Read the quote below from John Palfrey and Urs Gasser (2008), and construct a personal response to it:
Studies show that children who have the most extensive access to the Internet are more likely than their less experienced peers to take a skeptical view of the kinds of information that they draw from web-based sources like Wikipedia. A possible way to explain this phenomenon is that children with unrestricted access have the time to experience knowledge production as a collaborative process, while young people who access the Web, for instance, through computers in the library need to get information very quickly and thus dont have time to evaluate their sources carefully. Quality of education also seems to be a factor in how capable a Digital Native is in accessing information….Our worry is that its bad news for children who spend less time online, or who havent learned the skills they need to navigate information sources in cyberspace. (p. 167)
You may wish to consider some of the following questions while crafting your response:
Will ICTs and networked education help make knowledge more easily and freely available to all, or do you think that using web-based educational resources already requires a substantial amount of knowledge to assess whether or not that information is valid?
How do you assess the accuracy of information you find online, and to what degree do platforms like Google and Wikipedia influence the way that you do your research? How might they impact the information you find?
As online students, how do you relate to the material we’ve discussed this week? With reference to your own experience, discuss the use of information technology in university learning.
Your response should incorporate insights and direct references to the module material and the assigned readings from this week.
All of this week’s responses should be between 350-500 words in length and should be posted by 11:59 PM EST of the evening (Friday) preceding the following module.
