The following quote
from Howard Gardner reemphasizes one of my long held contentions. “But no medium itself is benevolent or
malevolent in itself. You can use a pencil to write sonnets, or poke people's
eyes out, and so the fact that we have the new digital media does not at all
mean that they're going to be used in benign ways.“ (Gardner, 2009) I have always believed that
the medium is not cause of conflict or harmony; instead it is the manner and
design of implementation. If we are to assign levels of acceptability, and we
do, then why is social media on so many occasions the recipient of the scarlet letter?
The negative aspects of traditionally accepted media are for the large part
ignored because we believe that we can manage the product in a manner that will
be classroom tolerable. The archaic thought processes of many administrators
and teachers can’t, or won’t, allow for the discussion of an open sim
environment or almost any type of social media. I have yet to arrive at a
definitive conclusion as to why this atmosphere of mistrust exists in a world
where widespread internet access has been commonplace for almost twenty five
years. Many people have an embedded trait
of mistrust and doubt directed toward many perspectives, yet none seem so honed
in as to this facet of classroom technology.
Reference:
Garner, H. (2009, May 9). Big thinkers: Howard gardner
on digital youth. Retrieved from
http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-howard-gardner-video
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