True or Not?

How do you know what you read on line is true?  What effect can words have?  Is it stealing to use other people's words they have written on the internet?

These questions and more were addressed during this weeks reading.  The amount of information available on the internet is increasing every day. Knowing evaluate the information is key.  Google offers a "Digital Literacy Tour" to guide adults and children to answer the validity and reliability questions of the information.  I particularly liked this site because it includes videos on having safe online practices.

This year, there was a physical fight in a classroom that started because of a social networking site.  There used to be a saying "sticks and stone may break my bones, but names will never hurt me".  This statement has been out dated.  A person could go to their own personal space in the past, away from the bully.  Now, with cyber bullying, there is no safe place.  The bullying occurs at school, at home, or where ever the student may have an electronic device attached to the internet.  Common Sense Media offers an on line curriculum that touches on these topics.  I was impressed with the topics on the included.

One video we watched this week included a statement from the Spiderman Comics, "With great power, comes great responsibility".  I find this to be quite fitting when speaking of digital literacy, digital citizenship and digital identity.  Children, as well as parents and other adults, have to have an idea of how the digital footprint they create today will effect their future.  Back when words were said and not permanently written on a social networking site or text, it was easier to overcome the words.  Now the words typed are forever imprinted.  Back when a "bad" picture was taken, you could get rid of the film before someone saw it. Now, if you share that digital picture with one other person, it could be spread to thousands of people in a minute.  As a society, we have to protect our children from making these types of mistakes.  We have to show them how their words and actions on the internet can change how people view them, good or bad.  We have to teach them to responsible.

Finally, teaching students the difference between stealing words and using words is critical.  It is easy to copy text and past using a word document.  Students are going to have to be reminded that they have to cite the sources.