The Article, The Web We Need to Give Students by Audrey Watters explains how technology is growing at a rapid pace, and how we are expected to keep up with it individually. As we get older we learn how the different tools will help us grow. These lessons should be instilled upon us from a younger age. High schools are starting to teach their students about the opportunities technology holds for us. Implementing laptops and iPads in the place of books is a growing trend throughout schools starting as young as Elementary School. Even in college students can take classes to help further their knowledge with certain computer programs, hinting its key to success.
Social media can push you closer to your aspired accomplishments, or hinder your chances. This is up to you and your use of the source. Students are not taught about the positive things social media can add to your career; instead schools block the programs from being used. Watters states, “While some schools are turning to social media monitoring firms to keep an eye on students online, rarely do schools give students the opportunity to demonstrate the good work that they do publicly” (Pg. 2). The peers won’t know what good can come out of the technology if it’s being shut down when they enter the building. I’m thrilled our first Interdisciplinary Studies task was to set up multiple of these social media accounts. We are starting our lesson and our future with a positive reinforcement that these sites will help us get to where we need to be, and help us meet the people we will need to meet. Classes should be taught on how to manage your own domain. Putting yourself out there will increase your chances of making those valuable connections early on. The responsibility of having your own website is also a lesson the students can take from. The Web We Need to Give Students mentions a teacher named Clarence Fisher who spent a week with his students educating them on all that their technology has to offer (Watters, Pg. 3). As he mentions, “Within a week, the kids were able to understand what their options were and how their site was affected by changes they made. As time went on, we talked a lot more about technical issues (backup, recovery, privacy options, hosting laws in different countries, etc.). But we also talked a lot more about digital citizenship, safety, control, design, etc. The kids saw the site much more as their own and their responsibility” (Watters, Pg. 4). Taking even a few days to educate students will put their idea of social media in a new light. I will move forward knowing how vital the internet and technology as a whole is to my career.
1 Comment
2/10/2017 02:38:26 pm
I love this! I think your focus on the time it takes to help students understand the complicated issues involved with working online is so important. I hope we do that a bit in this class, but I wish we had so much more time to dedicate to the conversations...
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