Cybersafety

The article Cybersafety in the Classroom by Kevin Butler was very interesting.  Right off the bat, the article stated that we need to teach web usage education as soon as students are on the computer.  I have always believed that students are never too young to learn how to use computers and how to keep themselves safe while using them.  I begin teaching 1^st and 2^nd graders computer safety in general by explaining that they shouldn’t believe everything they see or hear when they are on the computer.  As the article states, we can teach students this young about passwords and why we need to keep them safe.  This is always the easiest way for me to begin teaching my students about being safe on the computer.  I usually say something to the affect that they wouldn’t give another student their lunch number because they don’t want other students using their number to buy their lunch.  I explain that a password is the same thing.  They don’t want to share their computer password with other students because they want their projects to be kept safe, and they don’t want other students to do bad things on the computer using their password.

As stated in the article, and I also see it at the school I teach in, teachers don’t feel comfortable teaching Internet Safety to their students because they don’t know enough about the topic.  Also, due to test requirements and limited time, most teachers don’t teach anything to their students that aren’t going to be on a state test.  I think that teaching computer skills and Internet safety should be a shared responsibility among all school staff members, a lot of times teachers and administrators forget that their school librarians are able to teach these skills to students.  Technology and Internet safety are things that most librarians these days know about and are able to teach as well.  My feeling is that even if technology changes at a rapid pace, if I can at least teach my students the basics of using computers and protecting themselves then they will be able to use these skills regardless of how computers and the Internet change.  I also hope that by trying to inform my co-workers about the latest Internet Safety tips and ways that computers are changing, they can incorporate this information into their lessons with students.  If the whole school community is involved in teaching Internet safety, it will be easier for students to understand.  Also, students will see that all their teachers are on the same page when it comes to Internet safety.

All in all, the Cybersafety article is one that I agree with.  Everything stated in the article are things that I have always thought to be true. 

Good Play Project Reflection

I found all of the readings for this week very interesting.  However, I found the readings on the Good Play Project especially interesting to read and listen to.  One thing that I really got thinking about is how I go about teaching students to be technologically literate.  I spend a lot of time talking to them about becoming good information seekers online, accessing the correct information, how to tell if they are getting the correct information they need, and I focus a lot of time on Internet Safety as well.  I would like to think that I focus on also being ethical users of the Internet by making sure students cite all the sources they use.  However, my focus on ethical use doesn’t tend to go much beyond citing sources and making sure students don’t plagiarize.  I think I am definitely going to need to rework my lessons when it comes to Internet Safety and Ethical Use.

Another thing that I read about, and wasn’t very surprised about, is how young people are “devoid of ethical thinking or consideration for others when they are using the web”.  Another thing that was said during the video was that one young girl thought the Internet was there for her and not anyone else, and that young people don’t tend to think beyond themselves when online.  I unfortunately see this in my day-to-day interactions with students at school.  Everything is about them, they want things when they want them, and they don’t consider how their actions might affect other people.  Teachers are always trying to teach our students these days how to have morals, think ethically, and be compassionate towards others.  I remember when I was younger, my parents were always instilling good manners (calling adults Mr. and Mrs, etc), teaching us to do things for others through volunteering, and to be considerate of others by thinking before we spoke and how are actions will affect the people around us.  I think these basic life lessons aren’t being focused on like they were when I was growing up. 

I really hope that our young people, and adults, can find a way to get back to these basic moral and ethical thoughts.  If this can happen in day-to-day interactions, then the same morals and ethics will be used online as well.  After all, citizenship is the same online as it is offline.

Information Fluency and Diigo

21^st Century Information Fluency:

Even though we are into our second week of class, every time I read an article or listen to a podcast on a topic, it just makes me feel even more confident in getting my students to use the databases that schools provide for them to use.  In library school, Boolean searching is one of the things that I remember learning about and using certain words to ensure you get the results you want from your search.  I was surprised to learn that using the word “or” in a Boolean search can give you different results depending on what search engine you are using.  However, using the same word in a database is more likely to give you the results you are looking for.  I found it interesting to hear Chris Sherman tell us to trust the search engines if you aren’t an expert searcher.  After learning about Filter Bubbles last week, every time I use Google or Yahoo to search for something, I feel a little more skeptical than I did before in terms of whether I am getting all the information that I am looking for.  If Boolean searching is treated differently depending on the search engine, again I would feel skeptical using the search engines all the time.  Again, I feel much more confident encouraging my students to use the databases that the school provides for them to use.

Diigo:

While I have heard of social bookmarking before, I haven’t heard of Diigo until now.  I really found it interesting to read about what Diigo is and the different features that it has, along with ways that students can benefit from using it.  As of right now, I haven’t found anything negative about using Diigo with students.  I think that the biggest positive is that it can help students keep their information for a project organized and in one place.  Students are always forgetting something they need for a project, loosing things they had wanted to use for their project, and if they are working in a group with someone, they have to wait until they see their partner again before they can talk about the project with them.  With Diigo, they can keep all of their information in one place online where they can access it from anywhere, anytime.  They also have the feature to collaborate and share their information with their partners without actually having to be in the same room with them.  While they have the ability to communicate with other resources as well, Diigo may be a little more secure and controlled than other ways.  I am really looking forward to using Diigo with my students.

Search Engines and Filter Bubbles

21^st Century Information Fluency: Search Engines and Filter Bubbles:  

I was very surprised to learn that when using a search engine, such as Google, we aren’t actually searching the live web.  I was always under the impression that when you are searching for information on a certain topic, your results are actual webpages to read from.  However, this isn’t the case at all.  The search engine has made a database of information that comes up when you are searching for information.  It is also alarming to know that all of the information you are looking for may not actually be available since search engines use crawlers and spiders to compile the information for the search engine’s database.  I also assumed that since you are supposedly searching the live web that you are getting fairly current information.  However, this is not the case either.  I was surprised to learn that some information can be years old.  While I am constantly promoting the databases that our school district pays for when students need to look up information, I am beginning to feel that those databases are even more important than previously thought and should be used all the time by students and teachers.

I have never heard of the term “Filter Bubbles” before.  However, somehow I had noticed that this sort of personalized searching was taking place.  As Eli said in the video, Facebook does keep track of what we click on and then it decides what information it thinks we should see.  I didn’t know this same thing was occurring with Internet searching.   I sort of find this irritating for several reasons.  One, how is someone at Facebook supposed to know what I am really interested in without knowing me as a person.  Second, when I am searching for something (Ex. Egypt) I am expecting to get as much information as possible about that country.  The fact that two people go two different results lists was alarming because the filter bubble was trying to personalize the search for the two people.  I don’t think that someone at Facebook or any other website has a right to decide what we are interested in reading about online.  We have to have control over what results we get when we are searching the web for information.