Digital Literacies: Social Learning and Classroom Practices
Chapter 4: "The skills and attitudes that provide young
people with opportunities to participate effectively in this world are often
not the skills and attitudes rewarded in our school system" (Carrington,
p.76).
I agree with this quote to a certain point. Looking at it
from a technological view I would say that this quote is completely true,
students aren't learning about technology tools that they have access to at
school. Schools really need to look at the rapid increases in technology today
and how they are being used in the real world. We need to teach our students
the correct skills to help them become successful once they are out in the real
world. We need to implement the technology tools that they are using into our
classrooms in an efficient way for them.
Chapter 5: "It is not enough to know how to set up a
blog and how to read and write; there is a need to understand what blogging is,
what it can do and how blogs work as part of the meaning-making" (2009,
p.82).
I completely agree with this quote. At the beginning of this
course we were given guidelines about an effective blog and what we should
follow if we chose to. It was nice to be given examples and resources to look
at to show us how we should make blog postings and what our blog should
resemble. Students are the exact same way, they need examples and guidelines to
follow to help them be successful in whatever it is that they are doing. They
need to know why they are creating a blog and what their blog should include.
Students need to see what blogs en-tell and what they are used for. They also
need to see the many features that blogs offer and how to use them. They need
to understand that there is a reason and a purpose for making their blog.
Chapter 6: "After a number of years of being locked
down by a narrow and prescriptive curriculum, constantly operating under the
shadow of professional accountability, using online gameplay is a risky
business" (Merchant, p.108).
Bringing new technologies into the classroom is a scary
process and sometimes there can be risks. Students need to be monitored when
they are using technology and we need to make sure that they are following
along with the task given. Online gaming has the exact same issues. We need to
make sure that the game is educational for our students and that there is
nothing involved with the game that goes against our school code and conduct.
We need to make sure that there is no violence or obscene language and make
sure that the parents are on board with the game as well. There are a lot of
things that you must consider in order to bring an online game into the
classroom and that are what they did with the game in this chapter.
I agree that making sure students are safe and respectful when they are in virtual worlds or on social media is very important. Interestingly, in my work with using social network site with 5th grade students, the teachers and I were surprised at how diligent young people were about following the rules and letting us know when they saw something inappropriate going on in the site. It provided us with an excellent opportunity to teach students how to ethically behave online as well as solve problems occuring between students in the off-line environment. We often found that disagreements online were extension of disagreements going on between students in class or on the playground.
ReplyDeleteI agree that online gaming should serve an educational purpose, and that is something I had such a hard time getting my students last year to understand, mostly the boys. They just did not understand why I wouldn't let them play a motorcycle game where they drove a motorcycle on a course, and they could make the driver crash. I tried to explain to them that if I was going to allow them to take class time to play a game online, they were going to learn something or practice some marketable skill. This year, I have been preparing a MakerSpace for my Library, and some of the options for my students who wish to make things using technology are types of games that I feel have an educational purpose: Kodu Lab, Sims City, etc.
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