Credibility, Digital Content and Our Students

The authors of the articles I read this week raised several points that made me reflect on how we, as educators, can teach our students to take full advantage of the learning opportunities offered by the internet and digital media while, at the same time, helping them recognize and handle the many challenges they will encounter.

Flanagin and Andrews (2008) provide an extensive description of the many factors that comprise the concept of credibility. They categorize credibility based on how it is constructed and how people assess information. This provides context to their discussion regarding youth’s ability to recognize credibility problems when they are using information delivered via digital media.

While the authors’ discussion was valuable in my understanding of credibility, Flanagin and Andrews offer relatively few recommendations in the area of how to teach young people to properly assess credibility in the digital world. Nonetheless, their article reinforced my opinion: to be able to help ours students we must (1) become very knowledgeable of how youth create and use digital media and (2) seek a balance between protecting our students and incorporating digital media and technology in our curricula.

The explanation given by Lankes (2008) about the paradox of information self-sufficiency added to my understanding of the current use of digital media. It is interesting to realize that we are “independently dependent”. While technology has allowed us to become more independent in our acquisition of information, we are definitely dependent on such technology to acquire the information we need.

Of particular interest to me was Lankes’ discussion on how the manner in which people ascribe credibility is shifting from relying on information provided by authorities in the subject matter to synthesizing information that is obtained various sources. This trend creates the need in an area where our students need our help, because synthesis is a difficult skill to acquire (my view). For instance, we could create lessons where students are required to synthesize information from digital sources and take the opportunity to guide them through the lesson by demonstrating the synthesis skills we have gained as researchers.

The article by Stern (2008) gave me a view into the young people who create and publish digital content on the Web. It was fascinating to see how the people presented by the author used blogs and personal web sites to explore and experiment with their online (and offline) identity. More importantly, this article drove the point that we must look beyond the items our students produce and try to comprehend their reasons for producing these items and the spaces where they publish them. This could make us more knowledgeable about the motivations of our students which, in turn, can help us deliver education that better meets their needs.

Heverly (2008) offers a compelling discussion regarding the persistent and pernicious characteristics of digital content. The second the material is available on the Web, it is available forever. In addition, we loose control and ownership of the material, the material can be found by anyone, and the law gives us limited protection. Therefore, we must be very careful with the information we reveal about ourselves in the material we publish. Moreover, we must help our students learn about the risks inherent in producing digital artifacts and guide them in how to create material that will not harm them later in life.

Hector

References:

Flanagin, A., & Mezger, M. (2008). Digital Media and Youth: Unparalleled Opportunity and Unprecedented Responsibility. Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility. Edited by Miriam J. Metzger and Andrew J. Flanagin. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 5–28. Retrieved on March 20, 2011 from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dmal.9780262562324.005

Lankes, R. (2008). Trusting the Internet: New Approaches to Credibility Tools. DigitalMedia, Youth, and Credibility. Edited by Miriam J. Metzger and Andrew J. Flanagin. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 101–122.  Retrieved on March 20, 2011 from
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dmal.9780262562324.101

Heverly, R. (2008). Growing Up Digital: Control and the Pieces of a Digital Life. Digital Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpected. Edited by Tara McPherson. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 199–218. Retrieved on March 21, 2011 from
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dmal.9780262633598.199

Stern, S. (2008). Producing Sites, Exploring Identities: Youth Online Authorship. Youth, Identity, and Digital Media. Edited by David Buckingham. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 95–118. Retrieved on March 21, 2011 from
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dmal.9780262524834.095