eSchool News 8 Feb. 2010
“Four Things Every Student Should Learn … but not Every School Is Teaching.”Education technology consultant Alan November reveals key lessons that today’s students must know in order to thrive in the Information Age.
Dennis Pierce, Editor
Dennis Pierce summarizes a speech by education technology consultant Alan November. November feels that every member of the Net Generation should learn:
1. Global empathy. Acknowledge, understand, and respect differences of other cultures and points of view in order to interact in a global environment.
2. Social and ethical responsibility on the web. Online responsibility to curb inappropriate behavior, bullying and harassment.
3. The permanence of information posted online. Nothing is permanently deleted on the Internet. Employers, admissions representatives, creditors can use archives to access your personal and professional information. Internet Archive is one site that accesses such information.
4. Critical thinking about the information found online. Know how search engine rank web sites. Placement is not a guarantee of credibility. Google uses algorithms based on number of to a website (indicates use/citation) and incidence of search term in a site’s URL; hence, Wikipedia’s high placement. Critical thinking involves research, evaluation of information for accuracy, authority, currency, and purpose to determine credibility, and documentation.