Week 10: Online Life?

The quote that got everything started for this reading comes from page 126... "to help students acquire the competencies of digital citizenship, we have to do more than make students sign an acceptable use policy..." This sparked a conversation I had several months ago with a professor at Fairmont State University (whose initials are Dr. Price) about the very topic of digital natives vs digital immigrants. I then opened my online subscription to EdWeek on October 29, 2014 to read this article... What Digital Literacy Looks Like in the Classroom the timing could not have been better. I then recalled an article I worked on with two classmates in another call several semesters ago about Maine's integration of technology tools (Laptops) to EVERY middle school student in the entire state, but failed to recognize that very few school districts were equipped for such an integration. Most school districts did not have broadband connections (NO Wireless) or very limited Internet service; nor did they have a faculty that was ready to use the technology in the classroom. The idea of giving every student a laptop to use everyday in the classroom is great idea, but there are several questions that must be addressed first... like where will they store and charge the laptops, can they take the laptops home... but the most important and overlooked problem to this type of integration was assuming the students knew all about how to use the laptops. It seems so obvious in the world we live today to just assume that because computers exist all around you that somehow you would acquire this knowledge without being taught; in fact a new common phrase is "I'm sure your child knows more about a computer than you do." I may even have been guilty of saying that to a parent, but worse than that I have made the assumption that students come into my classroom with skills they have yet to learn. Students need explicit instruction (I do), with some scaffolding instruction (we do) followed up with practice or application (you do) in order to develop proficient skills through authentic learning activities. If the learning goal is developing a blog then students need to create a blog and learn blogging etiquette, not place a "blog styled" writing assignment in a "teacher in box."

Quote 2 comes from deeper in the chapter but follows a theme around the discussions that I have been trying to have on a regular basis with my students... "How do parents and teachers open up a respectful and safe conversational space to examine ethical and social issues associated with controversial online content?" (Page 129)  Like the author points out in the reading and the experience I have had with my students many teens down play the significance of controversial material as nothing when asked directly about the content, so I follow-up with the question of then... "why do you try to hide it?" I spend a great deal of time trying to get to know my students and where they are in their lives (not prying but needing to understand where they stand according to hierarchy of needs). The time spent building a rapport also builds trust and respect, which can lead to a safe place to talk about real issues, I try very hard to provide a learning environment that students can embrace difference as difference not different right / good or wrong / bad. I then help them connect this to how "transgressive humor" affects them or what it may be like when they are the "victims" of this type of humor. In a real way this opens the conversation to other hard to discuss topics because now they have become the initiators of topics and I get to reply with just more questions or listen to them talk about the issues... they do not know how big I'm smiling (and shouting YES YES YES) on the inside when this happens.

Quote 3 comes from the sub-section "the ethics of representation" on page 136... "When exploring social power the "Golden Rule" can be used to initiate meaningful conversation about social and ethical issues." This leads to a great teachable moment into what different students believe the "Golden Rule" to be... I usually start with something like, "He who has the gold makes the rule" or "He who has the gold keeps the gold and then splits," which is usually met with some mixed laughter and a lot of correcting to the actual "Golden Rule," but I have to explore further into what does that really mean???? Another great segway into conversations about sensitive topics and the impact they have on you and others. Much of this really surrounds the ideology of cultures grow and change from what was once taboo and deviant to becoming a norm or folkway, which is a generational changing mechanism as acceptance to the blurred lines. The converse of this is equally true in that in the blurring of the lines calls for action rather than apathetic change (at least that's how I understand Picasso's aphorism..."Art is the lie that tells the truth.") Parody can be a powerful tool reign in the radical issues, but students need strong understanding of what crosses the line of ethics and what it means to misrepresent someone in any form especially digital formats like videos or recordings without permission.





Citation:

EdWeek: Online publication

Hobbs, R. (2011). Research as Authentic Inquiry. In Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.