As I was surveying the net this week, I came across this blurb on the Education Week website. It brings up some interesting technology related presence and appropriateness in education debates. I consider it to be thought-provoking and also figured I would bring it into this forum for proper discussion amongst aspiring educators.
While digital content is growing wildly into education through applications that are appropriate and some that are not so appropriate, a rating system has finally been unveiled to help combat how technology serves its users. The rating system, released by CommonSense Media, was initially proposed in May of 2011, but has finally been launched online to help parents, guardians, and teachers alike to help modify the climate that children and students are exposed to when using technology to "enrich their minds".
Though we cannot monitor their intake and prevent them from their involvement in popular culture via social media outlets, we can moderate their involvement if something is deemed out of the range of age appropriateness. I know that this may seem like we as teachers are acting like surveyors into our students' lives and are harboring a lifestyle on our students, but it must be seen that this is a preventative measure, a measure to help guard children from content that is not suitable for their age brackets.
This CommonSense Media website, currently hold 150 popular culture media apps/games/websites that are available online, on their cellphones, and are virtually available to them with a flick of their fingers with the technology on e-readers and tablets alike. The website is updated regularly and is re-evaluated for certain content that allows it content to be reviewed, re-reviewed, and then appropriately rated consistently. They are adding more websites/games/apps to their lists with ratings as they have begun to acclimate those that are out there. You might be wondering how these ratings come about, and that is very important considering that it might be an invasion of privacy issue that you see this rating system providing instead of sensible media exposure to minors. "The ratings are created through a combination of input from academic experts, teachers, parents, and literature on contemporary learning skills, according to the release. They will be applied both to digital media created for general consumption and to media created specifically for an educational audience." When examining this statement, I would feel that parents would be more inclined to agree that technology be present in their child's learning for a specific lesson. They can feel more comfortable and assured, as should any guardian, that their son or daughter is learning not only content that is consistently changing but that their exposure to the digital media is also appropriate for their age group and their cultural climate.
I think that this is a positive change to help enrich our students while also protecting them from content that is not suitable for them. We cannot watch our students all the time, even while they are in our classrooms. We do not have "eyes everywhere" as we were often told as students by our previous educators. The facts are simple. We are responsible for their care and what they internalize in our classrooms. This ratings website provides a safer notion of how educational development can occur and be fostered in our students without our students being exposed to potentially detrimental online materials.
Try to check out the EducationWeek blurb and also glance over/check out the CommonSense Media website to see some online items that are appropriate for students of various age groups. The website provides materials for all students that are learning all different subjects. This can be a useful and effective tool for any teacher, without specific concentration on only certain subjects.
What do you think? Does the rating system seem inappropriate to be involved in a classroom climate? As aspiring educators, do you feel this is appropriate? How do you consider this change to the educational climate that our students will most certainly be affected by?
Sound off with your thoughts and comments.
Students will always be attempting to trick educators. This will not change. This ratings website might help combat students from all types of distractions while trying to learn. This student is viewing videos during classroom exercises and is practically focusing on nothing about the lesson. Maybe things might be different, who knows...
Girard, this is a very heated topic! I just posted in my previous blog about the use of cell phones in the classroom and how they can quickly become distractions from the learning environment. Keeping students on task while we integrate technology is going to be a key skill to master. To address some of your questions, I feel that as a future educator, including age ranges on materials is an essential tool for us. There are age ranges on movies, books and music; we, as educators, know that we cannot teach the same material to every grade level. Therefore, why not aid in the age appropriateness of our lessons? Integrating technology into the classroom can be tricky, and this kind of assistance could be extremely helpful in lesson planning! Also, for struggling students, we could modify the games those students are using to help with scaffolding lessons and building them up to the material. Further, as this website can be accessed anywhere, this could be a useful tool for parents! They could see how the games are being used in class, and may be able to get involved with their children in playing more educational games. This could really be a fantastic bridge between the classroom and home.
ReplyDeleteGirard, I just read and commented on Lizz's last blog post, and I have to agree with her here. Just as curriculum, standards, textbooks, an so forth are all designed for specific age levels, so must the technologies we use with students. It may be less of a discussion of inappropriate content than of actual age-related skill level. It is always tricky to challenge kids just enough without frustrating them, and that applies to the technologies we choose as well as other materials. I think it is great that parents can access this rating site as well. If a child is benefitting from a specific app or software the parent can let them use it outside of school. The site and ratings will also help teachers decide what technologies will be best for integration in their classes.
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