As a teacher I feel that there are certain things that are unavoidable when it comes to technology though. I can't control the things my students see and text on their phones, and I can't control the social interactions that they may make on their facebook, twitter, tumblr, etc. But as a teacher, I CAN teach students the potential dangers that they may face via the internet and their cellular devices. As a student, I feel like I have appreciated hearing the stories and the personal conversations that teachers have given about the dangers of the internet more than hearing a speaker just telling me that cyberbullying is bad. Everyone thinks "oh that'll never happen to me.", but in all actuality it happens to more people around us than we know.
All in all, I feel like the media has done a great job at exposing the dangers of the internet and use of cellular devices....so as teachers it's our duty just to protect our students to the best of our ability.
I do not want to completely contradict your final thoughts, but I feel like the media has not done a great job with exposing the dangers. It is not so much that they are not covered in the media, but it is that the media covers it in a way that promotes fear and not knowledge. I think when it comes to cyber bullying we should be honest with our students and promote an environment where they feel comfortable coming to you if they are experiencing cyber bullying. I really liked your response and I like that we are all reflecting on what internet safety really means for our future students.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on how to correctly structure a lesson that involves technology so that it is used appropriately. I have seen that happen in schools before too - teacher set kids free to research on the computer and they end up not doing what they are supposed to. My only concern is that if you give students a set of websites to research and do not allow them to find them on their own, does that not a)limit what information they can use in their paper/project and b)kind of defeat the purpose of researching which is finding a suitable and reliable source? My suggestion would be to provide them with a few sites and then require them to find an additional site that they find appropriate (of course, checking with you first). They would still be able to do some proper research and they would have to support their reasoning for choosing that site.
ReplyDeleteI agree on using technology for education appropriately and that it can be useful as long as it is done correctly. However, I don't think the media does a great job exposing the dangers of the internet. Yes, there are articles about celebrities and their misfortunes with technology whether its inappropriate pictures being posted or get hacked but they don't actually talk about ways to avoid these problems. Also, they only really mention when it happens to celebrities when it in fact happens to people in the general public more often.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there are things that we cannot control, but we really should focus on those that we can control or change. You talked about hearing personal stories about the dangers of internet use, and I totally agree that this is a very powerful tool to use when teaching students how to keep themselves safe. I know that people can tell me not to do something a thousand times, but I will keep doing it until I have experienced the negative consequences on my own, or I have heard directly from someone who has. Since we obviously do not want our students to experience these things on their own, I think we should learn from other peoples' situations to equip our students for the future. The internet is not going anywhere and our students need to be safe on it.
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