It does indeed make sense for children growing up in this technology advanced world, they would be deemed more "fluent". Although, I find it hard to believe many people are actually fluent when it comes to using technology- especially for our personal use. Many use social media applications at a surface level and are simply consuming the information in front of them. Majority do not understand how or why these websites actually work. Boyd quotes, "Most formal educational settings do not prioritize digital competency, in part because of the assumption that teens natively understand anything connected to technology and in part because existing educational assessments do not require this prioritization" (p. 180). Teachers often make the assumption that students natively understand anything connected to technology - therefore we put our students at an disadvantage to develop the necessary skills they need to become the producers and understand how the websites they use everyday work. Teachers who might view themselves as a "Digital Immigrant" might try and back away from increasing the technology in the classroom, because they are set in their ways. Creating PD that creates awareness of the importance of digital competency in the classroom, and ways we can implement this to help support our students can not only be beneficial to our students, but also to the educators, where the so-called, "digital immigrants" can learn from the "digital natives".
I also found the conversation regarding Google and Wikipedia extremely interesting. Growing up, I also had imbedded in my head that Wikipedia was never acceptable to cite when writing a research paper, and we need to fact check the websites we use. With that being said, being able to search on Google, we cannot assume every link we click on is indeed fact. Many cites that pop up on Google are personalized to what we have searched prior, or what we have purchased online. So searching a topic on Google from one computer or phone might differ from someone else's.
In my classroom, I had 25 students and only 9 chrome books. The 9 computers were helpful when we were working through station rotation, otherwise it was challenging to incorporate a time where we were all able to use the computers without switching throughout the day. With that being said, with little access to computers during the school day, I never relied on students being able to access the internet to finish assignments at home. And that is where digital inequality comes into play. Though many of my students talked about playing video games on their tablets or using popular social media networks, accessing important educational websites might be time-consuming, slow, and frustrating on their internet server. Therefore, being able to access a computer at school- has been the best option for my demographic of students.
Some resources to use in the classroom -
https://www.thetechedvocate.org/consider-six-digital-resources-classroom/
Briana, I also found the conversation concerning Wikipedia and Google fascinating. While I also was taught to never, ever cite Wikipedia as a source due the reasons given to the student in the chapter, it was never suggested that Google might be a better source... if nothing else, Wikipedia could be used to find reliable sources by checking the links at the bottom of the articles. So strange. That said, I agree with you that some quality PD in this area would be so helpful to many districts, and take a little of that "fear" we might feel touching upon topics we personally aren't as familiar with.
ReplyDeleteI think your comment about our assumptions really hits the nail on the head as to why the term "digital native" is problematic. It's not that there's anything wrong with being a native, it's that the term is used to cover a group of people that it doesn't always apply to. The generalization of a generation of kids is what is harmful. I remember taking keyboarding throughout elementary and middle school, and now my current middle schoolers come to me with maybe a year of practice, if that. Is it due to the assumption that they'll already know it, so it doesn't need to be offered as a class? I also wonder why it seems to be the general education teacher's responsibility to cover this (along with our content based curriculum) when it really does need its own dedicated course. I do my best to incorporate different digital literacy skills, but there's only so much time!
ReplyDeleteBriana, I really like how you included the surface level of understanding. Kids are believed to have this overwhelming knowledge of how to use technology, but in all reality only know what is familiar. Technology is a difficult adjustment, and not every application is the same. A lot of my students had trouble simply logging into Google Classroom because they were used to clicking on an IPad application and everything being set up for them. As far as your classroom struggle, I see you. Not having enough devices for all students to participate can be difficult while planning projects and/or lessons. I feel that all should have access when needed. Maybe your school could look into grants for technology funding or something.
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