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.