Our Digital Lives

I’ve always felt that teaching and learning is a two-way street; I’m of the view that my students learn from me and equally I learn from them and, as an information technology teacher, I believe this to be fundamental in my practice.

Young people of school age now have grown up in the digital world and often know things that perhaps their teacher doesn’t know. Naturally this is a “hazard” of teaching in a field that evolves so rapidly but this doesn’t have to be seen as a threat. Moreover, it’s an opportunity to help identify what the new generation of learners can bring to schools and how they can best utilise digital media to learn. That’s my opinion on the matter anyway.

In my role as a teacher at a secondary school in England I’ve been heavily involved in ICT Developments within the school. More recently I’ve focused on how social media is evolving and the impact this has, not only in our personal lives, but for teaching and learning and business too. I stumbled upon this playlist whilst researching and felt it was worth sharing because I thoroughly enjoyed the engaging set of TED talks.

PLAYLISTS: Our Digital Lives

Focused upon how our hyper-connected lives have been rewired for the digital age, these talks explore how the Internet and social media are shaping our relationships, personal lives and sense of self.

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• “It’s not who attends your event, it’s who participates” (slideshare.net)
• Social Media in the Classroom: The Digital Safety Debate (Part 2 of 3) | Webroot Software (webroot.com)
• Digital Identity, Social Media, Privacy, Balance, and Being Radical (ericstoller.com)
• Digital Literacy Defined? (margaret-powers.com)