Registration

In this post I will write about one of the communication patterns in Hoem and Schwebs’ excellent book Tekst 2 null. They have created a model for understanding the communication patterns of the Internet, which I find very useful. Since I am a teacher I have tried to look at what is important for children in school to learn about registration on the Internet.

Registration means that individual users produce content which is distributed and consumed by information centers (Hoem and Schwebs 2010). One consequence is that we leave tracks behind when we are online. Two examples of registration is when we search the Internet for information, and when we register to get a Google account.

As mentioned above, one way of registration is by searching the Internet. Children have to know that when they search the Internet with Google, the information centre (in this case Google) can collect more information about them. Google locates the computer and then stores the information in what is called data warehouses (Djik 2010). Djik mentions that the next step may then be data-mining, which is “the extraction of implicitly present, formerly unknown, but potentially usable information from data” (Djik 2010 p. 116). Google may claim that they are using this information to create better products for us, but it could also be used for commercial purposes. There is also a risk of other people and information centres getting this information and using it for other purposes.

Another problem is phishing, which means trying to get sensitive information by pretending to be trustworthy. An example could be a website that looks like your regular bank, but uses the information you register to get credit card details. In my opinion phishing is mainly a problem for older children who have credit cards, but we know that phishing is also being used to get usernames and passwords, which also younger kids have.

Djik (2010) mentions that EU has strict rules about personal data protection. The new data retention directive is a part of this. In Norway the directive was introduced this year, and for us that means that all information may be stored for 6 to 24 months. It may be used for fighting crime, and providing a safer society. I won’t discuss the pros and cons of the directive, but the directive is something children should know about; it is important knowledge about our society.

They need to be aware that when they register on a website, they give away information to other people. If they register for online games, they leave behind sensitive information like their name, birth date, where they live and their main interests. Even if they are young, they still have digital dossiers which expands simultaneously with their Internet activities. When they use Google docs in school they give away information to Google. It is the same when they register for use of other teaching tools like Cacoo or Glogster. They may also voluntarily participate in market research and surveys, providing information centers with data. The information left behind could be used for commercialized purposes, like advertisements and products.They should learn to be critical of giving away information and instead try to maintain their privacy. One way to achieve this is to look at the texts on the Internet and know how and when they are giving up information by registering.

I`m ending this post with two YouTube videos also suited for children about Internet safety and privacy:

Books:

Djik, Jan van. The network society. London: Sage Publications Ltd, 2010
Hoem, Jon og Ture Schwebs. Tekst2null, Nettsamtalenes spillerom. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2010

Digital natives and school

In my last article I wrote shortly about the theory of the digital natives. It is a theory which I think give us some insight of many of today’s children. In this article I will try to describe what digital natives are used to, how digital natives learn, and try to suggest some things which may be important for adjusting the school to them. I have tried to narrow it down to what I think is most important for the time being. For more about this topic I suggest reading Ian Jukes’ understanding digital kids.

As in the last post I have written most of the article in Google documents, and a short summary with a video in the blog post. By following this link, you may get to the second article in Google documents.

Here is short summary of the article:

• When planning the lessons or periods we should often let the digital natives use higher-order thinking skills like analyzing, evaluating and creating. They should often be given the opportunity to create content in school with digital media.
• Digital natives like instant feedback and rewards. A digital native would like to use digital media in their activities, and then comment and assess on their own and other’s products besides getting the assessment from their teachers. The assessment should be as soon as possible, and peer assessment like comments on their products would be great for that.
• They like to interact and cooperate both physically and digitally, and should often be given the opportunity to do this. They can cooperate in the same or different time and place.
• Digital natives like their learning to be relevant, fast-paced and fun. They prefer their learning to be “just in time”, when they need it. The learning could be non-linear as opposed to the linear learning methods of many classrooms today. They want random access to the information and less step-by-step-learning.

• When learning, more of the content should be based on graphics, pictures, sounds and videos.

You may read the whole article here: Digital natives and school

I would like to end this article by sharing a YouTube video. It is about children today and how they think, act and learn:

Digital natives - Thinking map

This is a thinking map about the digital natives which I have created in Bubbl.

Digital natives in society

This is the first of two articles, where I will write about ICT in society and work life. The articles are part of a course in ICT and learning, and they will both adress the term digital natives. The first article will focus on the term digital natives in society and the second will be about digital natives, learning and education. I have written most of the articles in Google documents, and short summaries with a video in the blog posts. I also refer to the thinking map I made in Bubbl when working with the two articles. By following this link, you may get to the first article in Google documents.

The first article is about digital natives in society. Here is a short summary of the article:

• Digital natives is a term and theory by Marc Prensky. Similar terms could be digital children, neo-millenials or 21st century learners. These theories try to explain how the 21st century is changing the way humans think, act and learn.
• When we talk about digital natives it is common to compare them to digital immigrants. Digital immigrants are people born before 1982, and were raised in a world where TV, radio and computers with worse graphics than today’s mobile phones.
• Digital natives are used to and surrounded by different kinds of media and communication tools. Compared to digital immigrants they live in a high-tech world with different media opportunities like Internet and high-tech games.
• Digital natives speak the “language” of the 21st century. They are natives in the digital world, and can cope with many of the new challenges. A digital immigrant may adjust to being a native, but most immigrants will always have an “accent”, which may result to problems adjusting to the new life, and in understanding the digital natives.
• There are some problems with the theory of the digital natives, and I have named a few of them in the article. Even if there are some problems in the theory of the digital natives, I think the theory is easy to grasp and tells me more about today’s children and how they think, act and learn.

You may read the whole article here: Digital natives in society

Finally, a short video on digital natives: