THREAD #3 on observations from last few weeks of #remoteteaching and the differences I am noticing between digital natives/immigrants and how they remind me of IRL migrant vs native experiences.

Likely unpopular views so I may mute if things get too hellish. https://twitter.com/sunnysingh_n6/status/1241312167934275585

First a recap. My first thread https://twitter.com/sunnysingh_n6/status/1239940728203214848?s=21 https://twitter.com/sunnysingh_n6/status/1239940728203214848

And the second thread https://twitter.com/sunnysingh_n6/status/1241312167934275585?s=21 https://twitter.com/sunnysingh_n6/status/1241312167934275585

Worth noting that I am both a digital immigrant and an IRL migrant. So these observations are informed by that experience.

I think digital immigrants who are IRL natives may get a flash of recognition but it is the migrants in both worlds that may recognise the many overlaps

In my earlier thread I noted the generational divide between digital natives/immigrants.

In the past weeks, there are emerging complexities in those who are digital and IRL natives vs those who are digital and IRL immigrants vs those who are IRL natives vs digital immigrants

So digital plus IRL natives are young, Gen Z or millennial, most often white, middle class and from the Global North.

They may be in my class as exchange or foreign students but mostly this group is young and British (and in my cohorts, English)

Then there are the digital plus IRL immigrants. This group fascinates me not only because I fall into it but because of the diversity of age, region, class, backgrounds.

Then there are thise who are IRL natives but digital immigrants who again in my cohorts are likely to be English, although older and most likely Gen Xers. There is some level of class diversity in this group

The first group of digital+IRL natives appear most confident in tech use. This is their natural habitat after all.

But it seems more of a passive consumption. It is also a more unquestioning, unthinking consumption. Which means they get rattled when things go wrong.

Noticing that this group is also quicker to feel frustrated and disempowered by the experience of #remotelearning, in part because intellectual, psychological, cultural, emotional skills required to trouble shoot are not as/yet developed.

Reminds me of https://twitter.com/sunnysingh_n6/status/1241321935574904832?s=21 https://twitter.com/sunnysingh_n6/status/1241321935574904832

I am likelier to get anxious, even panicked emails about not being able to find information that has already been shared from this group.

While part of this may be attibuted to age, not all of it is about youth (see next tweet)

This is also the group least likely to seek out answers on their own (see earlier tweet re passive consumption) and demand tailored, individuated replies.

There is of course an overlap here with uni fees and a view of university as a paid for service. Ah neo-liberalism

I tell my students that if they must think as customers, they should consider the university not as a restaurant or shop but as the gym. Simply buying a membership will not make them fit

I had been noticing even before how entrenched passive consumption was with this group: it takes more work to get them to seek out information on their own, esp if it is offline; it is harder to get them to take notes in class (we now run note taking sessions)

There is also a much more consumerist individuated response which means it takes more work to guide them to think in terms of solidarities and communities.

Am hoping the pandemic changes this aspect

The third group - are IRL natives but digital immigrants - is similar in some aspects. There is a wider level of comfort with their understanding of broader institutions and structures but also some degree of recognition of change and different operating climates

These are people who are culturally and socially more rooted and have grown with technology as it has evolved. Their approach to tech is often instrumental and even if there is initial discomfort with new tech, they adopt it fairly quickly

I think as with IRL immigrants whose experiences are inpacted by class, education, skills etc, this group is assisted in their digital immigrant life by their IRL cultural, social capital

I am noticing the differences based on class and thus access to tech but also wider social, cultural capital in this group. But over all, they seem to have adapted to #remotelearning relatively smoothly and initial anxiety seems to have dissipated

Then there are the digital and IRL immigrants. As I said, there is a lot of diversity in this group but the attitudes reflect experience of migration in many fascinating ways but the key is a clear recognition of difference

This group understands viscerally that there are multiple different habitats and even when they may not have experienced all of them, there is knowledge and recogntion that these exist

This means they approach changes cautiously, with less confidence than the digital immigrants and IRL natives but with a visceral understanding that they need to learn how to operate in this new #remotelearning environment

Even with class disparities which means fewer tech/economic overall IRL resources, this group has been quickest to shift. And even though I can see they have been initially unsure about #remoteteaching, they have adapted quickly

In some ways, I think this group has unconsciously experienced the shift to #remotelearning as a kind of code switching, as another process of learning codes for another habitat

In my classes, I have been noticing this shift. Many if this third group have been speaking up more, bringing in more work to share, etc as time has gone on. The initial lack of confidence was accompanied by a focus on learning the new code, and they’ve codeswiched very quickly

I realise these are generalisations and yes this is based on anecdotal info and observations rather than rigorously constructed study but I think there are some really interesting possibilities for research for folk out there