In this week’s debate I was one of the participants! It was really tough to debate from the opposition’s side. I felt so conflicted arguing from a position I whole heartedly disagreed with. However, after really digging into our side’s point of view I was able to constructively see where promoting the development of a digital footprint is tricky and that teachers do need to tread wisely. Our opposiing team, Jolaolowa & Laura, took the affirmative stance and nailed their points and argued well. This call to teaching digital literarcy and development is in our curriculim; therefore we are required and mandated as teachers to cautiously yet optimistly prepare the next generation for the unknown digital world ahead. Below are the points and overview of the argument and my final thoughts.
Affirmative: Jolaolowa & Laura
Opening statement video
The reading/viewing post that stood out most for me from Jolaolowa & Laura was the Ted Talk “Kid, you posted WHAT?! How to raise a digital citizen” by Keegan Korf. I like how she talked about the online world being a safe space for her as none of her family members were involved. I agree! I also grew up in a similiar world where MSN messenger or Facebook were unknown to my family members so I had complete autonomy. However, I was a bit older when Facebook came out (late high school) THANK GOD and it was only available to University students. I cringe to think what I could have posted. I didn’t really start using it until my first year in University. Her point that according to Buchanan (2016), kids today start using the internet on average when they are a little under 8 years old. Preschoolers really use the internet, even if it is just to choose song or watch cartoons. Most people now regularly access the internet, with older kids (13+) utilising it for social contact and younger kids (9-13) primarily using it for games was shocking! Essentially her argument is that there are simple things that can be done early on to demonstrate students the positive side of utilising the internet, such as leaving a positive digital footprint as opposed to all the negative things they should continuously be on the lookout for. Don’t get me wrong, both are crucial, but I think one side lacks more than the other. The internet and digital technology are rich with information. It is inevitable that our children will use the internet at some point during their time in school. Instead of scaring them away, we should support their use of it. I agree whole heartedly and was reminded that the digital world I grew up with is much more intense now and children more than ever need guidance, mentorship and support!
Opposition: Rahima & Jessica
I’m not going to do a reflection on our own readings as we posted them but overall some points on the reading piece! IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to find any support for this topic. Perhaps we weren’t being creative enough or looking for the right things. I even used CHAT GPT to try to find articles or documents and all the suggestions they gave were fake links! I felt like we were looking for a needle in a haystack so what we were able to find worked but I felt like there was no articles or support to argue against supporting developing student digital footprints. It was really bizarre to be honest.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think that was a pretty bad ass debate and both Rahima & I, and Jolaolowa & Laura did a great job!
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