Just a “heads up” about the readings for next week, something that’s on my mind since I am actually trying to get ahead on class activities here (go figure!):
The first group of readings, what we’ll be talking about starting on Monday, are more or less about demographic trends and the common “myth” of online predators. Neither of these things are really “English studies” or “writing studies” kinds of readings. The first piece, by Wolak et al, is from the academic journal American Psychologist, and, since I am not a psychologist (never even took a class in it, actually), I will freely admit that I don’t “get it” all. Nonetheless, it’s readable and interesting, and I think important for the point of the week’s unit.
Also in the first group is a large study on the ways that teens engage in stuff on the internet and social media. It’s long, but it’s also very skimable.
In the second part of the readings, I want to be completely up-front with you about the Marc Prensky readings: I think he is really REALLY wrong and his term “digital natives” is really REALLY problematic! So, you might be asking why we’re reading it. Well, for better or worse (and I think it is clearly “for worse”), his terminology and thinking about this have caught on, and in order to respond to it (which is what the other readings are doing in one form or another, directly or indirectly), we need to understand what he’s talking about.
Finally, I’m hoping/planning on reading through each of your blogs and offering some feedback on stuff there and also the “invent your own technology” project. But I will let you know up-front that some of my schedule has taken an unexpected turn for some of the time I was going to spend this weekend getting really ahead/caught up. So don’t be surprised if you don’t get comments/grades on this first project until Monday or so of next week.
Thanks for the heads-up! This is helpful.