Redefining the Beginner: What is a web browser and tabbed browsing

Teaching and facilitating my “Technology 4 Teachers” class this semester at the University of Central Oklahoma has led to a lot of personal learning for me. One thing it’s driven home is that we should NOT make assumptions about the “digital literacy” or technology skills / knowledge people already possess, whether those people are younger college students or older professors with PhDs.

The English Wiktionary defines “beginner” as:

1. Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started
2. Someone who sets (or puts) something in motion

As Karen Montgomery noted in the post, “You are not a Beginner unless you have begun,” beginners are not merely observers or spectators. Beginners are active participants. When it comes to digital and social media technologies, as educators we must choose to become beginners / participants and move out of the stands or off the bench.

photo credit: forklift

In my presentation (“Communicating in the Digital Age“) February 15th for librarians and staff in the Pioneer Library System, here in Oklahoma, one participant asked me if it was possible to run more than one web browser on a computer. This reinforced the need we have today, which Karen and I have discussed at length, to “redefine the beginner” when it comes to digital literacy and workshops which include technology-powered learning tools. I added some of this information today to a new page titled, “Redefining the Beginner” on our PI4BL wiki, including the following two videos. We’ll be adding more to this page in the weeks and months ahead.

What is a browser? (1 min, 9 sec)

Use Tabs in Internet Explorer 7 (2 min, 3 sec)

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