No man is an island entire of itself;
every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of
the main;
MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne
Whilst
Donne and his contemporaries such as Marlowe, Jonson and Shakespeare may never
imagined the social media dominated world which we find ourselves, they
certainly could encapsulate the human condition in fine prose. The human
condition pertains to avatars just as it does the analog self. That much has
not changed.
Technology
is a tool which we can use to improve our lives, to benefit others and to also degrade,
humiliate and harm just like humanity has been doing for millennia, without the
aid of computer technology. Social media definitely falls into that category
and it is the modern educator's role to assist learners in the effective and
ethical use of technologies in order to successfully navigate the murky and
sometimes turbulent waters of the Internet and social media.
The
stakeholders for any educator is the students, teaching colleagues, parents and
the wider community and they must consider the specific needs and context of
the learning community within which they operate. As Donne eloquently puts it
"No man is an island entire of itself" and ethical, safe,
responsible, respectful and legal use of information and technology is
something which needs to be modelled and explicitly taught to our young chargers.
Life-long learning, the modern catch cry, can only be successfully achieved if
the learner is conversant in the issues and concerns of digital. The online
well-being of our students is just as important as the well-being that exists
in the face to face realm.
Rather than
being Henny Penny and claim that all the world's ill and dangers are wrapped up
in the devices which teenagers seems constantly attached to, modern educators
need to ensure that they have a positive and informed attitude towards to the
use of technology in order that learners to create, share, think, learn and
grow. As a responsible adult you wouldn't ban a young person from going near
any water until they were 13, 15, or 18 as they needed to be protected from
drowning. I believe that the same principle applies to the digital world and
social media. Of course, there are considerations of age appropriateness, but
as an educator who works with teenagers even my youngest students have the
right and NEED to be made aware of the all issues, pitfalls and positive
aspects that the online world can offer.
Young
people need to be aware of what constitutes ethical on line behaviour. They
need to understand the concepts of
intellectual property and fair use/dealing. As a student enquired of me in a
digital citizenship/ethical scholarship lesson one day - if we aren't meant to
copy and paste why can we? Just because it is possible to drive over the speed
limit in your car doesn't mean you should. When you explain to students that whilst
you may be able to "rip off" the latest popular song and put it into
your school project doesn't mean that you should. It is about being ethical.
Doing the right thing. You might get away with it and then again you might not.
I have
encouraged my students to seek permission and were thrilled when they were
allowed to use the jingle for Minecraft in their presentation from the
copyright holders. Students shouldn't be afraid to ask permission - and if they
get a knock back they have still learnt the lesson.
danah boyd's It's Complicated delves into the networked lives of modern teenagers but what struck me that most about listening to podcasts of interviews with her is that what she is really saying is that teenagers haven't really changed. They seek approval from their peers and are starting to differentiate themselves from their parents, they just want to hang out with their friends. One of the comment boyd made which resonated with me is the culture of fear which prevents the modern teenager from physically hanging out with their friends in the same way kids of the 1970s and earlier were able to. They have much less physical freedom and the technology is merely an enabler. They can hang out online in ways that older generations never had to and have great difficulty in understanding. Boyd's concept of "context collapse" is also an interesting one in which everyone with an online presence must relate to. In a sense it is very hard to navigate the online world as all they various contexts of you as a friend, school friends from the past, current colleague, previous colleague, current partner, ex-partner are all in the same space - and they all know a different side of "you" from the context they know you. The legal ramifications of an angry post or spiteful tweet are being felt in the courts and the evidence of these can be gathered and used in legal disputes is a scary reality but if the apposite arguments and lessons are taught to the students then the worst case scenarios which are used as the warning bells can be just an interesting anecdote rather than a reality. Digital citizenship is just one of the many forms of citizenship that exist in the modern world but I believe it to be the most important. Access to the online world has rights and responsibilities and just as we wouldn't condone unaware and unlicensed drivers on our roads, nor should we allow our students to navigate the twist and turns of a world which they need to understand it is dangers as well as it benefits. The independence that comes with that understanding, efficacy is just the same as having safe, legally responsible drivers who can enjoy the open road just as much as the next person.
