What is something you are still wanting to research? Is there something about technology you still want to know, to learn, to explore? Are there ways you want to implement digital literacy but you're not sure how? Come up with 3-5 ideas/suggestions.
Blog by Sunday, June 25th and Respond by Monday, June 26th.
A few ideas I am still pondering about would be if students are stuck to their phones all of the time anyway, why should schools still teach digital literacy? Should they be moving away from it? Or making it more half and half rather than all digital? It’s just a thought… but it just makes me wonder. Also, how can we keep our students safe while using technology? Are there different ways to implement this?
ReplyDeleteThe biggest question I have overall is, what will the future hold?
It is scary to think of how far we have come just within a few years. I can’t even imagine what technology will look like and the use of it every day as well as in the classrooms in 5 or so years.
I think the question whether should schools still teach digital literacy even if student stuck to their phones is a good question. I personally think that schools should still teach digital literacy because students need to have enough digital literacy to explore and navigate the digital world to select those tools that can help improve their learning. I also think students should be digitally literate so that they are aware of all the online platforms that digital tools provide to facilitate our communication and collaboration on different contents.
DeleteI recently learned that too much screen time causes damage to your brain by releasing dopamine. This makes the kids desensitized and difficult to focus while reading or writing. Advancement in technology has made all of us a good visual learner but it has definitely ruined our creativity and analyzing skills.
DeleteSydney, think of it this way...if we're in our cars all the time, should we still teach folks how to drive? Or teacher Driver's Ed? Just because they're on their phones all the time doesn't mean they're using them as tools. When you teach someone how to use something properly, it changes how they view it. And you also teach them digital citizenship, so they are taught what social norms with phones should look like. If we DON'T teach them these skills, then THAT'S when we're in trouble...
DeleteI found visual diagrams and simulations very helpful in both learning and explaining difficult concepts. I actually have been searching apps for animating, building visual 3D diagrams, and simulating abstract concepts, and I have been able to find one app called Blender that can help build and animate 3 dimensional objects. But, I still need to find more apps for those task and to learn and explore how to use them for building and animating 3D objects.
ReplyDeleteI know there are some apps that help grade exams, but the problem with these apps is that they grade each question according to the final answer. In other words, these apps don’t consider the steps one take to get the final answer. For instance, if one is solving a math problem and she/he uses a minus sign instead of a plus sign, that person could end up getting a different answer even though she/he uses the right approach. I don’t think it is fair for students to lose all points for just a simple mistake in the calculation. So, I wonder if/how these apps can be improved to grade exams in a way that considers both the final answer and the steps used to get the final grade.
I totally agree with what you have said about the apps that grade each question according to the exact answer. First of all I think it is just wrong for teachers to use this strategy to test the students and especially in subjects that involve mathematical problems. However, it will be really helpful if one can come up with an app that grades you according the work you have shown and not just the final answer.
DeleteI didn't realize that there were apps that let you grade an exam. I can see a time saving benefit to this, but I would be worried it would cause more issues if there was something that was not graded correctly and then the teacher would have to spend even more time fixing the graded tests. Hmm, I will definitely have to look into this!
DeleteFor the past 2-3 weeks, we discussed a lot about the importance of developing students' digital literacy and the positive effects of technology on education in general. Now, I want to learn more about the technology and its negative effects on education, health, communication, society and our environment. More specifically, the negative effects of technology on literacy. For example: Many students now rely too heavily on tools like Grammarly and Autocorrect that now they struggle with grammar and spelling skills. Moreover, the advancement in technology has led to carelessness and decrease in critical thinking and analysis in some ways. Can we develop strategies to ensure a healthy Digital Media Diet?
ReplyDeleteWe know the many benefits of incorporating digital tools with education such as providing great platforms for communication and collaboration, but we also need to recognize the side effects that technology can bring. If we don’t recognize the down effects of technology, it can bring problems like less interactive society as described in the “can we auto-correct humanity” video we have watched. Therefore, to make the most out of digital tools and avoid their down effects, we need to be digitally literate, be aware of the down effects of technology, and just like we need to learn how to utilize medicine the right way, we need to learn how to utilize technology the right way.
DeleteThis is a great observation and actually a little scary. I do think having everything so easily accessible on hand is causing struggle with spelling, and grammar. Is there a fix to this? This would be interesting to research.
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ReplyDeleteTenzin hits on a REALLY important topic. Sydney touched on the idea behind it, but there is vast research on WHY we need to be teaching digital literacy in a way that reminds students to put down their phones. Teach them what it's doing to their necks, their frontal lobe, their eyesight. If they know, then you've reached the first step. We can't blame them for being on their devices all the time if they don't know the dangers. Folks didn't know smoking caused cancer until the 1970s, so they smoked...a lot. Now they know, so smoking has dropped drastically since then. People who choose to smoke know the dangers. You have to let students know the dangers. Teach them how to use their devices to learn, to teach, and to produce and that they need to limit the time they're on them.
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