Infinate Ways to Learn

The article, "Footprints in the Digital Age" by Will Richardson illustrates the increasingly mandatory need to be found on the internet, or "Googleable". Future employers, people you might date, and even just random people Google each other all the time. Even I have Googled people I come across that seem to have eerie pasts or that seem to have done great things; we want to find something interesting- a story to tell. Some say it is out of your control to decide what is posted about you on the internet, but is that really true? It is your decision to maybe put those risqué pictures on Facebook or use profanity in a chat room, but can things be said about you that aren’t true? Things can be altered many times and even if not intending to do so, turn into a vicious rumor. That is why we must ultimately be safe on the internet when finding information, but it is also a great learning tool.

When Richardson made the analogy of a bus with students driving and teachers standing in the back, it enraged me. It acted as though we didn’t know what we were doing and we were sure to fail, killing the passengers and the drivers. Typically the children are more accustomed to technology; it is the only thing we have ever known. It is almost like learning a foreign language. If a kid is taught a language from birth, it is not hard to remember it and translate, but for somebody who is older and has only known one for so long, it is not as easy to learn. We need teachers to guide us to make sure we don’t go off track, but with as many techniques that are out there we need to learn for ourselves what works for us individually.