Frontline Video: Growing Up Online

Students are living their lives online. They spend numerous hours shaping what they want their lives to be. For instance, social networking has touched 160 million people’s lives to the point that they have established profile pages (MySpace and Facebook). Their persona can be exaggerated. They may try on many faces and indentities that may not be reality. Sometimes young people are socially bullied online. Cyberbullying has caused children to commit homicide and suicide. Another negative is the possibility of child predators. There are many shows, like Dateline NBC’s To Catch a Predator, that have shown adults that have become obsessed with underage young people due to the perception they exhibit online. As you can see, the pros and cons are placed on a large spectrum. The fascination with the internet is not a fad. It’s a growing community that teachers and parents must adjust to.

While watching the Frontline documentary, a quote that caught my attention that relates to EME4401 is “Walking into a classroom that doesn’t have media is like walking into a desert.” The classroom setting is quickly changing. Smartboards, LCD projectors, and podcasts are becoming more and more popular. Some students talked about cheating the system through sparknotes and other supplemental material. Plaigarism is such a largeproblem that a computer program called, ‘Turnitin’ checks for students who may commit the crime. Whats happening now is that teachers must adjust the classroom to the students needs. We cant ignore the fact that technology is becoming majority of our student’s lives.