What We, The Learners, Need To Do

After I read Will Richardson’s “Footprints in the Digital Age”, it made me realize that while we “suppose” teachers are supposed to teach us everything we need to know, but I was wrong…we are learning so much by just using technology.

            In this 3-page article, Richardson covers a lot of topics.  He starts out talking about how will we be searched when we are older? When people type in a first name, what will come up about us that we did not even know was on the internet? He goes into how we, the learners, teach ourselves everyday by just using technology and also how our teachers and elders need to set an example for us by using technology more often and try to influence us.

            I could really envision this and relate this article to me, because Richardson says, “Many 7- and 8-year-olds are busy exploring Club Penguin or Webkinz, … and adolescents preen themselves in front of their ‘friends’ on MySpace or Facebook.” I could relate this to me because I used to be one of those 8-year-olds having a Club Penguin, and without realizing it, that is going to be on the web for the rest of my life. I also have a Facebook and that is going to have all of my information forever. This is just odd to think about to me because it seems like everything in life fades…but to know that this will not fade, is really different. This article also taught me that no matter how good of a child you are, you still have to be extremely careful of what you put on the web for the certain reason that it will ALWAYS be there forever.  Also, in this article, I learned that because of this reason, celebrities are found every day on the internet. For example, when Richardson brings up Laura Stockman, a 10 year-old from New York who helped raise money for many charities whether it was for the poor or animal shelters all because of her grandfather. She became well-known after she connected with people through the Net to help her with her many fundraisers. This made me think about how Justin Bieber turned into one of the top 10 celebrities (maybe of all time) just because he posted videos of his music on YouTube. Personally, I think this is so awesome how people’s talents can be viewed and make them so well-known! It is inspiring.  The questions that these brought up for me was How did we even think about bringing such big technology into the world? Who found out that we can learn from just doing blogs? This is so great because it really shows us how people think “outside of the box” with pretty much everything in the world. This article alone can continue into so many different topics.

            All in all, the web is teaching us everyday and we are learning more than we thought was possible in the 1900’s.