Digital Blog Post #D

Chapter 5

The first section of Chapter 5, I am talking about is E-books and E-readers. First, I think E-books and E-readers are very nice and a good thing to have. They help to organize and save space. You can have a lot of reading material nicely organized on one device. This semester, I have downloaded both of my textbooks, that I need for my 2 classes, on my tablet. I have rented them from Amazon for a much cheaper prize as I would have to pay for a regular printed book. I think this is a good thing to buy or rent textbooks from an online source. The textbook tells me, I am not the only one who likes e-books. It states that a survey found out that 40 % of 1200 E-reader buyers were spending more time reading now than before with print books. I am still reading print books too because I think we should never stop the fun of having real paper books as reading material. They never loose battery performance and they are less sensitive to transport everywhere. Another study found out that students who used E-readers in a first-year reading and writing course at California Lutheran University showed increased academic success. I think, maybe E-readers are new and getting popular and the interest and excitement of using them makes students using them more and gain better academic success. The book asks on p. 102, "Does time spent reading online support student learning?" There are internet critics who believe reading printed books is the time-honored, proven path to intellectual growth. I also think, we shouldn't forget to show our children the excitement of real feel printed books. The textbook also states that historian David McCullogh states that learning is acquired mainly from books and mostly from good books. I think, it is important to introduce children at a young age to real printed books that they can open and explore. There are so many beautiful picture books for children that we can't compare with an electronic version. Books for children can be made intersting with with touch, feel and sense material to explore. I think, first children should have a rich printed book experience. When they get older and go to school, we could add E- books for them to get to know too.The Video tells about the adding of electronics in a catholic High School.
The second section of the book I would like to talk about is on p. 114 "Wikipedia: An online Encyclopedia. The book explains that Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia with a worldwide collection of Authors. It also says that Wikipedia constantly ranks among the most visited sites on the web. I noticed that, when I use google to reseacrh for a specific topic, one of the first results I see is content and definitions from Wikipedia. For the fact, like the book also says, that anyone can add listings and definitions to wikipedia, I agree that this is not the most reliable source to look for information. It should be carefully reviewed and compared with other more reliable websites. I understand that many people distrust Wikipedias content (P.114) because there is no editorial and expert control. I like the role-play Encyclopedia Development described by the book. It says students will choose topics that they are familiar with and work on them in small groups. They will create a definition about it with just the information they know. Different groups will work on same topics so the students can compare and contrast their finished work. That way, they will find out how similar or different their descriptions are. I think, this is a great project that teaches children how massive information from the internet is and that we can't trust every source we find.
The third section I would like to hang on to is the one about Cyberbullying. Bullying in real Life among children shocks and makes me sad. Unfortunately, children can be mean to each other and even lose their respect towards adults sometimes. I think this is something teachers need to work on every day to try to avoid most of it. Sometimes, bullying happens hidden away from teachers and parents' eyes which than have no idea aboutr that their children bullying or being bullied. Unfortunately, I see bullying starting at an early age of 5 years in opur school. At this young age it is easy to control. We try to teach that it is not a good choice to be a bully.
The book says that bullying and cyberbullying have a negative and lasting impact on academic perfomances. Between 1 in three and 1 in five students have been victims of cyberbullies. Between 10 and 20% of school age children admitted to engaging in some form of harmful technology use. According to the book, girls and boys alike are involved in cyberbullying. Girls tend to spread rumors online while boys post harmful pictures.
Consequences for victims can be depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, poor school performances and also suicidal tendencies. I agree with the book that teachers have to emphasize always that it is wrong to single out people just because they do not fit in their norms. I think, we should take the time to let children and adolescents express their feelings and talk about their well-being in school. It is important to talk about bullying often in class, maybe put it in the lesson plan to make it a theme. Students have to learn that hurting each others feelings doesn't help anybody. More information for parents, teens and teachers and definitions about cyberbullying can be found at the Cyberbullying Research Center.  Students should be reminded to respect everyone, even if they look or talk differently then they are. They are still classmates and people like everybody else.

Citation

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Ottawa citizen (2013), Catholic High school libraries use E-readers and laptops, tetrieved from www.Youtube.com

Cyberbullying Research Center (last updated 2015) www.cyberbullying.us 
                                                                                                                                        
 Freitag, Julia, We look different but..., www.canva.com