Question:
"Some people have strong feelings about being in the public domain (meaning their pictures, thoughts, interests... can be potentially accessed by people they don't know). Explain your feelings? How do we address these concerns as teachers and role models? How do we teach this?"
Answer:
when i was in my last year of high school, internet was a strange new thing i became aware of and started using slowly - literally dial-up was no fun! not everyone had access to the internet and it seemed rather expensive to get it. i really didn't understand what all the fuss was about. i was much more excited to get a cell phone the size of an encyclopedia.
i also remember reading george orwell's novel 1984 without realizing then the significant impact the internet would have on our private/public lives. similar, in some ways, to the pervasive government surveillance throughout the protagonist winston smith's world. i think people who fear the internet often liken it to this idea of "big brother."
as the internet became more advanced and more public, so have i. and yes, i have had pictures, posts, and emails that i wish had never been uploaded or sent... luckily, i quickly learned my lessons and eventually survived the embarrassment.
throughout this learning process, i never really had anyone guide me. my college and university professors were barely internet literate themselves and it seemed that no one had a chance to keep up with the light speed pace and growing capabilities that the internet allowed.
Now, teachers are facing the challenge of how to teach responsible internet use while guiding students to create public profiles that they will carry with them the rest of their lives. a pretty daunting challenge!
as a teacher, i think it is important to teach kids to be safe and responsible in all situations whether online or not. we should provide students with the tools and skills they will need to be successful in all aspects of their lives. they will make mistakes but hopefully they will be minor and provide opportunities for growth.
how do we this... specifically? as a humanities teacher, i love to sneak learning in when the kids don't notice. so, as we are working on a project, we also learn about a new online application. this then gives me the chance to discuss with my students the various issues surrounding their experiences online. for example, the issues surrounding choosing a username and password, signing-up for e-newsletters, sharing online documents with friends, etc. teaching them useful skills through an authentic learning experience.
there's no point running from the fact that we all have public profiles. the idea is to be smart about what you put out there. big brother is indeed always watching...
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I like how you said, "sneak learning in when kids don't notice," with reference to new online applications. This is how it should be. These tools are just tools. They augment learning and are in fact well supported by learning theory - from cognitivism and contructivism to social constructionism and connectivism. Hey, at least they all start with a "C". When students can learn to use these tools without taking their focus off the ultimate goal of constructing and reconstructing knowledge, then we have REAL technology integration. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you more and more as I work through this 1:1 course. It makes me think of The Giver (Lois Lowry) and Anthem (Ayn Rand) from grade 8 literature. There were the consequences of worlds without choice. Students must have choice. But now instead of reseaching an encyclopedia article or a few books, kids have a whole WORLD of choices. We must teach them more than ever how to evaluate all the possible sources.
ReplyDeleteAn example of my learning curve: Yesterday I was researching negative side effects of a specific vitamin supplement. I couldn't understand why I wasn't finding the information readily until I looked at the name of the sites. They were all sites SELLING vitamins and why should they advertise negative side effects. So I found and clicked on the Mayo Clinic site and found plenty. What did this "student" learn? Evaluate the sites and be more specific with the terms of your search. Better late than never ;-)
Shannon, thanks for your thoughts. Do you think that the more and more avatars seem to be bcoming common place that it makes sense for students to create "stage names" do represent themsleves on the web? It could lead to interesting questions about "Are we the same person online as in real life?" and "Why famnous people (celebrities and authors) have often used false names".
ReplyDeletePersonally, that's what I will be teaching my own children. To choose a "online ID" which can't be necessarily traced back to their real selves. That way, anyone who knows them in real life can will still be familiar with their online profile but strangers will only know them as the avatar they've created.
I think protecting teenagers and young adults from themselves is impossible. More and more young people will undoubtedly upload images and videos of themselves (and their friends) that they may find embarassing later.
Just as rationalist education used to teach facts and not social skills, more and more now we have to make sure the balance in everything they publish online is weighed heavily on helping the student navigate the social, moral, ethical and polite side of technology.
I would love to see Middle Schoolers create a wiki of "acceptable behavior online". For example, is it ok to post your friend's ugly shot without asking them first? Should you say whatever you think without researching it first or if you research it should you quote the website/author too?
Lots of questions arise and the best people to answer these questions are the stakeholders (ie, the kids) with a little guidance by us mere mortals who are (perhaps) a little more aware of the possible fall-out.
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI am glad I was not a teenager, or early twenties for that matter, in the age of the internet. Now as a mature adult, I post much about my life on line and it is very public. My lifestyle, views, etc. are much different than when I was younger. I can imagine what would have gone on line in my days of youthful exuberance.
The internet has really changed my life and I think it makes my life so much richer to have an seemingly infinite amount of information and contacts at literally at my fingertips.