Reflection Week 7

Howard mentioned a very important point about providing education on how to use this technology as earlier as before high school.  He mentioned that literacy has to do with using the tools available, to do some questioning about the sources and how to do research in the internet.  However, I think that education has to go beyond that.  It is important to teach children how to use the tools to navigate internet and to question  the information they found there, but  it is also very important to teach them how to protect themselves from bullies , not to become a bully, not to respond to angry e-mails or postings etc.   I know that this is a challenge because this education has to come from both teachers and parents and many of them don’t have the time to do it.  I think that many parents and teachers will learn about the importance of this education the hard way, like many parents whose children have committed suicide due to internet bullying and other parents have faced the fact that their children are been perpetrators of that bullying and are facing jail time for their actions.

It was also interesting to learn more about smart mobs and the idea about preparing students for today’s technology, like being ready for constant change, new ideas and explore.  He made a very good point about education not stopping when you graduate; we have to spend time exploring and learning. This is a very important point because currently many universities in Latin America continue with their traditional way of teaching, which is a great disadvantage for many students, especially for those who are studying economy or business.  One good example of this is Chile, a country with money to invest in this type of education.  However last April an executive form Google went to Chile to explore more business opportunities and he found out that many students and professionals were not ready for the digital media economy.  He mentioned that the main factor is that there is a disconnection between what the universities are teachings and what it is happening in the companies. May be they need a program like ours (MCDM) to get them ready?

Reference:

Hrepich B. (2008). Google Points Out that Chile Lacks of Human Capital. El Mercurio.com, Santiago Chile. http://www.emol.com/noticias/todas/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=298868 Retrieve August 6, 2008.