Wow, there is a lot to digest this week from the readings and I am not sure how I want to approach it.  Do I approach it from the standpoint of an educator and only discuss what is applicable to teaching and my students?  Or do I discuss some of the less polite points and address what we are seeing in our everyday society regarding media and “fake news”?  I have an inkling, that I will probably do both. I will say as an aside, I was shocked, pleasantly in some ways to read the article by Danah Boyd, “Did Media Literacy Backfire?”.  She certainly had what some would call some “hot takes” and did not seem concerned in the least about offending anyone, whether they be conservatives of liberals, but I’ll get to that article later.  

Digital fluency, which incorporates digital literacy, was highlighted in the Horizon 2017 report as an area that needed improvement in order for technology to be as impactful on education as possible.  It says in the Introduction “Technology and digital tools have become ubiquitous, but they can be ineffective or dangerous…….”. I think in some ways that is what we are facing in regards to digital literacy and being able to verify information and sources.  We have given students the power to have any bit of knowledge they could possibly want to access with a click of a button, but we haven’t taught them (adults include) how to wield this new power. As Uncle Ben told Peter Parker “With great power comes great responsibility”.  Unfortunately for many of our students as well as for many adults, they were never taught how to access knowledge responsibly and that can prove to be dangerous when we think about the concept from a larger perspective rather than just schooling.

As I read through the article by Buckingham, there were so many points that I was able to relate to and recognize in my students.  The first thing that hit me, was when he discussed how students of today are simply considered to be “digital natives” who are able to effectively use technology from as early as their birth (ok, I may be exaggerating there).  I can not say how many times a Kindergarten parent must say to me “oh, your job must be so easy since they all know how to use technology”. In my head, I first think a few inappropriate words, and then I respond with “well, it looks like they know how to use technology, but really what they know how to do is click apps on a touch screen that will launch a game or YouTube.”  The parent usually looks at me slightly shocked that their little Bill Gates, may not be quite as tech-savvy as they thought. Truthfully, I have had other teachers say similar things as many people don’t really take into consideration what it means to be digitally fluent and that none of us are digital natives. Sure, kids have more exposure and are far more willing to explore technology tools that in the past, but they still need to be instructed on how to use them effectively.  

Another key point Buckingham made that I feel is important to touch on is how the digital divide is no longer simply about access, it is also now about exposure in the classroom to effective uses of technology.  Actually that exposure may not only come from home as he mentions later in the article, that exposure to effective use can also come from a parent that has the requisite skills to model for their child. None the less, I was just discussing this with a friend who’s son goes to school one town over from where I teach.  In my district, every student receives technology education from grades k-5. My friend’s son (he is a sixth grader), on the other hand, has no stand-alone technology class (nor has he) and the classroom teachers are expected to work in what they can. His school also does not have nearly as many devices in the building, therefore limiting access to technology.  He and I were talking about a project he was doing and he didn’t even have the basic vocabulary to tell me what program he was working in. He also was talking about skills that I teach in second grade. Now, I am not a big proponent of technology being a stand-alone class, as I think it should be incorporated on a daily basis into the classroom, but it is clear he isn’t receiving the very important digital skills he needs to be successful.  

As you began to read the NPR article, it is abundantly clear why it is so important that we work with students on how to research and how to vet that research.  We need to teach them that simply selecting the first Google hit isn’t going to always provide you with information that is correct or unbiased. I believe it was Boyd who made the point that students are told that Wikipedia is unworthy, but you could trust anything that came from Google.  I would like to believe that people would realize that that is simply untrue, but I know adults as well as students that fall prey to bad information. Every year I do a few lessons/activities with my fourth and fifth-grade students regarding source validity, etc. I usually have a lesson that covers identifying whether a web site is legitimate and whether the information listed is legitimate.  Another lesson covers what types of websites may be more credible, ex: .gov, .edu, etc. Finally, I talk about reading articles and looking for author bias or what the intent of the particular article is. I usually trip them up over the course of these lessons and it is usually a good eye-opener for them, but after reading the NPR article, it is clear that we aren’t appropriately preparing our young people for the big wide world of information.

Now, when we don’t appropriately prepare our students to be able to vet source, check for bias, and sort through the garbage that is available on the internet, we end up in the situation that Boyd describes in her article:  

     “Think about how this might play out in communities where the “liberal media” is viewed with disdain as an untrustworthy source of information…or in those where science is seen as contradicting the knowledge of religious people…or where degrees are viewed as a weapon of the elite to justify oppression of working people. Needless to say, not everyone agrees on what makes a trusted source.”

As someone who considers themselves fairly well educated I struggle with this situation that our society finds ourselves in.  I know that it is in our nature to believe information that affirms our beliefs, but I am shocked by how some people can so readily declare “fake news” when an article or news report does not support their point of view.  There is no vetting of the article, or considering the sources, it is immediately “fake news”. The same can be said for believing information that has been disproven time and time again, but still just diving in head first and embracing it.  I, unfortunately, agree with Boyd when she states “we’re moving toward tribalism, and we’re undoing the social fabric or our country through polarization, distrust, and self-segregation”. Do I think teaching our students how to understand if a source is trustworthy and if the information presented is unbiased will be the sole solution to the issues our country is facing?  No, but I do think that if we can get kids to start doing this from a young age, then there may be hope as our society continues to grow and evolve.