panelarrow

Aisha Walker

Thinking onscreen

18 November 2013
by Aisha
0 comments

Dimensional disparity

In Walker and White (2013) we discuss the idea that our physical proximity to digital devices may be part of the reason that we become so emotionally engaged by digital interactions.  It’s easy to develop a feeling of intimacy and … Continue reading

1 October 2013
by Aisha
0 comments

The problem with blogs

Academic staff routinely advise students against citing blogs in their essays. This can be a problem for students as Google and other search engines often return results for blogs and for other ‘grey literature’ above results for peer-reviewed articles unless … Continue reading

3 September 2013
by Aisha
0 comments

Digialects

impson and Walker (forthcoming)  use the term ‘technolects’ to describe varieties of language used in digital contexts.  We proposed this as an alternative to words such as ‘netspeak’ (Crystal 2006)  in order to reflect the fact that different digital contexts … Continue reading

29 August 2013
by Aisha
0 comments

Academic Hygiene

Academic hygiene (Walker, in press) is particularly important when students are working extensively with digital resources.  With paper-based study, students who do not practice good academic hygiene might find themselves searching the library bookshelves on assignment-submission day for the book(s) … Continue reading

17 June 2013
by Aisha
2 Comments

Digital Dichotomies

It seems that there is an irresistible urge to categorise people as ‘techies’ or ‘non-techies’.  The best-known of these dichotomies is Prensky’s ‘Digital Natives’ vs ‘Digital Immigrants’ (Prensky 2001a, 2001b).  Prensky’s argument was that today’s children and young people are … Continue reading

20 May 2013
by Aisha
1 Comment

Picky Learners

Today’s children are often described as ‘digital natives’ or ‘the net generation’ having grown up with digital devices: laptops; netbooks; Xboxes; Nintendo; Wiis; iPads/Pods/Phones; smartphones; Kindles…  Intuitively this rings true as many people have seen babies and toddlers playing with … Continue reading