I thought the Generation M reading was really good as a wake up call for some of the class, and a great reminder for me Although many of them have grown up around this time, I am not sure how many are aware of just how different this age group is. One of the most interesting differences to me is the concept of 'privacy' With so much discussion about sexting in the media surrounding adult politicians in particular, I wonder what people of Gen M think about it. Will it even be an issue for them when they get old enough to be politicians? Will the private and public merge so much that there will not that sense of shock or scandal when possibly inappropriate photos or texts emerge?
I also wonder what role we should be having as educators? As much as we want to protect our student, and I do feel we should, are they creating a new normal for themselves? Will they think we are as prudish in our ideals as those who wore layers of petticoats would imagine us to be today?
When it comes to searching behavior, I actually got caught in a search loop while doing this blog post. I was listening to a song on iTunes -> where can I see some Zydeco bands and learn to two step -> finding RiverFolk (which I now want to go to, anyone want to learn to two step?) -> switching songs on iTunes -> remembering my friend who is due in 2 weeks who I wanted to make a baby cd for -> looking at songs in iTunes that I want to use and making a new playlist-> remembering that I was supposed to be doing this blog post -> coming back here just as a new Zydeco song comes on. Yes, I didn't get the task at hand done quickly, but I did make mini progress on a bunch of tasks that needed to be done. I think with all the searching we do, what we see differently is that it seems that we never really get done with one task without also working on 50 other tasks at the same time, and how long it takes us to get that full list done opposed to the one thing that we started with. Is that approach good or bad? I would love feedback!
I think you bring up a really important question. How valuable are our perspectives to students, and are they really necessary given that students will likely be forming a new norm in regards to public/private and ways of interacting? I would say our guidance is useful, but we should keep in mind that we don't have all the answers and a reimagining of public and private won't necessarily be a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteI think Larry during our discussion brought up a great point when told his students, "I will friend you, but be aware if I see any illegal activities, then I am legally obligated to report it to the police." When it comes to friending students on facebook, do you want that responsibility added to your normal facebook endless loop time? When I GSI'ed for Michigan, I wouldn't friend a student until the semester was over. It was a policy of the chemistry department. I agreed with it because I wanted to maintain some distance in my student/teacher relationship. Although, I have heard of creating a separate facebook profile for your students to friend and where you can post class information. I am thinking going this route to keep my professional and private life separate.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we need a box in google in the upper left corner that lets us type our focus goal.. so that as we jump from search to search, there is a visual reminder of what the heck we are supposed to be searching for! A crutch? Maybe...
ReplyDeleteWe could practice in class assignments that put value on finding an answer via searching as quickly as possible to help teach students to stay on task while looking for information.
You make a great point that we move in a hyperlinked way through out tasks instead of crossing them off, one at a time, in a linear way. Speaking of music (and distractions?), have you tried Spotify yet?
ReplyDeleteSpotify...meh...I'd rather continue using SoulSeek. Actually, the "social networking" that can be done on there through music folders is pretty interesting (and my interesting I mean once a 13 yr old Green Day fan IMed me on there asking me about a bunch of unreleased songs and bootlegs I had in my shared folder, I blocked him).
ReplyDeleteWhile reading what you said about multitasking, I was thinking about job interviews and the typical question: "Do you prefer to work until you finish a task or start and work on many projects at once?" (or something like that). I feel like at one time, the answer everyone wanted was that you stay focused on a task until it is complete. Now, everyone wants you to be able to multitask. I wonder if this is a product of the growth of "information-based" careers; since we're not all necessarily working on an assembly line, we can and should be able to multitask AND get all of our work done. Right?
I am having an internal mental debate about facebook with students. Especially when it comes to adding to my responsibility to report illegal activities. I am thinking in my classroom I would be more interested in posting stuff via twitter, so it can be seen publicly, but not follow anyone for it and use a separate system for virtual chat help.
ReplyDeleteOf course all of this grandiose planning, like all wars, will not last past the first battle, so remembering to remain flexible is also important. Who knows about what technology will be available next year, much less 5 years from now.