Article Review #3: Keeping Students Safe Online

Article Review #3

"Keeping Students Safe Online: What Works" By Tech & Learning, Gwen Solomon, Editor


Right away the first thing that stood out to me in this article was the emphasis on how instilling fear doesn't work to keep students safe online. I remember that this was the type of strategy that the teachers at my schools used growing up. It didn't work, I mean I've always been safe and responsible online but it wasn't because of the fear tactics. I think this was that I thought it was so straight forward, and just common sense. And for a lot of students I think that it can be they don't have any first hand experience with this, so it doesn't scare them when you talk about it. I think that Patricia Agatston has it right when she said, "kids are saturated with consequences, and what they need are more skills training, for example, resistance skills, self-management and social skills training." I agree that if we focus on teaching those skills it can help more then what we are doing now. Besides the fact that fear doesn't work, its not applicable. Once you tell them don't do something, what can they do with it? If you teach skills they can practice them and actually use them in their life. 

Another part of the article that I think we need to emphasize more for students is that of privacy on the internet. That its vague and just because you think you have it, doesn't mean you do. I know I didn't take that seriously and thinking back, if I really understood what could happen to me and my career because of stuff online there is tons I would have done differently when I first had my myspace or facebook. 

At the end of the article it also talks about how its not just internet safety anymore, but really there should be talks about cell phone safety. That sharing and "sexting" is something serious and not just something funny. I thought it was interesting that they said that students were surprised when they learned that the pictures they sent were shared with other people. 

The last thing that was talked about that stood out to me was really talking to students about sharing work, ownership and copyright. Its so easy to accidentally use something not thinking that you are doing anything wrong when you could be. The real world consequences should be better explained to students when they start working on papers and working with the internet so they know that these issues are big deals and not something to take lightly. 

Article Review #2: Transliteracy

Article Review #2

"Transliteracy - New Library What It Means for Instruction" By Paige Jaeger

In the article we learn about the term transliteracy, which Paige Jaeger defines as "the ability to read, listen to, view, understand, synthesize, and apply what we gather across differing platforms" (p. 44, 2011). I agree with the idea that communication has officially changed, with new technology and forms of communication that weren't around years ago it makes sense. I also thought it was interesting the idea that we have to be more active in our readings, no longer can we read something and take for granted that it is a credible source or actually that it has any real facts at all. With the internet accessibility these days anyone can create a website or post an article without needing to check facts or have any at all.

As the article moves forward to talk about how transliteracy needs to be our new focus, I can see how that would be important because of the use of technology in almost every job. But I feel that its valid to take a step back and focus keep in mind that there is still a large literacy problem in America and that our students aren't reading up to standards in many schools, so you can't always focus on transliteracy if the basic literacy skills aren't present. With that in mind the argument that we need to help students be able to critically evaluate what they are reading to make sure it is worth using and credible, is important.  I mentioned above, with so much information you need to be able to tell what is good and what isn't. I also liked how another skill that the students need is direction when searching on the internet, or they could keep searching forever. You need to know what you are looking for, and be able to evaluate the information so that you can know when you to stop looking.

As for the end of the article, where it talks about slogans that help students navigate through internet resources and build transliteracy skills there were a few that really hit me as important (or more so then the others). The first was not to just reiterate what you read but to really understand it. I think its important whenever researching that students know they are looking for understanding and not just for an answer they can write down or give to a teacher. The second one was that they should have a destination, they shouldn't just be looking aimlessly through internet resources, there's simply too much out there. It's easy to get "lost" or distracted so knowing exactly what you want to know or what question you are looking to answer helps keep you on task and heading in the right direction.

Article Review #1: I Can't Think

Article Review #1
"I Can't Think" by Sharon Begley


I found this article very interesting and something that truly relevant in our lives. I've noticed in my life that sometimes when I have a lot of information its harder to make up my mind and make a decision, and sometimes I've just chose something to be done. In a world where we are always being told that the more information you have the better you'll be, I found it interesting that the studies from the article say the exact opposite. The study done by Angelika Dimoka was especially interesting  That they have the data that the part of the brain that is responsible for making good decisions basically shuts down when there is too much information being taken in.

As the article continued and talked about the decision making problem patterns I found myself thinking that I've definitely had these problems before. The first one being a 'total failure decide' where when there's too many choices and information that many people tend to just stop participating or making any decisions (Begley, 2011). I find that this happens to me sometimes when I'm shopping online, and there are so many choices for each item that I'll end up buying just randomly or the first item I looked up just to be done, and many times this isn't the best option or best value. I also think that this comes into play with politics and voting. There's so much information and a lot of it contradicting that it seems easier to just not vote in the face of all information and choice. Then there was the pattern of 'many diminishing returns' where you feel like you've made the wrong choice the more information you gather. This is another pattern that I know that I've dealt with after making any big choices in my life. After that they talk about the pattern of 'regency trumps quality', where new information is more important then potentially more important or more interesting data. Finally the last pattern was the 'neglected unconscious' where people don't take time to just sit back and think about information and choices, or they don't let their minds have time to think about the information so they don't have the opportunity to make connections to other previous knowledge or find patterns.

Overall I thought this was a though provoking article. In a world where there is so much technology and so any different ways to gather information or opinions about really anything it is quite overwhelming. It sometimes doesn't even seem worth it to read or try to find more information on certain things because of the sheer volume of it available  This makes me think of amazon product reviews, if you are considering a product you want to know how other people felt to see if it is worth purchasing  But once you get to those reviews, they are so varied in responses, some people saying its amazing and other's saying its not worth your money. And you have no way of knowing which side of the group you'll be in, the side that loved it or the side that hated it, and there's no way to evaluate all that information. Though this is an example that isn't exactly high stakes like the article talks about, for me it helps connect the main ideas to my previous knowledge and experience. When thinking of the decisions that the article does talk about it makes me nervous, knowing that these problems arise most often when the decisions are important and the stakes are high. When you are in that situation and need to make decisions, its unfortunate that those are going to be the hardest decisions to make, or one's that you are likely to make poor decisions about.  I've always known that making choices is difficult but now I have information on why that is and practical ways to help myself make better choices/decisions in the future.