Technology has revolutionized today's world for both the good and the bad. In the media center, it has opened the avenues to a wealth of information and has provided many organizational tools to assist in managing this information. It makes selecting, locating, and checkout/return as simple as a few keystrokes. However, the availability of information has also become information overload. Attempting to weed through and assess all of this information can actually lead to an increase in research time. The physical limits of information are non-existent. On the plus side, it has also allowed individuals to see beyond the four walls of the school. It has opened the eyes, hearts and minds to multiple viewpoints, etc. We are forever changed.
In addition, some of the applications have taken away the critical thinking aspects of tasks. For instance, where once we used to review and edit our own writing, now we rely on the review skills of our computer software and wait for suggestions on how to make corrections. I often see students write without capitalization waiting for the software to automatically insert the uppercase letter at the beginning of a sentence or where needed. Is this making our students less writing literate?
Plagarism is a click away...but it is also nearly just as easy to locate with today's searches!
For every plus there is a con, and vice versa.
Nancy
