Digital smart

Davis helps students “learn how to learn” by showing them how to use digital tools properly. Students have to look for word meanings on Google and they have to search for extra information for their assignment reports. She mentions that students must be thinkers and not just followers. They also learn how to use wikis, blog online collaboration effectively to be able to connect with students from around the world. Her goal is to bring students to be comfortable with the use of new technology. Davis view on teaching is that is you use only pen and paper; some students might not be able to succeed as much.

To empower students, you have to make students responsible for their learning. They also have to be able to share with one another their knowledge. They can be “expert”, term used by Vygotsky, in something that is more difficult for others and create a community of learners within the classroom but in the digital world as well. It is with interest from students that Davis is able to enrich the classroom curriculum and to help all students learn.

It is important for students to collaborate with others from around the world because this way, they can share ideologies and ways of thinking. They can expand their cultural background and form their own opinion on world issues. Also, the web makes us able to find information from around the world and student’s curiosity can be satisfied in a way by talking with kids their own age. Students can also connect with them because no matter where you are, teenagers feel and live the same experiences.

One way I could connect students with the world is by creating some kind of activities with Google earth and a blog by making them look for certain places in the world and by making them discuss it with students who are from this place or have been there.  

The Digital Generation Project

Henry Jenkins talks about how difficult it is to mix new technology and old time teaching. He says that schools are currently shutting information because they do not really know how to use information on the web. I think that it really depends of the school because I have seen many teachers that, even though they are not familiar with all the programs out there, they still encourage students to participate and help them to find accurate information from the web and how to use it in respect to the authors. He also mentions that schools have block information because of vocabulary matters that seems to be offensive when in fact it is found in one of the most famous book in the world. It is true that sometimes that kind of information should not be block because they are classical piece of work but there is so many bad texts and bad language on the web that you cannot avoid having filters. They are also blocking access to youtube which has rich information. Schools and teachers are, according to Jenkins, detooling students from what society expects them to learn, technology.

Also, he is talking about the participation gap which means that students who do not have access at home to technology like cameras and video editing programs and so on are even more behind the others because they cannot learn it in school. I totally agree with that because it is not fair for students who do not have the opportunity to practice with technology. Sometimes teachers give computer based project assuming that everyone would understand what to do and, many won’t say a thing but, due to lack of experimentation, they won’t be able to perform the task.

This creates problem between generations because youngsters will be ask to work with technology but their teachers are not able to follow. The best way to avoid such a problem is by creating online communities for teachers. This could help them not feel alone. Also, another solution mentioned by Jenkins is to go see and get in touch with people from the community who are able to help. These people could be resources for both teachers and students which could reduce the gap between them. This could mean a better communication and better collaboration between students and teachers. It could create collaborative classroom which is the aim of bringing technology in the classroom. This means other ways of teaching and learning then the empirical way it used to be.

Collaborative Wikis

The video we watched was about Beyond Textbook which is an internet application where you can find share ideas and different ways to teach. It was first created by the Vail school in order to work as collaborative partner across the school district. Teachers overthere started by identifying the objectives and state standard then they established a common plan time. The idea was to digitalized information to be able to share it using Mind Touch. This helps create collaborative wikis that could be used by all teachers of the district and beyond.

For teachers, it is a good place to start their preparation because you can always find great ideas that really interest the kids and that you can always rely on. This type if sharing ideas is beneficial for students because they feel a connection with other students from the district because they know that they are learning the same thing as they are.

I think that this type of collaboration is really fun because sometimes it is hard to find new ideas and having a bank like that is precious. Also, an idea can pop in your mind when you are doing something that someone else has done so you can share as well. This can also mean that you can create projects with other schools because, if you can get in touch with a teacher from another school, you can have your students collaborate with students that they do not know. In an ESL class, this could mean that they can have a authentic learning situation.

The Good Play Project

Today, we saw a video about The Good Play Project which was about showing what is ethical to kids. This project is really interesting because with the amount of information and dis-information we can find on the web, it is difficult, even for adults, to figure out what we can do or not. Young kids think they can do anything with what they find on the web put actually there is little we can do. It is our job as teachers to show them how to use information found on the many Medias presented to them. Like said in the video, kids are thinking that they can write anything they want because they think they are talking to their friends. We have to make them aware that what they produce on a webpage, blog or other personal page can be seen by everybody.

 

 

Also, I know that some kids are playing on the internet by creating page with false identities and have fun doing prank on people. It is important to let them know that they can hurt people and that it can affect more than what they think. Also, the constant raise of web bullying is something we should talk about students because they often know that it is going on but not doing anything about it is unethical.

 

 

As role-model, we should also be careful with using too much of ICT’s. Kids are used to it so much that when you ask them to sit down and read something, they are unable and they try to find the short cut. It is important for them to learn how to work with other things than computer and to have more strategies then just looking on the web because eventually, it will crash! Nothing can stop it from happening!