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It’s extremely valuable for
students to be connected. Being able to get information from people in
different or areas of the world where events that appear in media and helps
fight the issue of “fake news” or only being able to understand an idea just
through a specific lens. It can give students perspectives on what is actually
considered breaking news from the country or place or origin that an event
takes place, which could possibly help ease the increased anxieties experienced
by Gen Z. It encourages them to think critically about the media that’s
presented to them. Also, learning how to get connected globally gives them the
tools to investigate the world that’s happening around them.
Because of technology, students can
have the opportunity of listening to experts in a field they’re studying right in their own classroom and without the school having to pay to fly the expert in to speak. In terms of music, I could
schedule Skype/Zoom interviews with people in different music jobs, such as
people who perform in symphonies, professors of music, and possibly people working
in music professions all over the world. Students could get insight about how what
we’re doing in class has real world implications. It blows my mind
that the next generations of students can have opportunities like these!
Hi, Jessica! Thank you so much for your post! I loved your point that technology (which may be making kids more anxious than ever before) can also be utilized to combat that anxiety (by encouraging kids to search with purpose and to read articles from many different viewpoints). This is an amazing and useful connection for us, as educators. It can be so easy to blame technology for everything bad and scary about our modern world, but it is so useful to remember all of the ways that we can use technology positively to expand our world and make it a better place. As educators, that is what we want students to do: to take charge of the tools (and technology) available to them, not feel beaten down or controlled by it. I thought that was a really cool point you made.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I really like about being able to search the web in different ways, in addition to how it can help provide global context for students (and possibly assuage their anxiety), is that I think it promotes respect in students. If students read how people from other countries report on/react to their own news, they begin to see them as capable, complex humans just like the people they know in real life. The way that this opens up someone's mind--to understand the diversity and interconnectedness of the world--to me, is redefinition not just in our learning, but in who we are as people. I know for me, living in Japan and becoming close with people in a different culture than my own completely changed the way I see myself and the world around me. Like as explored in this blog post, https://blog.oup.com/2017/04/intercultural-communication-styles/, there are a lot of ways that intercultural communication improves our ability to understand others and our own capacity for empathy. It's amazing, like you said, that we can give this opportunity to students without them ever having to physically leave the classroom.
Your comment about improved search helping students take control of their own anxiety inspired me to think about how technology doesn't just help students learn: it helps them become better, more confident people. I think it's really exciting to think about all the ways that technology can be used to push us to be better. Thank you so much for your thought-provoking post and all of your amazing connections!
Jessica, I love your idea of using technology as an anxiety mediating tool in your classroom! I think we often look to blame technology and global connectedness for the anxiety that kids today experience, but your approach here is an inventive rebuttal to that position. Your proposal that technology be used to improve the social/emotional well-being of students is also an innovative counter to how we usually think of technology. I think it's a brilliant plan!
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