NET SMART: THE APP GENERATION

According to Howard Rheingold in his book, Net Smart: How to Thrive Online, “learning to live mindfully in cyber culture is as important to us as a civilization as it is vital to you and me as individuals.”  But this mindful use of digital media does not happen automatically, so Rheingold takes an in-depth look at five literacies that need to be considered for being Net Smart.  He uses this term literacy as a skill, and with digital literacy, it means skill plus social competency in using the skill collaboratively.  These five literacies- attention, crap detection, collaboration, participation, and network smarts- are connected to and in many ways support each other. The book is meant to be read by persons of all ages, across all intelligences, and with a wide understanding and use of digital media.

Chapter one describing digital mindfulness had many parallels to the book previously read, The Information Diet, as one considers his or her own communication practices such as recognizing which media and mediated social activities one tends to avoid, which ones attract or distract oneself, and which can lead and mislead you, and reflecting on why one reacts in these ways.  Thinking about attention for myself as an educator and then teaching attention to students because I’m an educator can be a daunting task.  In a library with much going on within the large setting and different groups of people there is a recipe for multitasking and can afford distraction.  It can become overwhelming to meet everyone’s needs… Just BREATHE.   Thinking of myself as a student, attention does take much intention, breathing, attending to my focus, breathing some more, and repeating this often.  Suffering from an anxiety disorder, when anxiety is high, like now, attending, concentrating, and completing tasks takes extra intention to attention in order to complete a task.  The last few weeks have been quite challenging, and I have to admit that I have considered dropping out of the program on more than one occasion. I just keep reminding myself to take deep, calming breaths. 

Teaching students how to use “crap detection” when searching for information online is an essential 21^st century skill that was previously explored in the Halo Effect and practiced in our sessions dedicated to sorting and judging, and searching.  This is an area that I will continue to design lessons and help teachers design lessons to do with their students.

Chapter four explores collaboration, how do we work with others and share ideas, resources, and goals online. Jenn and I did our Glogster on collaboration. “Cooperation involves coordination, but it also includes sharing resources and acting in concert towards shared interests.”  Some of our key points included: Contribute and learn from others publicly; Be generour,, flexible, and forgiving when working with others; and When issues arise, participate in finding common interests to negotiate a shared decision.  As we have discovered in examining the design principles, designing lessons using ABCS & ACTeS, and SSCCS with information using, collaboration is essential in preparing our students for the 21^st century and to lead net smart lives.  The skill of collaboration is not inherent in our students and needs to be specifically modeled and taught.  Students need practice to work with others like we have and out of class- to work with others that they would not normally choose to work with in a group.  Skills to foster include, how to make a plan and execute it together, how to handle disagreements and opinions that are different from oneself, how to divide up a workload, give and receive feedback are just a few.   

In conclusion, the more I read for this program and reflect upon it and the implications for my practice, the more overwhelmed I am feeling.  There is just so much to cover, with both faculty and students alike, and I am putting so much pressure on myself that I do not feel like I am doing anything whatsoever well right now.  It is like a never-ending to do list and I just can’t seem to get even the smallest task checked off of my list.  I keep playing Dory’s mantra, “Just keep swimming,” in my head, but have changed it to B-R-E-A-T-H-E Kim, just keep breathing.

COPYRIGHT CLARITY

Educators are challenged to provide students with learning activities that allow them to build creativity, critical thinking and problem solving skills in the context of civic literacy and global awareness.  Students of this information age must learn to use multimedia texts, tools and technologies effectively.  They are encouraged to develop new ideas through creative play and self-expression.  We need to provide them with opportunities to apply critical thinking in responding to information and ideas while making responsible ethical judgements.  They must also be allowed to participate in working collaboratively with others to get projects done.  21^st-century learners are now encouraged to share their work with a larger, audience, so understanding copyright and fair use has become crucial to educators and students alike.  However, there is widespread misunderstanding of the so called “educational use guidelines” and much confusion surrounding copyright which has a price.  To begin, most teachers do not teach about it because they themselves do not understand it. They often depend on technology resource teachers or librarians to cover it with their students. It also limits the distribution of curriculum materials and resources, thus affecting students’ overall media literacy learning.  As a result, students do not learn that copyright is designed to protect both the rights of the owners and users in order to promote creativity and innovation.

Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning by Renee Hobbs is a wonderful resource for every educational organization to own. It really clarifies the purpose of copyright and encourages educators to use the legal rights granted them, as well as students, under the doctrine of fair use. The U.S. Constitution says, “The purpose of copyright is to promote the spread of knowledge and innovation.” Copyright law promotes this goal through the doctrine of fair use. “At the heart of copyright law, the doctrine of fair use states that people have a right to use copyrighted materials freely without payment or permission, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research” - Section 107: The Fair Use Doctrine of the Copyright Law of 1776. There are no concrete rules or guidelines, rather, it is an evaluative thinking process that requires one to use reasoning and judgement on a case by case analysis of the context and situation of the unlicensed use of copyrighted material.  There are four factors to consider: 1) the purpose and character of the use; 2) the nature of the copyrighted work; 3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and 4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.  Transformativeness is also a component we must use in ethical decision making, and ask ourselves, “Has the user added value or re-purposed the work? Is the copyrighted work used in a different way and geared toward a different audience than the original audience?”  Additionally, fair use allows teachers and students to use images outside of Creative Commons or “copyright free” images, and use what is necessary to accomplish our goals. We can further ask, “How will my use of the materials affect the copyright owner’s ability to profit from their work? Will my use of this work cause excessive economic harm to the copyright owner?”

Learning about copyright and fair use is an important part of digital citizenship. As a librarian, it is my responsibility to facilitate this learning for both teachers and students, but it is NOT my responsibility alone, nor is it solely the technology resource teacher’s responsibility.  As the book explains, ALL teachers need to play a part. The Loudoun County Public Schools website states, “To leverage technology for learning, students need to understand how to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly online.  As a result of our commitment to student safety and learning, all LCPS schools will implement the nationally-recognized Digital Citizenship curriculum available through Common Sense Media.  Participating BYOT schools will earn Digital Citizenship Certification through implementation of the Common Sense curriculum.”  Now, how each school goes about accomplishing this is different.  Last year, it fell completely on my shoulders, as I know is common in many schools.  I am challenged with working with my administration, TRT, and technology committee to develop a shared responsibility of this curriculum among the staff and outline for accomplishing this goal.