Growing up online is a documentary, recently shown on SBS in Australia (though I think it was a re-run). It is a good resource to use in class as a discussion topic surrounding the read/write web. I didn’t show the second part of the film, which I felt was a little alarmist and biased – the film maker slid, in my opinion, to a well trodden path of preditor/youth risk rhetoric, and didn’t suit the lesson purpose.
FRONTLINE takes viewers inside the private worlds that kids are creating online, raising important questions about how the Internet is transforming the experience of adolescence. At school, teachers are trying to figure out how to reach a generation that no longer reads books or newspapers.
As we end the current topic of work, I like to try and use a few lessons in de-fragging student’s brains. I also wanted to attempt to use Live Blogging in class for the first time. The hour lesson used 20 minutes of footage, punctuated by some discussion.
I gave them a set of questions, so that they could watch the video from a number of viewpoints, and to be critical of some of the comments being put forward by the documentary makers. It was interesting to note that they found some of the dialogs comical and many offered some off hand comments as the video rolled on.
I asked them to live blog on what they were seeing an hearing, then go away and find further evidence of this ‘debate’ in news feeds, again making a personal comment on it.
I would like to build on this, so invite people to have a look at one student’s work today and leave a comment or question – which we can address in class.
A student recount/reflection – please click here and leave a comment!
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