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Reframing My Mindset on Social Media

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If you have read some of my prior posts, I have spent plenty of time establishing the fact that I am not a major social media user, that I have cut back my time spent on various apps, and that I am, in general, much more of a taker than a giver when it comes to social media. With so much of the focus on negative aspects of social media, I think sometimes it is important to be reminded that there are a lot of positive uses when it comes to social media as well. Plus, I think almost all teachers are familiar with the concept of how we frame things to students, and why this is so important. I can remember a professional development session I had in which I was first introduced to the negativity bias , which in essence states that we as humans have a much stronger reaction and clearer memory when it comes to things we experience as negatives over positives. We will dwell on past mistakes or rude comments far more than we will a piece of praise or a great accomplishment. Similarly, how we f
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Media Literacy-A Definition and (Rough) Road Map

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In one of my earlier blog posts, I did some back-of-the-napkin math on just how much time we are spending online, and as a result, how many ads we are consuming every day. I framed that information based on internet use, and while spending more time on the internet might have streamlined the ability to take in ideas and advertisements, this is not a new human experience. The internet is far from the only form of media people can engage with (think radio, television, print, etc.)-it just happens to be the most common flavor for many in contemporary society. If we look at media as a complete idea, between the internet (and all the ways we can access it), TV, radio, print, etc., our engagement with media stretches far beyond the 6 hours per day I wrote about before. As this article from Statista states, estimates were made that by 2020, Americans would spend 13.5 hours per day engaging with some sort of media. This article breaks down the difference between digital and traditional media
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Protecting Our Students-CIPA, COPPA, and Their Relevance to the Classroom

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With how quickly the connection between technology and education…and everyday life, really…is building and evolving, one question that parents and schools have to tackle is how to keep children safe online. As most are aware, the limit to the things one can access online very well may not exist. There is great power in this fact, but also great reason for pause, because of what it means for children. As parents and teachers, I think it is vital to understand the laws that are in place, what they cover, and perhaps more importantly, what they do not. Image Source CIPA The Children’s Internet Protection Act, or CIPA, is a 2000 law that was updated in 2010, and its focus is on requiring schools to protect and educate children on how to use technology safely. Makes sense-especially with how many schools have transitioned into a 1-1 model where students are given a device as an integral part of their daily educational experience, it stands to reason that schools should be educating students
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Digital Tattoos Revisited

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In an earlier post, I wrote about a personal data mine that I conducted in thinking about my digital tattoo-the imprint that I have left on the digital world, and how much information about me was truly and readily available on the internet. As the concept of digital tattoos denote, what we post and interact with online can be very difficult to erase, and almost always will leave traces (as with a tattoo, fully removing one’s past actions online can be challenging and time-consuming). I wanted to do a little bit more digging, and was turned onto this Digital Tattoo project website from the University of British Columbia. The site contains a variety of different resources, from quizzes about which aspects of one’s digital tattoo they seek to address or learn more about, to videos and articles and even teaching resources related to that creation and maintenance of a digital tattoo. Albeit a beginner’s reflection, here is what I found: Digital Tattoo Basics Overall, the articles and tuto
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The FYI on AUPs-What Does (and Should) Acceptable Use Look Like?

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A major question that schools are faced with, as the trend of tech integration into the classroom continues, is how to keep students and staff responsible and safe in their use of technology. Many teachers (myself included) would obviously love to see fewer moments of games or YouTube being accessed during work time, as the potential for off-task behaviors is something that we will constantly grapple with whenever we incorporate tech-driven learning. But, this is just one of the (smaller, relatively) concerns faced as tech’s role in schools grows. Especially as schools transition to a 1-1 setup, where they are now providing each student with a device that can potentially access every recess of the internet, communicating the expectations for how those devices can/should be used is paramount. Many schools have done this by drafting acceptable use policies, or AUPs, which are shared with teachers, students, and parents. For reference, here is my own district’s policy on use for computers
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More Than Clicks & Cookies-Information on Algorithms

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Algorithms . A term that many of us were not familiar with even just a handful of years ago, and now something that can dominate our day-to-day lives, or at minimum our engagement in media platforms. I have had some awareness and familiarity about the basic workings and influences of algorithms, but before this week I did not fully understand just how far the reach of algorithms extended. Honestly, the first thing that usually popped into my head when thinking about algorithms is this scene from Ron Swanson in the show Parks & Rec: Video Source Video courtesy of Peacock, retrieved from YouTube Numbers Dive I wanted to do a little digging, just to get a feel for how often an algorithm might impact someone on social media. This article reports internet users being on social media around 2 hours and 23 minutes per day on average, the same figure reported by this report from Statista. This is roughly the same level that has been seen since 2018, and with estimates above 2 hours per d
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