Finding information for modeling digital citizenship has not been a problem at all. This week I took my students to the computer lab to complete a web quest. There were multiple task that had to be completed and my students were required to create a citation page to include with their work. This was a very frustrating event for me. My students were putting up road blocks when it came to citing their sources. After the frustrations that I endured when it came to citing sources I will have to find some way to make this meaningful for them. Right now my students do not see a reason for citing sources and giving proper credit. How can digital citizenship be made meaningful for my students? I will have to think hard on this one.
When it comes to the blogging and create a wiki for my classes I feel like this will not be a problem for my students. Two of my classes have created wikis but I don’t believe they see the full potential of collaboration. I am going to have to work hard on this and model what they should be doing with their class wiki.
Sadie
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9 comments:
Sadie,
I completely understand what you mean with trying to get students to cite their work. There seems to be a disconnect with students born in this new digital age. It is amazing how fast many of my students can work their way around the district's firewall and find movies or download music that they should not be able to do. Since they are used to just getting what they want without giving credit to the intellectual property then why would they site information in projects.
Sadie,
I just left you a LENGTHY post that did not save, evidently, so I'll make this one shorter and sweeter!
My students were having difficulty understanding "what the big deal was" if they avoided citations. To prove my point, I took a few of their pens at the beginning of class one day and started using them with no explanation. A girl inevitably questioned my motives, and I asked in turn if she would have let me borrow it if I had asked; she said yes. I told her, then, that I didn't know why it mattered and she responded with a complaint that I should have asked.
The activity did not change every student's mind, but I made my point and the verbal challenges regarding citations stopped. Some of the kids realized that it didn't take much effort, anyway, to give credit where credit was due.
Please let me know if you give this activity a go yourself!
Have a great week,
Amanda
Sadie,
I recently had this exact conversation with a group of writing and social studies teachers varying in years of profession. The concept was brought up because students were having difficulty citing sources for a recent project. One teacher, who has been in the profession for around five years, offered a website,easybib.com, in which she has her social studies students use to cite sources. The site asks students to input information and then sites the source for them.
At this point the real debate began. Teachers were split about what is appropriate for students to learn. The older teachers stated students need to learn to write it on their own and then I chimed in stating these kids really DON'T have to learn how to do it. We are constantly trying to incorporate technology and now here was a perfect approach. After about 20 minutes of discussion back and forth all the teachers agreed this site could be used as a resource that can make siting easier. Hope this helps!
Cristina
Sadie,
I have been working on the issue of digital citizenship too. My media specialist helped me with the initial presentation on how to follow the citation format and why it is important that we give credit where credit is due. Most of my students were surprisingly receptive to the idea of intellectual property (and the ones who weren’t are the ones I would characterize as less mature).
Since we have participated in a number of writing contests this year, I used this example: “How would you like it if a classmate took a poem you had worked hard on, submitted it to a contest, and won $150?” Presenting it in those terms helped bring the idea home. I also told them the story of a time a classmate copied my idea and how it infuriated me (the fact that I remember the incident in such detail indicates how strong my reaction was). I then asked them to think back to their elementary school days and try to remember a time someone copied them. Most of them were able to come up with a memory—and most of them remembered reacting the same way I did at the time.
It’s a tough message to convey. Showing the plagiarism policies of a university or college may help your students grasp why they need to cite their sources; Sacramento State (2004) makes it abundantly clear: “…the University can and will kick out students who plagiarize.” Even students who are not motivated by the idea of respecting the ideas of others may be motivated by the need to protect themselves.
References
Sacramento State University Library. (2004, September 14). Why cite sources? Retrieved April 2, 2011, from http://library.csus.edu/content2.asp?pageID=378
Anthony,
One of the biggest problems with my students and our firewall is that they use a "proxy" to get where they want to go. I find it strange that they know how to use proxies but they do not know how to perform a web search without me holding their hand.
Sadie
Amanda,
That is a very good idea. I think I will try it next week and let you know what happens. Thanks for the suggestion.
Sadie
Cristina,
I have often directed students to Son of citation machine. This site does the same thing as Easybib. I agree with your argument. A major problem with getting technology into the classroom is that we have to fight a system that was put in place a long time ago. A lot of policies and teachers are working (or are based) on out dated information. This is a problem that we will have to continue to deal with for a long time.
Sadie
Kelly,
Thank you for the great scenario idea. My students will be able to make a connection to losing money and recognition. They often want credit for right answers because they thought it but did not say it out loud. I can imagine the kinds of reactions I will get from my students when I ask them to think about someone getting money for their ideas.
Sadie
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