The world has changed

I think the world has changed a lot, and I feel like I actually lived through that change which I think is a really special thing. When I was like 8-10, everyone had actual photo albums, they had video cameras and home movies and memories were kept that way. No one shared their whole lives on the internet. I feel like it was around 13 when things started to escalate and the culture of participation began to rise through Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and apps like TikTok, for example Musically. Everyone suddenly shared everything all the time. So imagine my surprise when I started watching Wesch's video, and realized that the art of participatory culture was around way before my Internet years.

I feel like this makes me a little out of touch with students now, being that I grew up in a different time than them. I honestly feel and believe that the best way to connect with your kids and your students is to keep an open mind and try to evolve to be informed on their current culture. Nowadays, everyone wants to be part of everything all the time, so I feel like we as teachers need to lean into that to connect with our kids. For example, we could make a class TikTok, or a blog, or recreate some viral video with a link to what we're learning.

I think teaching needs to be reevaluated in this new world and recreated to include this participatory culture, because as Wesch said: "media is mediating human relationships". I feel like that's a really good way of looking at a networked culture, because really all anyone is searching for on the Internet is connection, and building relationships is such a fundamental part of school. I feel like we've been given a real chance to bond with our students, if we can just learn how to use the Internet and it's network of individuals to our advantage.

Obviously this comes with a big change though. Much like the blackboard changing the way schools function, this addition of networking introduces many challenges, but also many chances at the improvement of the system. One of the challenges I can see is where to draw the line at Internet use, and how to protect students against the dangers. With this we must look at digital citizenship and what it means to be a respectful and safe internet user, but also I think this change will need to push some boundaries before it's perfected.

I honestly can't wait to have a classroom to teach about this stuff and to introduce new ways of teaching. See you next time!