Digital Youth

Hi everyone welcome to my first blog ever. I will be commenting on a series of 6 blogs relating to ICT’s and the different elements that may touch us all.

Today’s Blog is about youth and the impact that a digital world has on them. After watching the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izRRmW5KKLY with Howard Gardner I would like to talk about my thoughts and comment on things that he has mentioned.

Mr. Gardner is currently working on a project called “Good Play” and its focus is based on the ethical issues that concern youth and the digital world. Some students know and understand the principles that encompass ethic and some just brush it off. He also mentions that the digital world revolves around 5 ethical issues.

1) Sense of identity

 2) Sense of privacy

3) Sense of ownership

 4) Trustworthiness

 5) Credibility

I want to elaborate and bring the subject to focus on teaching and learning. The digital world has had a big impact on how students learn and the roles of the teachers. Students no longer have to travel far in order to find the answers to their questions and teachers are adapting to this situation. As mentioned by Mr. Gardner “teachers are more and more becoming coaches and role models”, and instead of providing the students with the information they need, teacher are required to change the ways they transmit information. It is necessary for teachers to include ICT’s, since computers have permitted for all sources of information to be available. Teachers will be responsible to inform students and provide them with the right information on ethical uses of the internet, monitoring copyrights and making sure that students are not plagiarizing from the material that they find.

Now it is your turn, how do you feel about students learning from online materials? Is it possible for students to be conscious of the ethics and follow the code of conduct of the web? What about teachers, how do you see their roles changing?

Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your comments,

KO