Learning and Leading - August 2010

beatBloggers

Iam old enough to remember doing research in junior high using the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature. The rows of green hardbacks lining library shelves contained an index of every article published in nearly every U.S. magazine imaginable. These volumes would point you to articles on sports legends, advancements in science, the current events of the day, or anything else a teacher might assign a student to write a report about. Later, as a young reporter, I used to flip through tattered index cards in the newsroom library to find out about past events and then read about them on rolls of unwieldy microfilm.

Today, students have access to all those resources and more at their fingertips. But are they better informed? Will they be more equipped to think critically and find creative solutions to problems?

Tom Whitby, who writes the blog My Island View (http://
tomwhitby.wordpress.com), contends that students need
more than just information. In his post “To Tell the Truth,”
he says it’s imperative that we teach students to make intel-
ligent choices about issues that affect the lives of all citizens:
Technology has given us the ability to store and access a
huge amount of information, which continues to grow
exponentially. The information, however, is both correct
and incorrect, both true and false, both fact and fiction.
If we are to be considered good educators, we need to
be able to instill in our students a desire to strive for the
truth. They need to be able to determine what informa-
tion is of value.

Here’s a smattering of excerpts from the two dozen com-
ments posted:
The current media news entertainment industry in this
country is a compelling reason why we need to set our
sights on a Renaissance model in which our learners be-
come thinkers, not recallers. —Pam

I try to teach my students to always look for the other perspective, to seek to understand how the losers or the “bad guys” rationalized their ideas and choices. I want them to understand complexity. —Hadley Ferguson

The Web generation is used to receiving their information in very small tidbits. Typically, to uncover truth a person needs to delve deeper and read more in depth. This skill is what is missing. The students have the capacity to find the truth, but they lack the desire, and in some cases, the ability, to read comprehensively. —Daddy Moose

Can You Find the Truth on Google?

Students need to learn how to address the perspective of the source. For example, The Economist is an excellent source of information, but one should know that it swings rightward. It is as important to know where they are writing from as it is to know if they are credible or not. —Michelle Rogers-Estable

Most of [my high school English students] are satisfied with a simple “I got it off Google,” and crinkle their noses in disgust when I send them back for more information. They don’t want to think because, for one, they don’t know how, and, for another, they don’t see the importance of it. Mucking about in morally gray (or, let’s face it, even flat-out wrong) is fine if it’s all you’ve ever known. —Jo Hawke

It was an article about You Tube that prompted a simi-
lar concern from Bill Ferriter, who writes The Tempered
Radical blog ( http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tem-
pered_radical). In his post “Read this: You Tube hits 2 bn
daily downloads,” he laments:
Today, no one needs to ask for permission to have a
voice. And while I love that freedom—heck, 10 years
ago I never would have had 1,200 people listening
to my thoughts about teaching and learning—it also
means that the quality controls that once provided a
measure of assurance that the content we were con-
suming was semi-reliable are now completely gone.

Chris Fritz took issue with that notion: If anything, the Internet is helping people stand up and say, “This is ridiculous! Let’s turn off the TV and think for ourselves. Let me know if you think I’m wrong, provide alternate points of view, question my data, offer something better, and in that way, we’ll continue the conversation and reach a greater understanding.” It’s the democratization of knowledge.