We have continued to unpack data from the first round of the #WalkMyWorld project. This blog post shares materials from research I conducted with Julie Wise that examined pre-service and veteran educators and their experiences in the project. We also submitted the paper presented at LRA to Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice. It was published in Vol. 64 in 2015. You can skip down to the published version on Academia.edu…or review our presentation materials and the submitted draft below.

The following video (20:55) explains our work, and the initial findings.

Abstract of the piece

As educators engage students with reading and writing digital content within social and connected learning environments, it is important to consider the creation and curation of an individual’s digital identity in social scholarship practices. The purpose of this study explored how social and connected learning environments can be used as a vehicle to engage students in digital identity creation, defined here as visually representing an aspect of their lives using any preferred medium, such as images or videos, using the #WalkMyWorld hashtag.

Analysis was conducted in a multi-step process to inductively analyze and ultimately develop themes. Data from three different sources were synthesized to allow for triangulation of findings: (a) SLIDE instrument data, (b) student submissions on Twitter and Storify, and (c) researcher notes. The results indicate that the #WalkMyWorld project provided opportunities for novice learners to explore digital tools, play with digital content, and construct a digital identity. Likewise, students were able to develop their voice as an educator in online connected learning spaces.  Implications include the importance of identifying and addressing possible risky and challenging decisions about their digital identity as an educator.

The PPT for our LRA 2014 session

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The draft of the paper submitted at LRA 2014

This paper was presented at LRA 2014 and re-submitted for publication in LR:TMP. You can click here to go to the submitted draft in Google Drive…or view the published version here at Academia.edu.

[google-drive-embed url=”https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KAzmKsxGl5jxe8gerTb-kPDjF2CW7uGErS_PQzp9fdY/preview” title=”Social Scholars: Educators’ Digital Identity Construction in Open, Online Learning Environments” icon=”https://ssl.gstatic.com/docs/doclist/images/icon_11_document_list.png” width=”100%” height=”400″ style=”embed”]

 

Image CC by Paxson Woelber