Here’s a paper that Siân Bayne and I wrote for the 2007 Society for Research in Higher Education conference – we are working on revising it in light of all the new literature about digital natives/immigrants/net generation since then, but I think the core arguments are still current, so thought I’d post it up here.
The ‘digital native’ and ‘digital immigrant’: a dangerous opposition
Here is my PhD-related paper for the AoIR conference in Copenhagen in October.
Abstract:
This paper explores some conceptual issues emerging from my research into the question of how students and teachers negotiate issues of identity, authenticity, ownership, privacy and performativity in high-stakes online reflection in higher education.
The traces produced by online reflection are traces of a cultural moment and a political imperative, as much as traces of individuals. This paper critically examines how a humanist discourse of a ‘true self’, which can be understood or revealed through reflection, masks the increasingly invasive character of educational practices which demand confession and self-surveillance as evidence of progress and learning, and asks: in what ways might working online complicate, corroborate or undermine notions of the ‘true self’ in these contexts?
Download Traces of self: online reflective practices and performances in higher education as a PDF file.
ICE3 is next week, and Hamish and I are putting the finishing touches on our paper. http://www.education.ed.ac.uk/ice3/papers/macleodross.html
It’s been a really exciting process.