Module 6 - Digital Citizenship

For my grad class I had to do some learning about digital citizenship. I chose to follow Option 1 where I developed an action plan for an issue regarding digital citizenship. The issue I emphasized is cyber-bullying.  Here is my action plan:

Digital Citizenship Action Plan on Prezi

I also had to review the book for the class. Here is my writing in regards to it:

A New Culture of Learning by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown

This book looks at the large picture of learning as a culture. Thomas and Brown speak of the history of education and then counter it with what is changing in our modern society. Ne of the recurring themes of the book is the shift from gaining knowledge to learning. Historically, gaining knowledge was seen as the way to educate people so that is how schools and teaching was designed. The Information Age has put more of an emphasis on tacit learning over knowledge. Knowledge is just a click away, but using that knowledge in new and creative ways is what must be learned today. This tacit learning is just starting to be developed in schools though.

I couldn't agree more with the main point of this book. My colleagues and I refer to this movement as changing from "teacher-centric" to "student-centric" classroom environments. I think I like the book's idea of moving from teaching environments to learning environments. Technology has made gaining knowledge so easy it isn't necessary to know as much as we once did (although I would argue that we know much more than humans in the past). Education's entire purpose is changing to one where we must teach students how to learn.

All of the course materials point to this same idea of the major shift in education. The Information Age has redefined education. We have looked at tools that can be used in classrooms to teach students the skills necessary for modern society. We answered the question "Is technology redefining education?" and the book supports what I included in my response. Society is changing because of technology and education changes when society does.

I would recommend this book to my colleagues. Many of them are already on board with the changing tides of education in regards to technology, but there are many that I don't think understand how or why. This book does a good job of explaining some of the historical context as well as a brief glimpse of what will be done in classrooms. There are some practical applications that can be taken to the classroom. It is written with a positive outlook that will encourage teachers to move forward with their craft.