The App Generation

The App Generation by Howard Gardner and Katie Davis explore what it means to be app-dependent versus app-enabled for the current generation of youth.  They go through the possibilities and constraints of apps in relation to identity, intimacy, and imagination.  

The apps that we have access to definitely make life easier for us.  The one that I use the most is Waze.  I am able to put in a destination and it gets me there the quickest possible way.  Now, I don’t have to know my way around or how streets are connected or related, the app leads me and I just have to follow the directions.  I am now, app-dependent, because I don’t know my way around and I can’t get to new places on my own.  This is just one example to being app dependent.  There are internal possibilities and constraints, as well.  With communication being so easy and accessible, we are in touch with others about everything.  Parents of tweens and older children, with cell phones, know where their kids are at all times.  They are in constant communication.  Although, this seems like a characteristic of being a good parent, it doesn’t give children the space to think on their own and trust their decisions.  Parents are constantly giving their okay and opinions and this conditions our youth to need affirmation for everything.  This was a real eye opener for me and I will definitely keep this in mind when my boys get access to their own cell phone.  

As for my students, I will explain to them the difference between app-dependent and app-enabled. Teaching them how to be conscious of their attention, know how to search and sort, participate and network for their advantage, and collaborate to produce and not just consume, are some skills to increase their possiblities.  

Net Smart

Net Smart by Howard Rheingold outlines five digital literacies; attention, crap detection, participation, collaboration, and network smarts.  Attention refers to metacognition and allows us to do deeper searching.  Attention, memory, and executive control are the fundamental components of thinking.  Crap detection is the critical consumption of information.  According the Rheingold, these 2 literacies are internal, cognitive, and individual.  The last two literacies of collaboration and network smarts are external, social, and collective. Collaboration is the most purposeful and has transformed the way people use the Internet and how information is found.  Network Smarts is when we take what we know about face to face culture and apply it to online culture.  Linking them is the act of participation that connects the individual mind to the web of digital culture.  Using social tools can be real power but it doesn’t mean anything unless you participate.

I feel like these five digital literacies outline what is important to be personally successful in the twenty-first century.  We live in a world where it is essential to know how to use online tools without being overloaded with too much information.  I think it is important to teach this to our students, as well.  It is the life and world we are all living in.  Giving them guidelines on how to manage the digital world is just as important as giving them guidelines on how to manage their physical world.  

This is what we do in our digital citizenship curriculum.  Although it is broken down differently than the 5 literacies Rheingold outlines, I teach the same essential concepts to help our students navigate through their digital world.  They know how to be good citizens online and off.

Copyright Clarity

When I read Copyright Clarity by Renee Hobbs, I could not believe what I was reading.  I was one of the ignorant educators, she mentioned in the book, that was towing on the line of conformity and hesitant to use what I was finding on the internet.

I learned that Copyright is designed to protect both the rights of owners and users in order to promote the spread of knowledge, creativity and innovation.  And that educators, like me, do not understand how to use Copyrighted material, causing us not to use the vast resources that are available.  The truth is that Fair Use gives us the ability to use parts from any copyrighted works with these factors to consider.

• Purpose of the use
• Nature of the copyrighted work
• Amount used
• Market impact

Fair Use is a user right.

Now that I know this, I have been telling my colleagues and students, informally.  I plan on including the information that I put in my Pecka Kucha, along with the searching and sorting guidelines that I created, into a Digital Citizenship lesson for my students.  I have to admit that I felt liberated when I read Copyright Clarity and learned about Fair Use. Now, I can practice fair use with copyrighted material and promote the spread of knowledge, creativity and innovation.