Net Smart Or Wait Smart
In his book Net Smart: How to Thrive Online, Howard Rheingold shared what he learned in his quest for answers on how to use social media intelligently, humanely, and mindfully. He discussed five literacies of digital mindfulness: 1) attention control - being constantly mindful of the here and the now, 2) calibrating your crap detector - being in fully aware and in control of the direction of your attention. 3) Participatory culture - what it takes to be a part of and what you get out of it; 4) Collaboration - collective intelligence, virtual communities - entire communities exist for the purposes of knowledge sharing and
organization; 5) Net Smarts - the skills based on the knowledge of digital networks and human social behavior; Net smarts are not just vital to getting ahead; you need this knowledge
to keep from falling behind (Rheingold, 2012, p.24)
Reading this book is like reading something written in another language. I have to reread several sections. This reflects how much I know about being part of the digital world. It is still new to me. Still, everyday new developments are added to the overwhelming amount of information on the internet. This book has helped me to sift through what is doable for me and is most fundamental. I'm currently getting used to the first two literacy which are attention control and calibrating crap detector. Outside of Facebook, I have not participated in any public online review or posting comments except in this class.
The use of internet in my classroom is limited to Google Classroom and few trusted websites for my content area. I'm very cautious. I know that #5 literacy, Net Smarts, are vital in getting ahead and in keeping me from falling behind. However, I would rather cautiously wait or fall behind rather than prematurely jump into the unknown.
Reading this book is like reading something written in another language. I have to reread several sections. This reflects how much I know about being part of the digital world. It is still new to me. Still, everyday new developments are added to the overwhelming amount of information on the internet. This book has helped me to sift through what is doable for me and is most fundamental. I'm currently getting used to the first two literacy which are attention control and calibrating crap detector. Outside of Facebook, I have not participated in any public online review or posting comments except in this class.
The use of internet in my classroom is limited to Google Classroom and few trusted websites for my content area. I'm very cautious. I know that #5 literacy, Net Smarts, are vital in getting ahead and in keeping me from falling behind. However, I would rather cautiously wait or fall behind rather than prematurely jump into the unknown.
Your last comment about "cautiously wait...rather than...jump into the unknown" is how many of my peers feel about technology integration into the classroom. While most educators are no strangers to using the Internet and computers, all the new websites and apps can be serious attention grabbers and plain crap (without a good affordance analysis). It is easy to feel overwhelmed by all the *new* instructional tools and methods, without being given time to learn and integrate. We "learn by living" are are expected to jump straight to implementation. If this is the best way for an educator to learn a new tool, I completely understand the perspective of "fewer things better."
ReplyDeleteIt can definitely be overwhelming when you feel behind with something that is becoming apart of everything we do. I agree that taking it slow as you become comfortable is a great way to introduce technology in your classroom. That way you are able to effectively teach the material but also adapt it with new tools. Also, it will be a great way to evolve and tweak lessons each year.
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