Garry’s Rambles

Howard Rheingold spoke today about the new critical literacy required by students because the function that in the past resided with people in authority (eg the librarian) has shifted to search engines…….but the results are not always accurate and the sources are not necessarily authorative.

A fear that critical literacy might incite radicalised students rather than students who conform is not justified because students are now exposed to media and much socialisation outside of the school and home. The moral panic about student use online is not helped by knee jerk reactions like banning access to social network sites in home, schools and the workplace. The current federal campaign is resulting in young kids being fearful of using the internet at all. A sad reflection on current policy and an opportunity missed for parents as well.

So how do we enable students to have critcial literacy skills? Enable them to have a public voice first. This is a world in which students can participate and contribute to public life. This means they need to understand the concept of audience. What is appropriate and what is not? 

Youtube and myspace are two examples of how students participate and contribute to public life. Some good and some not so good!! These kids are not passive consumers of online material. A key point here is that your digital footprint is longlasting and so any indiscretions may come back to haunt you for sometime to come.  Its lessons like this that we need to teach our kids!!

 I’ll link to the podcast of this talk as soon as we make it available.