Although this packet contains the views of many different individuals, for the most part all of these educators, researchers, and policy makers assume a common understanding: that digital media is THE way that youth communicate with the world, each other, and their learning. Obviously, the rise of digital media has changed much, and has opened new avenues of expression to today's youth (and adults..), but I always get uncomfortable anytime anyone - especially educators - make blanket generalizations. While many students do appear to engage with this technology on a daily basis, not all students prefer it. In my classes I always have a student or two who just isn't into computers. Last year I had a pair of girls who make their own clothes, didn't have facebook accounts, and vocally expressed their disdain for everything "computer." While in the midst of doing an online research project and creating their own webpages, one girl said to me," can't we just make a poster - what ever happened to paint, markers, and paper - something to touch..." Now, I'm not suggesting that a digital change is not taking place, I just believe in using caution, and listening to young people. Anytime any one suggests that "this, or that"is the answer for all students, I get skeptical.
OK - that said, one area in this packet the readings that fascinates me is the idea of new moral implications that have arisen thanks to digital media. The writer includes concerns for privacy, safety (think the myspace killer!!!), as well as new ideas concerning intellectual property rights. This becomes a weird issue for teachers as well. For the last two years, I have run a myspace group with my Academic Decathlon team. But then I started getting nervous, especially as other kids in my classes began "friending" me. Recently I decided to close my account, and transfer the group administration off to one of the team's top students. It just makes one think about how to balance the possibilities with the pitfalls of all this enhanced communication.
I think, like anything, there needs to be balance. Because the world is so digitalized now, we have to give our students the opportunities to learn and become comfortable with digital technology for the world outside of school. I think its all a question of relevance, too- what if they wanted to start marketing their homemade creations? Or wanted to show others how to easily and economically make their own clothes? They need those digital skills. But again, all about balance.
ReplyDeleteThe intellectual property issue is very interesting right now. I was just talking with a fellow teacher about piratebay.com - the place to download torrents and what not. A lot of people are doing this - despite the notion that this constitutes a kind of theft. Of course there are those, however, who believe that this is not theft - but a kind of shift in the reality of IP and the idea of exchange. While some organizations such as the recording industry are fighting "piracy" head on, many companies (typically smaller ones) are making money on the web while simultaneously releasing their "products" for free. It's hard not to wonder if kids growing up in today's world are able to navigate what has become such a murky issue. I can see why many students seem baffled by the concept of plagiarism - sure they can learn to avoid it in their essays - but many seem not to understand why they need to. Perhaps this is because they see the issue of ownership in a way that is fundamentally different than it was envisioned before the internet. The reading, Living and Learning with New Media, deals with this issue - and the idea of students creating "original" products from samples and pieces of other people's work. If this has become, or is becoming, the new reality, then it seems that the possibility for massive change may be on the horizon for the concept of intellectual property itself. Those who dub themselves "cyber anarchists" - who see the internet as a democratizing force, and who often spend hours creating software programs, games, and applications which they then distribute free of charge - may be spearheading what will all too soon be commonplace. At such a point in time, navigating the divide between how we treat IP on the web and how we treat IP in the real world could become ever more difficult.
ReplyDeleteThere is also the issue of how to behave when nothing is really private any more. It used to be that a small printing of ideas, just for a few select people, was possible. Now the idea that "two can keep a secret as long as one of them is dead" seems to have new ramifications.
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