Whose Voice Do They Hear?

     It is now 2 weeks before school is open and the smiling faces of students fill their desks.  I feel as if I need at least another 2 weeks to get myself ready for the whirlwind to begin.  I have been researching the digital classroom for weeks now and I continue to find ideas and resources.  I've been trying to reconstruct how I view technology in the classroom and hope that I can get the support from my administration as well as students and families.  As I am thinking of how to give my students a voice, I stumbled upon this TED video. (I am addicted to TED videos!!)  It came at a time I had been wondering and recently discussing with a friend how facebook and Google track our interests.  Especially now that I have been researching the digital classroom, everywhere I look on line something new appears on the subject.  I have to admit it has been useful to me in looking for new resources, but it worries me also.  It is much like the days when I actually went to a bookstore to buy a new book.  The first thing I would see were the books on display quietly saying "Buy Me!".  Of course, those were the first books I would look at and often purchase.  It was easier than searching aimlessly around the shelves of books for something I may be interested in.  I know it was all about marketing, but it was easier to buy something on the NY Times Bestseller list then deciding for myself. The problem is  that I have passed over so many wonderful books I know I would have loved, and perhaps that would have challenged me to learn something new. 
     Now the same thing is happening with our search engines, only with greater consequences. This TED video by Eli Pariser is a must watch!

 



   It is important as teachers that we not only guide our students in finding their voice in the world, but we also need to be concerned about whose voice they are hearing themselves.  Is it their own curiosity that is leading them to discovery or is it Google giving them what they already know.  It is important that as learners they are exposed to  different sides of a story and not just their own opinions and ideas.  How do we counter act these algorithms that decide what information we see and what we don't?  I suppose being aware is the first defense.  Alan November, in his book Who Owns the Learning, explained how he gave a challenge to students to do an internet search on how the British view the American Revolution.  The results were non-existent.  He went on to show how by using Google advanced search, one could find the information from British websites.  This will have to be my next focus.  How to effectively use the advanced search features to access non biased information.

     My students are growing up in a world so different then the world I did!