Are we as a school district actually preparing our students to effectively perform in the digital age? I had posted a poll in the past asking what websites we currently block and would it be academically beneficial to students and staff members if they were not blocked. I ran into that same question/issue today. I spoke with a staff member who had pulled a video clip off of youtube. They lost the video clip and they were running into the issue of how to quickly gain access to this site for the class to watch the video clip on their own. Should we be blocking these sorts of sights or should we be teaching our students how to filter through the site and be responsible when viewing the content?
Interesting blog:
Most schools currently expect students to somehow (maybe magically?) be responsible, successful digital citizens upon graduation from high school - able to navigate all of the intricacies of a digital, global world - despite having little to no opportunity to learn or meaningfully practice what that means during their 12+ years of schooling.
Continuing my analogy from my previous post, we have to stop pretending that students are like Athena, able to burst forth fully-formed from the head of Zeus (or the cocoon of schools), ready to successfully function in a complex adult world without prior practice or experience.
