After Monday’s class, I browsed through Alec’s Media Literacy Wiki, and now I have almost too much to think about. One of the main problems with the internet is also its main benefit: anyone can post anything. Sometimes it is impossible to separate fact from fiction, or in some cases, facts are taken completely out of context. An excellent example of this would be the DHMO website, which I thought was absolutely brilliant. This would be a great website to show to students to demonstrate how content on the internet is often misleading.
Although Think Before You Post reminds students that online photos or videos can be accessed by anyone and are almost impossible to retract, it does not acknowledge that others can post images/information without a person’s consent. It upset me to know the true story behind the Star Wars Kid video, because at one point I did think it was funny.
The old adage, “Don’t believe everything you see on TV” needs to be taken to a whole new level. The internet has so much potential for use in education, but it is being cluttered with so much misleading content. Students and teachers need to be critical of what they are viewing, and further research is often needed to give credibility or context to the content. Media- in all its forms- is an important influence, especially on young people, so it is important that we incorporate media literacy into education. Andy Carvin’s article offers many insights on how to incorporate media literacy into the curriculum- from the viewpoint of students. One student suggested that since critical thinking skills are already taught in other subjects such as literature and social studies, media literacy did not need to be added to the curriculum. Although I agree that these skills are fundamental to core subjects, I think that it is still important for teachers to create connections and opportunities for these skills to be used with regards to online content. The internet is a powerful force which must be acknowledged, so that students can learn to view it in a serious way instead of as an entertaining pastime.
ashleydejaegher Said:
on June 4, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Great post! This is something that I am always thinking about when I use the internet as a resource. How accurate and true is the information I am actually looking at. I often wish I didn’t rely on the internet so often because a lot of my recent papers I have had to complete need text resources. Last semester I didn’t even know where to begin in locating any text resources in the library that would be useful. Which is pretty sad considering I have been in University for 4 years. The internet is always the first place to look for information, but it may not be the correct information that you find. It is really important that our students understand that some information may be incorrect, misleading and biased in opinion. There is always things to be thinking about, and this is a good topic to think about!