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
1 comment:
Great description on how access to more information has caused issues. We find at the College that this means we need to teach more upper-level thinking skills like discernment regarding bias, intent, objectivity, sources for research, etc. These are tough at the first-year level for us, so I can only imagine how difficult it would be for any high school student.
While some of the critical thinking skills especially with regard to spelling and grammar has been replaced, these are other tasks certainly put it back, but it is difficult.
As with anything there is a fence with pros and cons are either side. How to get to the fence and perch there above everything?!?
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