a look at the following TED talk from Amanda Palmer and her blog post about how she created the TED talk. We are then asked to comment on what we found useful or reusable. Given the content of the message, I believe that Amanda s going to be one of those love her or hate her individuals, but however cleverly constructed, I think that her story has heart, and also puts across something of herself.


It's hard not to get sucked into what Amanda is saying, because the core of her talk is about the kindness of strangers, giving and receiving fearlessly and asking without shame. Many of these themes are ones that echo through philosophy and religion. She talks about the need to be open as a person, both to receive the good and the bad, and that you need to take risks if you want to have adventures. 

The thing that strikes me about what Amanda says, is the stuff around vulnerability. I have already mentioned that being online makes us vulnerable and one of the things that Amanda doesn't talk a lot about is the the negative side of being vulnerable. However, something tells me that Amanda is a lady who is used to being both in the limelight, and getting negative feedback/reviews etc. Does her message change because of who she is? 
I am guessing that most of us don't really want to be like Amanda, but in our hearts we hope that we could be a little more fearless, and a little more open. Here is a lady who understands that making herself vulnerable, means that she has to take the bad with the good, although she glosses over the bad in order to enrapture you with the good. And that's OK. Because this talk is a bit like a sermon. She says that it is about 'trust' rather than 'risk', but in order to trust you have to weigh up the risks, and most people in life don't rock up to strangers and ask for a couch to sleep on.

I totally agree that "when we really see each other, we want to help each other", but this doesn't need to be for financial reason. Humanity is a 'social' being, and so we need each other. And maybe, the more we show people of the inner us, the more they show us the inner them, and we feel a little less vulnerable and a little more trusting. When I was a child, many adults used to say "if you don't ask, then you won't get". In my teenage years asking for help (in fact this was financial) meant that I got to go to Israel as a 17 year old and have the support to apply to university. I followed that pattern throughout my life, asking for help when needed and seizing opportunities that come along. I also learned that opening up and sharing some of your life experiences, can help to create better connections with others. It's the stories. Life is all about stories. However, there were times that it went wrong, times when people were horrible, and times when I wanted to curl up in a ball and never see people again. But these are the times that give you resilience, so that next time it happens, you cope a little better. 

So for all those out there who are scared to open up, don't worry, you don't have to proverbially take off all your clothes and run around the internet naked. But going back to the negative side of vulnerability and openness, I think this is about understanding the risks, and what you are take. If you take no risks, then nothing will change for you. But if you take some, calculated maybe, within degrees of openness, you might find some power in the feedback you get that helps you to go forward. 

After all...our stories are still in the making..........right?
And there is power in vulnerability.....

Digital Inclusion and a different lens for my project

As you can see, it's been two weeks since my last confession! Work means that sometimes I purge on study over a few days. A bit like watching a good tv show...honest!

In the meantime, I have tweaked my project and found some key resources to link in to it.






Government Digital Inclusion strategy

It's not often that I come across something from the government and think...ohhh....this will be useful. However the inclusion strategy, which I had already heard about, was.

The UK Government defines digital inclusion as ‘having the right access, skills, motivation and trust to confidently go online’ (Cabinet Office, 2014). 

The strategy sets out how the government and partners from the public, private and voluntary sectors will increase digital inclusion. This means helping people become capable of using and benefiting from the internet. Now there are many discussions one can have around this strategy but in the context of my project it does two things. Firstly, it shows that there is a political context for inclusion (and my next task is to do a Political, Economic, Social, Technological - aka PEST analysis). Secondly it breaks down the barriers into a nice four piece set:

There are 4 main kinds of challenge people face:

• access - the ability to actually go online and connect to the internet
• skills - to be able to use the internet
• motivation - knowing the reasons why using the internet is a good thing
• trust - the risk of crime, or not knowing where to start to go online

Looking at each in more detail, we can see that digital exclusion involves some significant and wide ranging challenges. When someone has the access, skills, motivation and trust to go online to do things that benefit them day to day, they are digitally capable.

Tinder, Digital inclusion

My project’s aim is to explore barriers in relation to making the online world accessible to volunteers, focusing on motivational and trust barriers. 

Firstly, the ‘access’ barriers relate to connectivity and availability, over which the organisation has less influence. Secondly there already exists a wealth of debate about the ‘skills’ barrier, and it is assumed adults will need to learn new skills. My theory is, that when I do my PEST analysis, many of these will come up, as access and skills are top of the 'things we can probably do something about'.

Motivation an trust

The ‘motivation’ and ‘trust’ barriers are social and psychological, as well as practical barriers to digital inclusion. These barriers require people to explore their fears about safety and identity, and be able to translate their ‘offline’ selves to the ‘online’ world. 

My project activities will look at existing research and practices to identify the issues surrounding these barriers, in order to educate volunteers and provide a sound basis for taking an approach that links back to the values and methods of Scouting. For me these barriers are all about social empowerment.

Does inclusion matter?

The simple answer is yes. If education is a life-long process of development as an individual and as a part of society then adults as well as young people should be participating and interacting online. However there are challenges to overcome in assisting online participation. 

Exploring power and fear (and request for help)

Currently I am exploring the theme of inclusion, but not in the traditional approach of accessibility. I want to explore some of the psychological reasons why people (but particularly volunteers) don't use the online world. Here's what I am thinking.......(in no particular formulated order, and still in exploration mode)

Firstly, the reasoning behind encouraging people to be online, is that as a values based organisation, who work alongside young people, we need to be where they are. And part of their space is online. And as citizens we have a duty to exhibit our values in all spaces. Especially nowadays when the news is populate with stories of risk and dangers and horrible people. You could be forgiven for thinking that the online world was really some kind of post apocalyptic mad max/trainspotting mash up. If good people didn't rock up online, then we would be leaving it to all the bad people. And I am a bit of a positivist, so I don't think that's what we should be doing. Throughout my life I have strived to be a role model to others, young and old. To be respectful, open and trusting. To believe the best in people and encourage and support them. I believe that the 'open landscape' that is the online world, the web, whatever you want to call it is a place we need to be. 


So what stops people? Well, it probably doesn't help that media stories are full of risks and dangers and bad people. If you believed the news then you would think that the online world was the worst place in the world to visit, so why bother. There is of course the fear of the unknown, and the fear that you don't have the knowledge or the skills. But these can be learned. I want to explore some of the more psychological reasons behind the barriers to engage. 


My hypothesis that the same fears that drive us in the 'offline' world drive us in the online world. That the way we empower people in the offline world, is the same as the online world. That overcoming fear and taking away someone's sense of powerlessness is the first step in engagement. 
Now I don't know f this is right or not - so if you know of any research that explores issues of fear or power in the online world, or you have your own opinions and thoughts, please let me know. 
(If you think I am barking up the wrong tree, then be nice to me when you tell me.)


In order to narrow down my project scope, because this could be rather large investigation, I have chosen to focus on three areas - confidence, safety and identity (see the start of my project planning) within the lens of fear and power.

Identity. Being online makes us vulnerable. People don't like being vulnerable.Also in our everyday lives we general don't think a lot about our identity. In the online landscape we have to, because it can be more permanent. So we go from the extremes of complete anonymity to disinhibition (basically a complete lack of constraint). So there is fear and fearlessness.  So if we want to empower people then we need to help them understand their identity, especially in the context of a values based organisation, and explore with them what identity means, but also how to manage this in a different environment. And this is no different to the offline world. I always use the example of what we wear. the way we act and what we wear are often very different at work, to at home. Therefore we do manage our identity, but we are maybe less conscious of doing it. I think values help a great deal here.

Safety. For ourselves and for others. How do we traverse the risks and dangers of the online world. Should we be risk averse, or should we be risk-embracing? Naturally Scouting is an organisation that is risk-embracing, and so we spend a huge amount of time understanding those risks and responding. If the online world is a 'new place', then we need to help people understand some of those risks and how to mitigate them. 

Confidence. I think for me this is more about the overall approach of feeling empowered and having the knowledge and the skills, and the belief in oneself, and potentially of others. 

So here's the part where you can help?

What are your thoughts about fear and power being psychological barriers to inclusion? Is there any research that might be useful for me to look at? Is this an area that you are interested or have done some work in?

I look forward to talking. 

Project building - psychological barriers to using social media

Project planning has begun in earnest as the first assignment deadline approaches. So being that this module is all about being a 'networked practitioner', it is expected that we try and explore our openness and practices. Thus I am trying to be open while working through the planning process, one, so I can reflect on how this feel, and two, so that I can start to use my network to help. 

So I am sharing my work in progress, as it progresses. So if you think you can help me with the research or theory, or you want to lend me your ear, comment or feedback on anything, please do. And remember it is a work in progress!!

Project plan - part 1

Being Prepared. Exploring the psychological barriers to volunteers using social media and adopting a values-driven approach to empowerment.

Project overview

“You wouldn't climb a mountain without being prepared, so you shouldn't use social media without doing the same!”

Background

Scouting volunteers do amazing things with young people every day, but there exists a fear of using online tools like social media for Scouting purposes. We help volunteers overcome their fear of the online world by reminding them of the values and methods of Scouting and that the online world is just another ‘undiscovered world’ of opportunity. Thus they can be part of the ‘open landscape’, exhibiting their values, being appropriate role-models and effective 'digital' citizens by working in partnership with young people.

Linking to the conference theme: a focus on Inclusion

Looking through the lens of 'inclusion', the project will investigate the wider issues of why adults don't want to use social media or why they feel social media doesn't include them. There are physical barriers like poor internet access and knowledge and skills, however this project will explore the psychological barriers that make volunteers feel powerless or afraid to use social media.  If we want them to use social media then we need to empower them by addressing their fears. This will involve looking at and helping them to manage the risks, as well as their own identities. In summary, Scouting is all about overcoming fears, trying something new, creating community and being empowered. Consequently the values and methods of Scouting are synchronous with overcoming the psychological barriers of using social media.

Project purpose and scope

One of the main deliverables of this project is to create a proto-type multimedia learning artefact for volunteers. However the project’s underlying purpose is to explore role of psychological barriers in relation to making social media accessible to volunteers.

This project will focus on three main topics: identity, safety and confidence and explore the barriers of fear and power within an open environment. Therefore the theme of inclusion needs to address issues of confidence, safety and identity in relation to overcoming fear and feeling empowered.

This is an upside down project, because the key messages to empower volunteers are already in place. The project activities will seek to underpin these key messages by drawing on existing research and practice to identify the issues surrounding these barriers and provide a sound theoretical basis for taking this approach and linking back to the values and methods of Scouting.

Rocking all over my mind

my brain last friday looked a little like this I think - i was ready to pop!

So, I changed my mind. Which meant a whole new set of brainstorming activities. On the plane over to the Isle of Man I therefore wrote about ten pages worth of maps and scribbles to try and get everything out. (The man sat next to me must have thought be some kind of psycho as I kept flipping pages backwards and forwards. )

For me the act of writing things down, helps me to take control and organise my thoughts (there is that power motive again!). When writing assignments this often means physical mindmapping, where I write on lots of bits of paper then cross things off or  screw up the bits that aren't really relevant. Learning by doing you see - I need some tangibility (that's probably a made up word). 

So as being a Networked practitioner is all about trying out new tools, I have done a bit of mind mapping. All of this is meant to help me get to my project overview/plan. Don't worry, I will be sharing that too - and hoping for some comments and ideas!

Stage one - the overview of project

At this first point I was trying to think about the reasons behind and why volunteers don't use social media. Despite the physical constraints, like not having access or skills, I felt there was an overwhelming amount of psychological reasons. This is partly because the media tells us a lot about the scary bad stuff going on, and because e-safety has always been about sexual perpetrators and strangers coming to abduct your kids.  In some ways I was starting backwards with this, as I know what my advice is, so I needed to unpick some of the reasons and link it to the advice. 

Key words
I then went back and tried to link up some of the keywords, especially as they related to topics that we have already started to explore in the module.

As you can see, there are some links starting to form with some of the core areas, which include things like identity, power etc.

Psychological barriers
I then wanted to brainstorm some more and think a bit about these barriers through the idea of openness making you vulnerable. And I think this is the key point. Openness means that you have to take risks, face fear, be trusting...and to do that you need to feel empowered - or in control - or (new word here) self-efficacy - in other words it's what you believe you can do.

There are probably loads of other nodes that I could add on here but I like the idea of these three core barriers around identity, safety and confidence which link into the issues of fear, power and trust. You will also see that I have started looking out how the values of scouting help to empower, but suggesting to volunteers that it's part of what we already do and therefore if we journey into the open landscape, we can following the same values and paths.

Next stop, first draft of the project plan....will be needing your help.

working on a project title....Be Prepared

My job (hence my context)
I work for The Scout Association at Headquarters. My job is National Development Officer

(Safeguarding). Basically a large part of what I do is develop resources and training for volunteers to help them understand their roles and responsibilities within Scouting in regards to Safeguarding (Child protection, anti-bullying, safer recruitment). So I spend a lot of my time out and about meeting and working with volunteers and training trainers who will go on to deliver safeguarding training to volunteers across the country. It truly is an amazing organisation which can't really be paid justice to in a few words. Having worked for the organisation for nearly 7 years I am proud to be a Scout and share the values of the organisation.

My project
My project will be based on work that I already do around empowering adult volunteers in Scouting to use social media in a safe and fun way. For me safeguarding is about enabling people to do things, rather than stopping them - empowering rather than scaring.

You wouldn't climb a mountain...... without being prepared, and so you shouldn't use social media without doing the same!
Currently I offer guidance on a weekly basis about how to use social media safely, and so for my project I want to explore this, and link in research as well as create a multimedia artifact that can be used in work. 


Open education in an open landscape
Looking through the lens of 'inclusion', my project is focused on why adults don't want to use social media or why they feel social media doesn't include them. There are of course some physical barriers like internet access and personal knowledge and skills. However I think that the psychological barriers are the main thing that is making volunteers feel powerless or afraid to use social media. The media today is constantly telling us what a dangerous place the internet is, and e-safety messages for young people are about the risks and the harm that may befall them. For adults working with young people this makes the internet a scary place, especially as for some it's not their natural environment. So we need to help them understand that it doesn't have to be scary, and they can prepare for it in the same way as they would prepare for other 'scary' scouting activities (like climbing).

If we want them to use social media then we need to empower them by addressing their fears and giving them the skills. This will involve looking at the risks and helping them to see both the good and the bad of openness, and helping them to manage their own identities.

Psychological barriers = confidence (power), safety, identity. 
Self-efficacy= make them believe they can do it by adopting a scouting approach (values, preparation, risk assessment and openness)

Key messages:

• Social media doesn't have to be scary
• Use the skills and processes already have to undertake the activity
• Values-driven approach
• Take ownership of identity
• Stay safe by mitigating risk, behaving appropriately

Outcome - Volunteers do amazing things with young people everyday, and we help them overcome their fear of the online world and help them to be part of the open landscape, exhibiting their values and being appropriate roles models and effective 'digital' citizens.

Degrees of openness

Here we are again – identity, privacy, openness. The Networked Practitioner is cleverly taking us through an investigative and reflective journey to think about our own practice and where we want to be.  I have done a lot of researching this week, and networking, but may be not so much reflecting. For any of you Scouting people also reading my blog, this is definitely learning by doing. But maybe my journey will help you with yours.

The first task of the week asked us to think about our own stances on openness in regards to publishing work as a ‘digital scholar’ (see previous post). I have never published anything other than my blog and twitter feed, so I have no idea what my feelings about publishing only in open-access journals would be. At this point I think I would just be amazed to be published anywhere! I think that given my passionate desire to change the way that fellow practitioners do things, and that my ‘practice’ sits in informal education, that I would probably say that I would opt for open access. I will let you know if I ever do get published!!

So, what about sharing learning material openly? We were asked a couple of questions around this area of sharing our own material. Would we share unfinished work; and would we share immediately and openly. The answer to this will depend on what you are sharing, your profession and your field. As a tutor group it has been interesting to acknowledge that for some, their material is their income, and so sharing openly may impact their finances. While for others, their job dictates that what they create, belongs to the organisation for which they created it. I had not really considered intellectual property rights before, and it’s not a discussion I have had in my work life. (I will be going back to work next week and checking this out’.

But am I worried about my intellectual property. After all, the whole of life is a mash up and I am sure that we could never reference everybody who may have influenced our ways of thinking. Ordinarily when I create resources for work, I have no desire to put my name to them, as that’s not important and there is a bigger picture (plus, it’s what I am paid to do) But if I am trying to build my practitioner status, is it important for people to attribute me? Naturally I want to inspire people, but the worry is that in sharing my ideas and creations, someone my take that and make money out of it. I think this is why the creative commons approach is important. I never really got it before, but it’s a way to say, ’here you go, here’s what I created and you can use it too….as long as you don’t make money from it’!

The other thing to think about is also the sensitivity of your creations. Working in the safeguarding field, there are times when we share and create confidential material, which would not be appropriate to share openly and out of context. And then there is sharing work that isn’t finished yet….and I think that is for more closed networks unless you are working collaboratively to create stuff.

Time. It’s not really a resource, but it’s one thing that shapes what and how we do things. Thus for most people things they can do easily are more likely to happen. I am a dreamer a times, but ultimately pragmatic. I think that building things into the daily routine makes it easier. Thus if publishing and sharing finds a natural place in the everyday, I think it would make to easier. That’s not to say that some effort isn’t required. And when I really think about it. It I can be better networked to my fellow practitioners, and they can help in collaboration, then ultimately we might be able to co-create resources more quickly than finding the time to do it alone.

Students and professionals as open scholars

“This section encourages you to think about the options and challenges presented by openness and why this is attracting attention. You will need to make a personal decision about your own openness. You should look at the implications for those you work with as well as for yourself”

The challenges and potential of openness…or to put it simply “what’s the point of sharing online.” Given that module H818 is called the ‘Networked Practitioner’, it’s not a surprise that the first thing we need to think about is our own views of openness. Now, I am on my final module for the masters (MAODE), which means that I have been there before. But if I go back to the start I will probably find that my views and practices have changed, as my identity and experiences have developed. And that’s what life is like. Our experiences shape us. As we grow confident, we are able to share more of ourselves.

This is certainly true for me in many aspects of life. In fact, delivering training a few weeks again, one of my volunteers said to me, and not in a patronising way, how much I had grown as a professional and how much more confident, and natural I was in my approach to training. So I guess that’s my starting point. Openness requires trust and confidence. I hated twitter the first time round. Now it is an important part of my daily life. Trying to blog before felt stunted, as I hadn’t yet found my voice. I hope now that it’s starting to take shape.

Our first reading is Veletsianos and KImmons’s ‘Assumptions and challenges of open Scholarship’ . Their article is a reflection on the need to evaluate and reflect on ‘open scholarship’.  A critical skill which my last module has definitely helped me to develop. We can be optimistic or deterministic, but really a bit of critical evaluation goes a long way. V & K comment on the hopes that manifest around open scholarship, with its breadth of access, reduction in costs and enhancement of the impact of learning and scholarship.

 “anyone can learn anything from anyone at anytime” (Bonk, 2009,pp 7)

But can they? V & K take us through four assumptions about open scholarship, and the challenges for scholars today. (Although I don’t work in formal scholarship, I think my experiences with informal learning and knowledge, has examples that link to the assumptions).

1. Open scholarship has a strong ideological basis rooted in an ethical pursuit for democratization, fundamental human rights, equality, and justice.
2. Open scholarship emphasizes the importance of digital participation for enhanced scholarly outcomes.
3. Open scholarship is treated as an emergent scholarly phenomenon that is co-evolutionary with technological advancements in the larger culture.
4. Open scholarship is seen as a practical and effective means for achieving scholarly aims that are socially valuable.

Openness and equality

Does openness created equality? In the last week we have had stories in the news about how the digital divide is opening in UK schools because of poor broadband access in parts of the country, although Ofcom was quick to point out that these divides are narrowing. V & K raise the question about ‘who profits and who is excluded by openness’, and we should always have that in mind. Technology is not always the great leveller. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean that I can use it, or know how to use it. However, there can be no doubt that open access has changed the way we access information. I couldn’t study the way I do without it, and when I want to know something, there is a world of information at my fingertips to analyse and sort.

The ideological basis? Some could argue that open is just a new business model, or that it’s a useful component for arguing for openness. The recent Tristam Hunt story comes to mind here, in which the prime minister called out some hypocrisy between being a labour minister and his upbringing. Even if you do belong to a privileged few, doesn’t mean that you can’t fight for democracy and equality, and want to change the status quo for the benefit of others. I think that humanity has been doing this for thousands of years.

V & K note that definition of open scholarship is not consistent, and instead focus on three forms of scholarship – Open access and publishing, open education and networked participation. You can find equality in all of these, but it does require you to know where to look. If you don’t know the right people or place to go how do you shift through? If we are not careful it has the potential to cause another social divide, rather than democratisation.

Enhancing scholarly skills

But does being open enhance ones scholarly skills? Or have we just transpose one environment for another? After all, often we network with the people we share an interest in, and this may be no different to network within a faculty. Open scholarship has the possibility of reaching out to others outside of your known world, and maybe even in different disciplines, which might help scholars to grow outside their ‘bubble’. This is why I now share all my interests on twitter. After all, I am not just about learning and technology, but also about safeguarding, women (especially in science), social equality…..so by following different people with different attitudes, and maybe even different views to my own, I can get new perspectives. For me different perspectives help me to refine my own. But do you need to participate to enhance the outcomes, could you just consume? So if we want digital participation to enhance our outcomes we need to be prepared to seek out those who can really challenge us and not just stick with our security blankets.

There is a fear of openness, and sharing work, ideas, especially while they are still being honed. And does being open change the way you say things, both on a personal and on a corporate level. Open courses potentially have a wider audience to deliver to, so does that change the messages and learning which is delivered? I think this comes back to trust and confidence. It’s a bit like posting in an OU forum (and I reflected on this back in H807 Innovations in e-learning). To start with you spend hours thinking about how to reply. Then eventually you just reply, and you don’t care about the spelling mistakes, because you want to hear what other people think. The gooey, misshaped thoughts are what’s exciting about online learning.

It takes time…

However, to be open one needs to skills to participate, and as V & K note, it takes time to appropriate and use digital tools (as I have already alluded to). Participation (yes we have been here before in H800, practices and debates ). Just as one needs to be enculturated into scholarly practices, so one needs to be enculturated into digital scholarly practices. Familiarity with technologies helps a great deal in learning how to use them effectively. Therefore, is it only those who are already ‘digitally literate’ that can truly benefit? Thus we get to questions about teaching these digital literacies at an earlier stage – but I wonder whether as time advances, we don’t necessarily have to teach openness, but rather help our next generation of scholars enhance the abilities they already have. After all, ‘networked’ is something that young people today seem to understand, right?

Technology shaping practice

 “…the relationship between technology and practice is negotiated in that technology shapes practice and practice shapes the way technology is used”

So apparently technology isn’t neutral and the values and norms we have maybe conflict with the values and norms of a digital world. But maybe these cultures and norms need to be challenged? Or maybe there is a fear that openness will shine a light and show us lacking? Much of the literature tries to counter this by showing/telling how technology affords the same as before, just in a different way.

A good example is one of the tools I use often – Padlet (used to be wallwisher which sound so much better). Many of our leaders are from the babyboom generation, and so scout training is awash with the use of post-it notes. Therefore is has been much easier to integrate this into practice, as a way of sharing ideas online. Also, the taking time part is important, and I am now seeing the use of webinars, videos, blogs and digitally content becoming a more normal and accepted way of engaging our audiences.  

But actually technology does allow us to change our practices and do things in new ways, thus shaping our scholarly achievements. As one person I cannot support 300 people across the UK. But as a network group, then we can probably create, develop, support and innovate far more effectively, provide we have the willingness.

Assumptions and challenges…

So we need to unpick assumptions and highlight challenges if we are to be effective advocates for openness in our scholarly endeavours. For me, my colleagues are spread across the UK, and so I need technology to help me connect. Also, one of the principles of Scouting is ‘learning by doing’, so this is a good place to start on this module.

Does openness promote equality – maybe, potentially, but let’s be clear about our purposes for openness and not use equality as a smokescreen for purpose.

Is participation required – yes, if you are talking about being networked. But participation doesn’t need to be ‘vocal’. And we need to make sure that we look for the little as well as the big voices, or at least help them find ways to be heard.

Is there a reciprocal relationship of technology and culture – sure. Technology is a tool, a cultural tool, that allows us to change the way we view things, say things, do things and most importantly how we interact.

Does openness help us in achieving scholarly aims – well that depends on what your scholarly aim is.

Bonk, C. J. (2009). The world is open: How Web technology is revolutionizing education. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons.

Veletsianos, G. and Kimmons, R. (2012) ‘Assumptions and challenges of open scholarship.’ The International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, vol. 13, no. 4, 166–189 [online]. Available at: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1313/2304 (Accessed 6 October 2014).