21st Century Literacy

Today as a nation we rely heavily on the internet and the media. When writing papers we turn to the internet to help us write and find information on certain topics instead of opening books. As students we learn and  take most of our information from online sources and publications. However, I feel as if we really do not look to see if that information is credible or up to date. Constantly, I find myself turning to the internet to find information on things like spelling words, or even looking up geographical information.

  This is both good in bad because we do not know if this information is accurate but also it is more of a convenience thing then anything else. With modern technology it is easy for us to have information in a click of a button. Although, with a click of a button we are given 240,000,000 search results but does this make them all reliable? I feel as if students take information off of the internet and think that they are all true.  In high school I worked as a writing tutor and would constantly find kids using sources such as wikipedia and not only would the information be wrong but the kids believed it.

Not only as a nation do we use search engines for school related activities and assignments but also for medical advice. I have been on the phone with my sister who is in medical school at Johns Hopkins asking her questions when I'm sick because I have gone on WebMD for information about what is wrong with me. Her response is, "Don't ever go on WebMD when you're sick because you will think you're dying." Which is very true.

    As an aspiring teacher I want to make it a goal as to incorporate technology but use it in a way that it is beneficial to a student but does not take away from resources. I know that today I cannot do some math problems without my calculator, or instead of using a dictionary I use the computer. I think it is beneficial to a student if they use both modern day technology but also make sure that they don't take advantage of it. Not only will I give students a lesson on the internet tools  but also internet searching to make sure students know the difference between reliable sources and non reliable.