Rheingold organizes his book according to five digital literacies--attention, crap detector, participation, collaboration, and being net smart. The attention chapter really hit home for me. Rheingold opens the chapter talking about undergrad students in the mid 2000s bringing laptops to class, and rather than paying attention to lecture, they were focused on Facebook. That took me back to undergrad chemistry classes my freshman year...I was that student. It was too tempting having that distraction in front of me. Facebook messaging versus conversions to moles, no comparison. Similar to The Information Diet, Rheingold talks about email apnea, and the dopamine high we get from our technologies. The attention component is mainly about meta-cognition, thinking more about your thinking. While reading, I found myself attempting some of the meditations. Participation, collaboration, and being net smart had more to do with online etiquette, and social components of the Internet such as blogs or social media. The combination of all these literacies yields a net savvy individual.
So why is it so important to be net smart? Living in an ever changing world where people are willing to wait hours for the latest iPhone, we must know how to best utilize and be efficient with our technologies. As educators, we must teach our children how to be net smart. Sure, they know how to use technology, usually better than us...but, do they know how to utilize the tools for academic purposes?
I think about my own classroom in regards to the attention component. We have iPads at my school that students use daily in my classroom. We utilize iPads for the ALEKS math program, for students to access the Google Classroom page where we post all material needed for class, and for students to create content. But, much like undergrad me, the students often get distracted with other things on the iPads--listening to music, YouTube videos, or games. To prevent this requires constant supervision and clear rules and expectations prior to turning the students loose, and even then, you still have distractions. In regards to collaboration and participation online, I have tried using educational social media sites in the past like EdModo. Some of my classes did great utilizing the site for comments about class assignments, confusion with content, etc. Unfortunately, some classes didn't do so well leaving inappropriate comments resulting in me turning the comment component off. I think the issue to the latter was a rookie teacher mistake; not enough modeling of using the comment component and/or guidelines.
"Rather than paying attention to lecture, they were focused on Facebook." With my students it isn't Facebook, but the distraction element is very much there. How do we teach our students to pay more attention; to focus on the task at hand rather than wandering as whatever whim hits them? I there there is a lot here to be explored. There is a lot of power in participation. In the process of learning what they need, how much time will be wasted playing computer games or texting friends? Authentic activities may help but, ultimately, students will need to learn how to focus their time and see value in staying in the game. We'll all be learning as we utilize the internet and technology.
ReplyDeleteI practiced some of the meditations, too. It was pretty eye-opening. It's amazing how much there is to distract us, and even when we think we are focused, many times we are not. I can't imagine how it is for children who are still young and have not learned the skills or even reasons to focus! I guess I'm glad I grew up pre-smartphone. It definitely gives us a lot to think about when we are responsible for so many young minds!
ReplyDeleteThe attention component has been a struggle for my students as well. My 8th grade Journalism class was designed as a project based course where students often conduct online research. Thus, they bring their own device daily. I have found students playing games when they were supposed to be completing work. To my surprise, many of the students who were playing games actually submit their class projects. Could it be that they were multitasking between the game and their project?
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I also struggle with the attention component (for myself and for my students). Sometimes the temptation is too great! And I believe that retraining our capacity for attention is the first step to becoming more net savvy. I have the feeling that it’s not going to be easy to inspire our students to train that skill even with constant modelling and reminding. In my practice I have also experience issues with collaboration online. Not making expectations clear for my students or not paying attention to small details in the activity can lead to disaster. I guess that I learned the lesson the hard way. Teaching skills for being effective collaborators and participants online is a necessity these days!
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