Skip to main content

Home/ EdTech/ Group items tagged digital media

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Sean McHugh

Parenting for a Digital Future - Media literacy - everyone's favourite solution to t... - 0 views

  • Media Literacy … provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create and participate with messages in a variety of forms — from print to video to the Internet.
  • The more that the media mediate everything in society – work, education, information, civic participation, social relationships and more – the more vital it is that people are informed about and critically able to judge what’s useful or misleading, how they are regulated, when media can be trusted, and what commercial or political interests are at stake. In short, media literacy is needed not only to engage with the media but to engage with society through the media.
  • any media literacy strategy requires sustained attention, resources and commitment
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • let’s get media literacy firmly embedded in the school curriculum
  • it might be wise to calculate the cost also – to individuals, to society – of not promoting media literacy, of having a population with insufficient critical knowledge to manage its digital safety, security, privacy, civic and health information needs or consumer rights.
  • it is commonly said that media literacy is, at heart, critical thinking (demand evidence, question sources, analyse claims, consider what’s at stake for whom, etc.) and, therefore, should be taught right across the curriculum from history to science or English
  • In order to enable citizens to access information, to exercise informed choices, evaluate media contexts, use, critically assess and create media content responsibly, they need advanced media literacy skills.
  • Media literacy should not be limited to learning about tools and technologies, but should aim to equip individuals with the critical thinking skills required to exercise judgement, analyse complex realities, recognise the difference between opinions and facts, and resist all forms of hate speech
  • Work to get media literacy firmly embedded as compulsory in the school curriculum.
  • Media education is a long term solution – it takes thought-through pedagogical strategies and years of teaching, not a one-shot campaign
Sean McHugh

Digital media can enhance family life, says LSE study | Media | The Guardian - 0 views

  • engaging in digital media activities together such as watching films, playing video games and keeping in touch via calls and messaging apps brings families together rather than dividing them
  • rather than displacing established ways of interacting, playing and communicating – digital media sit alongside them
  • the report’s authors highlighted parents’ concerns about “screen time”, which is a source of conflict in homes, though sleep and behaviour cause more disagreement. They also flag up a lack of support for parents who may face particular challenges regarding their child or family’s digital media use. Whereas on other issues they might turn to their own parents for advice, the digital generation gap means they are unlikely to be able to help
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • traditional, shared activities persist in families, alongside newer digital activities
  • Rather than worrying about the overall amount of screen time children get, it might be better to support parents, many of whom are digital natives themselves, in deciding whether, when and why particular digital activities help or harm their child, and what to do about it
Sean McHugh

Teens, Technology and Friendships | Pew Research Center - 1 views

  • Social media and online gameplay are the most common digital venues for meeting friends
  • Along with texting, teens are incorporating a number of other devices, communication platforms and online venues into their interactions with friends
    • Sean McHugh
       
      The overlap between socialising within a gaming context and within the context of platforms like Facebook is an interesting one... Teen use of social media has many parallels with MMORPGs, I wonder how the time spent on these platforms compares... I'd bet the girls spend as much, if not more time on social media than the boys do, even combined with their gaming time.
  • Video games play a critical role in the development and maintenance of boys’ friendships
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Playing video games is not necessarily a solitary activity; teens frequently play video games with others.
  • video gameplay, particularly over online networks, is an important activity through which boys form and maintain friendships with others:
  • 38% of all teen boys share their gaming handle as one of the first three pieces of information exchanged when they meet someone they would like to be friends with
  • Teens face challenges trying to construct an appropriate and authentic online persona for multiple audiences, including adults and peers. Consequently, many teens feel obligated to project an attractive and popular image through their social media postings.
    • Sean McHugh
       
      Again, classic gamification of social media, where the online persona becomes more like a 'role' than the true character of the person, the equivalent of social media becoming a 'massive, multiplayer online, role playing game', but with the critical difference that this is IRL, which is a little scary, Black Mirror crazy...!
  • Some 76% of teens ages 13 to 17 use social media
  • Social media helps teens feel more connected to their friends’ feelings and daily lives, and also offers teens a place to receive support from others during challenging times.
  • But even as social media connects teens to friends’ feelings and experiences, the sharing that occurs on these platforms can have negative consequences. Sharing can veer into oversharing. Teens can learn about events and activities to which they weren’t invited, and the highly curated lives of teens’ social media connections can lead them to make negative comparisons with their own lives
  • 88% of teen social media users believe people share too much information about themselves on social media
  • 78% of teen online gamers say when they play games online it makes them feel more connected to friends they already know
  • Girls are more likely to use text messaging – while boys are more likely to use video games – as conduits for conversations with friends
Sean McHugh

Why the debate on reading print versus digital books needs to change - Parenting for a ... - 0 views

  • There is a concern in some quarters that children’s activities with screens will replace their reading of books. There is a concern that the habit of skimming digital texts will carry over to reading on paper. These are valid concerns but they are not substantiated by research and they omit the important role of context and individual readers in driving change.
  • There could be a difference because of the way gains were measured (methodological reasons) and/or because of how gains were defined (theoretical reasons).
  • The calibration process is not dependent on the digital medium but on the readers’ preference
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The readers’ awareness of how they read on screen (and the calibration process they engage in when reading on screen), might be the sources of the print-versus-screen difference
  • The chain of influences is an essential piece of understanding for the debates on reading on and off-screen. It is a continuation of a long argument in media studies where one camp of researchers focuses on metacognition and another camp of researchers on the inherent characteristics of the medium.
  • The screen introduced hyperlinks, large collections of e-books, automatic possibility for translation, multimedia representations of meaning
  • Recent research by the National Literacy Trust in the UK shows that it is not the reading medium but readers’ motivation that explains their reading habits: skilled readers read a lot and well both on paper and screen.
  • children are less aware of the disconnect between a digital and non-digital reading medium than any generation of children before them. It follows that they have different preferences, different resources for calibration, different lived examples of reading around them
  • The ‘home sweet home’ for reading in the digital age is the provision of, and the practice in the use, of high-quality texts on and off screen
Sean McHugh

Technology in Education | American Federation of Teachers - 0 views

  • pedagogy (i.e., teaching practice) and not the medium (i.e., technological tools and resources, such as whiteboards, hand-held devices, blogs, chat boards) that made a difference in learning, stating that instructional media are “mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition
  • there was no proof to show that a medium was capable of ensuring that pupils and students could learn more or more effectively. He saw the medium as a means, a vehicle for instruction, but that the essence of learning remained—thankfully—in the hands of the teacher
  • it is not the medium that decides how effectively learners learn
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • the effectiveness of learning is determined primarily by the way the medium is used and by the quality of the instruction accompanying that use
  • The crucial factor for learning improvement is to make sure that you do not replace the teacher as the instrument of instruction, allowing computers to do what teachers would normally do, but instead use computers to supplement and amplify what the teacher does
  • the use of both e-learning and contact education—which is known as blended learning—produces better results than lessons given without technolog
  • the medium does not influence the learning
  • the medium seldom influences teaching, learning, and education, nor is it likely that one single medium will ever be the best one for all situations
    • Sean McHugh
       
      But 'ordinary real life is mediated by computers! I'm still only in classrooms where the myth that this is not true still persists! 
  • students do not naturally make extensive use of many of the newest technologies, such as blogs, wikis, and virtual worlds
  • the main reasons young people use technology. These reasons are mainly social
  • Digital natives! Whenever the question of digital innovation in education is discussed, this is a term that immediately comes to the surface. But it should be avoided. Even the person who coined the term digital natives, Marc Prensky, admitted in his most recent book, Brain Gain, that the term is now obsolete.2
  • Prensky’s coining of this term—and its counterpart for people who are not digitally native—was not based on research into this generation, but rather created by rationalizing phenomena that he had observed
  • The students use a large quantity and variety of technologies for communicating, learning, staying connected with their friends, and engaging with the world around them. But they are using them primarily for “personal empowerment and entertainment
  • university students do not really have a deep knowledge of technology, and what knowledge they do have is often limited to basic Microsoft Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), emailing, text messaging, Facebook, and surfing the Internet
  • There is simply no experimental evidence to show that living with new technologies fundamentally changes brain organization in a way that affects one’s ability to focus. Of course, the brain changes any time we form a memory or learn a new skill, but new skills build on our existing capacities without fundamentally changing them. We will no more lose our ability to pay attention than we will lose our ability to listen, see or speak.
  • Note that many of these studies examined the influence of television rather than the influence of interactive technology, such as smartphones and social media
  • when people think that young people today read less, it’s not about reading online content or text messages, it’s about reading book
  • young people are still doing a lot of reading, and these statistics make clear that many of them are reading for pleasure. However, we need to be careful about making too many sweeping assertions, since the reading figures in many countries are falling. Even so, we know that reading continues to be important: both reading by young people themselves and parents reading to their childre
Sean McHugh

Is There a Healthy Way for Students to Use Social Media? | Greater Good Magazine - 0 views

  • we might be overlooking the “educational and psychological benefits of using social media sites,” such as developing critical thinking and perspective-taking skills
  • parents and educators have been led to demonize what could simply be an evolving means of social connection
  • a constant stream of interruptions
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • we are probably all struggling to balance what our devices make possible with what they seem to impose on our attention spans and the rest of our health. Yet, for children, this difficulty is more acute because their bodies and brains are still developing.
  • heighten awareness of our multi-generational love of screens and encourage kids and parents to face it together.
  • None of us know the full extent of how our digital dependence is affecting us, or how it will affect the youngest generations growing up today. The least we can do is look up every now and then to ask each other how we’re doing, and how we can do better
  • they’re not alone in this struggle to practice what they preach
Sean McHugh

Ten Kid-Friendly Rules for Texting With Respect and Dignity | Psychology Today - 0 views

  • “What is the “right” age for youngsters to begin texting and using social media?”
  • If you wouldn’t say something to a person’s face, don’t send it via text or the internet.
  • Don’t gossip about other people
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Once you share something online, you lose control of where it goes, who can forward it, who will see it, and how it can potentially be used.
  • Never post a photo or message that you wouldn’t want “everyone” to be able to view.
  • Once you put something out there online, it’s almost impossible to take it back.
  • In this immediate world of instant messaging and constant contact, you may be tempted to say whatever comes to your mind in a given moment. Don’t give in to the temptation.
  • You have the ability to instantly end a digital conversation and should plan to do so the minute you recognize that cruelty has begun.
  • there is a very, very, VERY big difference between real friends and online followers
  • make sure that the only person who is speaking for you is YOU
  • Your accounts are your accounts. It is in your best interests not to let any friend—even a best friend—post or text from your account. Ever.
Sean McHugh

1-to-1 Essentials Program | Common Sense Media - 0 views

  •  
    "1-to-1 Essentials offers the guidance you need in order to proactively, rather than reactively, address issues that schools commonly face when going 1-to-1. We encourage you to explore, customize, and choose the resources that will best support your school community."
Sean McHugh

5 Myths and Truths About Kids' Internet Safety | Common Sense Media - 0 views

  •  
    If you believe everything you hear about kids online, you might think pedophiles and cyberbullies are around every cyber-corner. Yes, there is bad stuff out there. But the truth is, there's a lot of good, and some experts are arguing against a "techno-panic mindset" that worries parents unnecessarily.
Sean McHugh

The Surprising, Research-Backed Benefits of Active Screen Time - 0 views

  • How about nine
    • Sean McHugh
       
      Outside of work? How is that possible? Get home from school at 4, bed at 9, even at that impractical extreme it's 5 hours, not allowing for meal time?
  • teens today are spending an average of nine hours a day online,
    • Sean McHugh
       
      Just like their parents; why is this key point so often overlooked?
  • sedentary screen time
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • there is a very fine line between passive screen time, defined as when a child passively consumes digital content with no thought, creativity or interaction required to progress, and active screen time, which involves cognitive thought and/or physical engagement.
  • so vital for us to change how kids are using their computers and phones
    • Sean McHugh
       
      Again, only focused on kids, but if parents don't do likewise, how do they think they will have an effect?
  • As long as we ensure that our kids are actively using their screens, we can most likely avoid the problems that come with passive screen use
  • watching TV or videos
    • Sean McHugh
       
      What about the learning this offers? Specifically knowledge acquisition? Especially if that knowledge leads to hands on activity, like when kids use 'how to' videos?
  • learning a new skill like coding games or websites, creating music, writing and publishing stories or poetry
    • Sean McHugh
       
      Can you imagine many/and parents doing this? If they won't, how will they encourage their kids to do so?
Sean McHugh

The Kids (Who Use Tech) Seem to Be All Right - Scientific American - 0 views

  • Social media is linked to depression—or not. First-person shooter video games are good for cognition—or they encourage violence. Young people are either more connected—or more isolated than ever. Such are the conflicting messages about the effects of technology on children’s well-being. Negative findings receive far more attention and have fueled panic among parents and educators. This state of affairs reflects a heated debate among scientists. Studies showing statistically significant negative effects are followed by others revealing positive effects or none at all—sometimes using the same data set.
  • at a population level, technology use has a nearly negligible effect on adolescent psychological well-being
  • Technology use tilts the needle less than half a percent away from feeling emotionally sound. For context, eating potatoes is associated with nearly the same degree of effect and wearing glasses has a more negative impact on adolescent mental health.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • The size of the association documented across these studies is not sufficient or measurable enough to warrant the current levels of panic and fear around this issue.”
  • Unfortunately, the large number of participants in these designs means that small effects are easily publishable and, if positive, garner outsized press and policy attention,
  • put these extremely miniscule effects of screens on young people in real-world context
  • some positive behaviors such as getting enough sleep and regularly eating breakfast were much more strongly associated with well-being than the average impact of technology use.
  • Strikingly, one of the data sets Przybylski and Orben used was “Monitoring the Future,” an ongoing study run by researchers at the University of Michigan that tracks drug use among young people. The alarming 2017 book and article by psychologist Jean Twenge claiming that smartphones have destroyed a generation of teenagers also relied on the data from “Monitoring the Future.” When the same statistics Twenge used are put into the larger context Przybylski and Orben employ, the effect of phone use on teen mental health turns out to be tiny.
  • “The real threat isn’t smartphones. It’s this campaign of misinformation and the generation of fear among parents and educators.”
  • All of this is not to say there is no danger whatsoever in digital technology use. In a previous paper, Przybylski and colleague Netta Weinstein demonstrated a “Goldilocks” effect showing moderate use of technology—about one to two hours per day on weekdays and slightly more on weekends—was “not intrinsically harmful,” but higher levels of indulgence could be.
Sean McHugh

Defining Technology Integration (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom P... - 0 views

  • I wanted a definition that got past the issue of access to glittering new machines and Gee Whiz applications. I wanted a definition that focused on classroom and school use aimed toward achieving teacher and district curricular and instructional goals. I wanted a definition that put hardware and software in the background, not the foreground. I wanted a definition grounded in what I heard and saw in classrooms, schools, and districts.
  • “Technology integration is the routine and transparent use in learning, teaching, and assessment of computers, smartphones and tablets, digital cameras, social media platforms, networks, software applications and the Internet aimed at helping students reach the district’s and teacher’s curricular and instructional goals.”*
  • The devices and software are not front-and-center but routinely used in lessons
1 - 17 of 17
Showing 20 items per page