Learning Digitally

I’ve been thinking about David Warlick’s blog “A Question of Authority”and his listener’s reaction to the idea of handing over to students the role of creating content for learning and the perceived lack of  authority that may come from the student authorship. I wondered if maybe she was less worried about the authority, or accuracy, of information or her role as the authority or keeper of the information. Does information only have authority if it comes stamped with an ISBN code? Is the only source of accurate information for the classroom found between hard-bound covers or posted online by their cyber equivalents? Can, or should, students be given the role and responsibility to create content that others may use later on for their learning? I think the answer is “Yes, if…”

I believe that students must learn to be savvy consumers of information, both in print and digital. They need to learn how to recognize bias, to question authorship and authority, to verify the facts presented, detect hidden agendas within the information, and to locate the most current information available to them. Armed with these skills, our students will be ready and able to create content with authority.

I know that the idea of turning over the role of content development to our students sounds like the equivelant of jumping of a cliff. There may be many rough drafts produced before a final product is published. So we start small; we guide, we redirect, we encourage. We trust, and we shift our place in the classroom.

I will leave with an excerpt from Wesley Fryer’s post today:

Part of redefining education in the 21st century involves changing the perceived identity of the teacher and professor in the classroom, from being the sole fount or source of knowledge, to being an expert learner along with students who is a professional facilitator and knowledge architect. Educators must learn to structure and facilitate learning activities which permit learners (who are both “novices” and “experts” in their own right in different contexts) to access expert knowledge and resources via print as well as electronic tools as they build their own understandings and skills in different academic domains.

Just my thoughts…