Become a website scanner!

As teachers, it is quite common to search for materials on the net, but... Do we consider the fact that some sources may not be trustworthy? Here are some criteria to be taken into account when selecting a website: 

• PURPOSE:  a page may have different objectives that are reflected in the domain name. Among them, you can find educational, commercial, institutional, personal purposes. This intention has to be easily identifed as the content has to match the purpose.

• AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY: who is in charge of the page is another important aspect as it shows credibility and enhances confidence from the readers. It is pretty valuable to have a way to contact authors in case you need it; they may provide you an e-mail account, a Facebook account, an address or a telephone number, among others. In many cases, the authors have to provide evidence that supports their knowledge (e.g. a degree or certificate) for you to rely on them.

• APPROPRIATENESS AND RELEVANCE: bear in mind that, as teachers, it is really important to adapt the content of the webpage to the singularity of each group; so pay attention to the level, the organization, and the materials in general that the page provides.

• CURRENCY:  a reliable page has to be regularly updated and does not have to show dead links. Also, a page that is constantly innovating maintains the readers’ interest on it.

• CLARITY: the content of the webpage has to be organized, neat, legible and easy reading. It may not be trustful if it is full of colours, advertisements, and graphics.

We have analysed BBC and TOOLS FOR EDUCATORS pages under these criteria, and we came to the conclusion that, despite having some drawbacks, both pages provide teachers with useful materials and tools to be used in the classroom. Also, the two of them offer free materials, and activities for different levels of proficiency.

As a conclusion, and in relation to our previous post - in which we said that teachers and schools have to keep pace with new generations -, we thought that a good way of taking technology to the classroom is by employing new and interesting materials, and also stuff with which students can work online. 

                               https://www.flickr.com/photos/7815007@N07/11948279755

Have I innovated today?

Nowadays, the way in which children learn has changed largely while the educational system has not kept pace with it, and that has been subject of many authors investigation. Today, we are going to focus on Marc Prensky’s work “Digital Natives, Digital immigrants”. According to him, a key concept to understand this problem is the role that digital technology has occupied in society in the late 20^th Century. As the name of his article implies, he divides the digital society into two main categories:  Natives and immigrants. The former makes reference to those who were born and grew up in the US surrounded by digital technology. The latter would include elder people who, in a way, adopted technology, but always keeping one foot in the past.

Prensky’s research motivated others to investigate and discuss this issue, resulting in significant controversies.  In this entry we would like to express our opinion regarding the points he left aside when defining digital natives and immigrants. Is he absolutely right when saying that you are a digital native only if you have a certain age and are born in the USA? What other aspects should be considered?  We think that seeing age as one variable for this division is not entirely wrong but he is not taking into account that a big percentage of people of the same age, who live in the same country, may not have access to technology due to their socio-economic background.  

What about those who neither their economic background, nor the country’s policies allow them to have access to technology? In some places, the political system limits people’s connections with the rest of the world, so as to control the information they receive and the knowledge that masses can get. A good example of this may be Cuba, where they cannot have Wi-Fi connection, and also if you are a tourist and you ask for a Wi-Fi password you have to pay expensive fees for it.

It is a fact technology gives us many tools to be used in the classroom, but teachers have the responsability of being informed on how to use those tools, striking a balance between the old way, and the new one. The role of the teacher in today’s education is crucial as he/she is the one in charge of motivating learners by exploiting all the potential that technology has, but also has to help learners develop imagination and creativity on their own, as “immigrants” did.