b.+Why+is+this+relevant+to+educators?

Why is this relevant to educators?
With the influx of technology and accessibility across the world wide web huge changes have come about, but it is also changing the way students learn and relate to the world around them. Students are learning in different ways then in the past. They can no longer learn in the same fashion that their teachers did. They thrive on fast paced learning, multi-tasking, and visual stimuli. They work, study and, most importantly, interact with one another in a much different fashion than those that came before them. However this does not mean that we cannot relate and adapt to their way of learning. In an interview conducted by Christopher Harris for the School Library Journal, Harvard's John Palfrey, author of __Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives__ admitted to a drift between Digital Natives and Immigrants but added this: "What joins these communities are the same old values that have always joined us, and the fact that we use technology differently or relate to information or one another differently doesn't mean that we can't have a conversation." But we need to ask ourselves if those values are transferring into the digital environment that has been created.

 While awareness is growing of the changes in student learning and many teacher's are coming up with new and innovative means to address these changes, a new issue is plaguing the minds of educators: Do student's know how to protect themselves and their privacy online and do they understand how to protect and respect the privacy of others as well. Many young students are jumping blindly onto the bandwagon of technology without so much as a second thought of the content they are displaying on the internet. Social networking has become a huge part of student's lives. Everything that they post on these sites becomes public knowledge and accessible to anyone who wishes it. Student's are using sites like Facebook to create a persona for themselves and then are faced with either living up to that persona, or on the other side of the coin, having to live it down. Many students will upload parts of themselves onto the internet with the intent of sharing that part of themselves with friends and make the mistake of assuming that the sharing ends there. However, the digital world is a permanent one. A picture or comment posted online today will be there tomorrow, a year from now, even twenty years from now.

 An even bigger scare is the students who believe they are using the internet in anonymity. Hiding behind a user name allows students to do, say and share things that they would not do, say or share in a face-to-face scenario. The anonymity (or seeming anonymity) of the internet gives freedom to bullying, judgment, and libel among a myriad of other social devastators. Students need to understand how their actions today can affect them tomorrow.

 With the growing drift between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants it is getting harder and harder for parents to educate their children about digital privacy and the need to respect themselves and others. As educators we have a responsibility to teach students about this before it's too late. The issue of privacy in the face of such innovative technology is a growing concern, not only with current educators but those who are entering the field as well. The following audio file features some thoughts on the topic from current and future educators:

media type="file" key="Liz's Podcast.mp3" width="345" height="39" align="center"

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