Ah, Technology!

Well, we kicked off our new website and then experienced a few unanticipated technology problems. When we launched the new site, all of the sudden our emails, course site, and commenting system weren’t working correctly! Needless to say, it’s been a week full of problem-solving here at PACE. Thanks for your patience!

At this point, we have most of the problems resolved. We’ll push back our drawing for the Kindle to Friday, December 14, and we’ll include commenters on this entry as well as the previous entry.

Since we’re focused on technology this week, I thought I’d include some interesting figures I read recently.

In a survey of teachers published last month, 87% believed that Internet research tools can easily distract students and may contribute to shorter attention spans. And 64% believed that Internet research tools actually did more to distract students than help them academically.

With a lack of mother-tongue resources at their fingertips, our TCKs probably rely even more heavily on Internet research than their peers in their passport country. How can we help them to develop strong Internet research skills?

Here are a few resources you could share as you consult with parents:

• http://www.edmodo.com/publisher/digitalcitizenship This is a “Digital Citizen Starter Kit” introduction. Even without the full kit, it may give you and parents some ideas about what to teach related to responsible Internet usage.
• http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/curriculum This link will take you to an entire K-12 (US grades) curriculum for teaching digital literacy and citizenship.

I’m sure there are many more resources out there, but these might help to get you started.

How have Internet research skills or anything related to “digital citizenship” been included in your consultations with parents? What resources have you found to help with this issue?

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