Web Literacy

                I understand that there are many reasons why parents and schools often elect to filter various web sites out so that children are not able to access them. However, there is absolutely no reason to leave children uneducated and vulnerable when they eventually do begin accessing information online. I believe it is doing children a complete disservice by not teaching them how to preserve ethical responsibility and critical thinking skills when decoding content on the internet. All too often many children, and adults for that matter, have to teach themselves web literacy. Personally, I remember receiving my first spam email that read, “You have a million dollars to claim! Just give us your bank information and we will credit this amount to your account.” I actually called my mother and pleaded for her bank information, believing that the email was legitimate. Obviously, my mother explained that this was simply a scam, but what about the children who do not have a care-giver to teach them these types of “rules” for the internet? Children must be able to recognize the difference in accurate and phony information.

                 I am delighted that the Common Core Standards have required for all students be taught web literacy! Children should be trained to distinguish between genuine and artificial information that is habitually posted on the internet in order to draw effective conclusions about their research. This is only the beginning however; children must also learn to organize authentic information whenever they do come across it. For example, one may bookmark multiple pages in order to draw one main conclusion; but what if multiple students need to be able to access the same information? Organizing information so that a particular group can access it is a huge benefit in classrooms today. For instance, last semester I created a Facebook group for all of the girls in Block A, since we took the exact same courses. This was extremely helpful for everyone at some point over the semester. It was our own page that we could each go to and post questions and discuss assignments. I had no idea that the girls would use it as much as they did. My professors quickly caught on and were very proud of us for taking such initiative.

                Teaching children web literacy is a lot like teaching them reading literacy. Once they have the skill set, they can conquer mostly anything with their new-found knowledge. It is like the saying goes, “If you feed a man a fish, you feed him for a day; but if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life.” The same applies here. By helping students to find, decode, and organize information they are able to then apply those skills in various aspects of their everyday life. It is essential that we use common sense when conducting research online or in books. Students must understand that the internet, just like most things, is not correct 100% of the time. The internet is man-made. Anything man-made is going to have its imperfections. This obviously doesn’t mean that the internet is not beneficial; it just means that we have to use common sense when deciphering through web content.

                Lastly, it is extremely helpful to get more than one source on any given topic. It is the same situation when a person receives a shocking diagnosis from a doctor; they are usually advised to get a “second opinion”. When using the internet, it is imperative that children are also able to distinguish between primary and secondary sources. Most importantly, students need to think when they use the internet! Effective educators will engage their students in as many web based lessons plans as possible. These informative lessons will educate students on the exact thought process that they should be engaging in while using the internet or conducting research of any kind.