Seeing the world in black and white
I’m not sure how much my comments are adding to the discussion, but there is another dimension to Cool Cat Teacher’s assertion that kids need to be taught “digital citizenship” and Downes’ response. First, I believe that CCT was talking about information literacy rather than digital citizenship. Reverting to a semantical discussion may just infuriate those who already dislike the “all talk, no action” angle, but to me it is an important distinction. Furthermore, I think if there is any area that formal education is striving to integrate, it is information literacy. To me it is not shocking at all that a 7th grader would visit a website and consider it “published” and therefore reliable. On the other hand, it would seem that anyone interacting with the 7th grader over the information in the site should be equipped to question why he feels this is or is not a reliable source.
On the other hand promoting digital citizenship seems much broader and something that schools have not emphasized as much to date. Digital citizenship implies that the 7th grader is not only consuming information on the Internet, s/he is then synthesizing and creating new information and contributing to the digital body of knowledge, as it were. Am I off here?
In addition, I understand where CCT’s frustration is coming from. At the same time, that frustration seems rooted in a sense that this is a common sense issue– we just need to teach kids what is “right information” and “wrong information” and they will be edumacated. Unfortunately, at least as far as I’m concerned, there is a lot more nuance to navigating all of the information in our world. I have found that the instincts of many are that they just want to know what is true and untrue, they don’t want to have to think about it too much. However, in a world of multiple perspectives where we can all participate in the creation of information, there is not a choice about whether or not to navigate the gray areas and develop an ability to be more nuanced. Frankly, I don’t disagree with CCT’s son’s inclusion of alternate theories in regard to 9/11, but these assertions HAVE to be contextualized in the source of that information and couched in language such as “some people believe” and “though highly doubtful” or even “there is little evidence to support” to demonstrate the uncertainty of this information. Again, I’m thinking this is more about information literacy than digital citizenship. Thoughts?
