Week 3, Thing 7

In reviewing my blog after finishing thing 22, I notice that I missed posting a blog on anything technology related. To catch up: I used my digital essay on how I spent my summer vacation at school and got some positive feedback from the staff and students who checked it out. I set it up on my digital photoframe and placed it on the circulation desk so that it was hard to miss by anyone entering the library. When I finished it, I noticed how much time I spent babywatching!

My first grandchild will not only be a citizen of the digital world, it will be a different digital world than that of the first digital generation. We will learn from the first digital generation how to make a better next digital generation. So far, we've learned that students have used keyboards so much that they've lost the mastery of handwriting skills still required by the new SATs. The results of those SATs are affected by the loss of those skills as students struggle to write legibly and quickly given the time restraints of the test. NDD (nature deficit disorder) has already been observed and reported as students who don't spend enough time outdoors feeling the breeze on their cheeks, listening to the sounds of the world around them and touching the textures of the natural world show signs of stress that students whose parents proactively take their children camping, on nature hikes, etc., don't. Too much screen time, too, means less time in exercise and greater risk of obesity. All change is a 2 edged sword. We must be careful not to lose important experiences in favor of technology. These are challenges that have been recognized. They can and must be remediated.