Online in the classroom
| 12:22 UK time, Monday, 12 February 2007
has picked up on a recent report highlighted by about internet use in US schools. The report by the on the Future of Journalism Education says national and international news websites (and it mentions the 大象传媒 as one of the examples) are overtaking TV news and local papers as a means of teaching in the classroom.
There鈥檚 a system of Newspaper-in-Education programmes which for years has been 鈥渁 vehicle through which US papers provide free or reduced rate copies of their paper for classroom use in order to enhance students鈥 civic education and encourage them to become lifelong newspaper readers.鈥
The report says most of the people running the programmes are not fully aware of 鈥渢he threat the internet poses to their programmes" and warns that a result could ultimately be the weakening of local communities as well as their papers.
Two things struck me about this:
1. If schoolchildren are using the internet to get a wider view of the world and its news that can only be a good thing, and in that context I鈥檓 pleased the 大象传媒 News website is one of those they are looking at.
2. As far as local news goes, the report seems to underplay the capacity of the web to bring together communities of interest and indeed communities, and the potential this gives to local news organisations. The report says some local papers 鈥 the , and 鈥 have responded by tailoring elements of what they do online specifically for the classroom. Surely that鈥檚 the best of both worlds, local focus along with the convenience, immediacy and interactivity of the web, which schoolchildren are increasingly used to. (We鈥檝e had a go at something similar with a section on this website 鈥 designed for use in UK schools).
Shouldn't the Newspaper-in-Education programmes simply be switching their attentions to how they can best use the websites of local newspapers in the classroom? That sounds like a huge opportunity rather than a threat.
Comments
Hmm!....
Sorry if I appear just a bit old-fashioned - but aren't children supposed to be allowed to be children anymore?
Are they to be faced with the big bad world - in all its gory - from first entry to the internet? This early insight into international headline-making troubles(?) puts some onus on the bringer-of-bad-news for the nightmares that may be induced, if the data is so on-the-fly presented a la 大象传媒 News 24. If there is some post-processing of the sharp-end shock element, then kids news may be 'good news', but I feel there is a tremendous responsibility in making classroom material fit for educational purposes only - and not salacious grooming and indoctrination into a fear culture - and 大象传媒 branding, to boot!
Do you need to 'go there'?
The one good thing to come out of Piers Morgan's sacking was 'First News', a newspaper for children. Some of my friends' children read it regularly and the presentation of news appropriate in content, language and format is very useful to inform conversations and touchy issues. e.g. I successfully used an article about the dropping of blue Smarties to teach my friend's son about artificial colourants and additives in food. Now the 7-year old reads labels and informs his parents. Precocious perhaps but better than laying a fast-track to poor eating for him, given our obesity epidemic.
I grew up listening to 大象传媒 World Service and I do not see how it harmed me. I was able to ask questions and formulate my arguments coherently and cogently as a result of the ensuing dialogue. And I did not even grow up in Britain.
Steve,
You are being totally disingenuous.
I like the 大象传媒 and support it. But this is the sort of thing that gives the 大象传媒 a bad name. Encouraging children to only read the news on the internet is going to kill the idea of reading newspapers.
And will kill the revenue from people going out to buy newspapers when they are older. News isn't free - you of all people should know that.
It is all very well saying that the internet is a good source of local news websites. Will that still be the case in 10 years time if the 大象传媒 has pushed Guardian Unlimited and the Digital Telegraph out of business by weaning people off the printed word?
Yes, I enjoy reading the news on the web. However, I am also all to well aware of the danger of cherry picking only those stories I'm interested for a quick skim Rather than being exposed to stories about parts of the world I didn't think I was interested in, and learning something I didn't already know.
You are guilty of being in an 'ivory tower' and not realising the position of power and influence the 大象传媒 has.
That power has to be used for good, and not to harm media plurality.
My old school motto was 'In every honour there is a responsibility'.
You are honoured with the Licence Fee which I support. But that comes with a responsibility not to be the huge elephant trampling your competitors underfoot, and putting small, local independent voices out of business.
What happens in America today, could be happening in Britain tomorrow. We await the outcome with interest.
I'm glad to see that children are being exposed to the news. Too often children are only exposed to one way of thinking - their parents' way - before they reach a certain age. Many parents may believe that this is their right, but surely the child's right to be taught to think critically is more important than the parents' right to have their children become their ideological clones. Children should be exposed to other opinions and ideas before their minds are set in stone.
As for the criticism that "children should be allowed to be children" - I'd like to know when that was the case for more than a tiny minority of the population. Even the most privileged children are exposed to everything from threats of violence to the deaths of loved ones to parental neglect to the side effects of war. Only by studying why these things happen in a larger frame can they understand why these things happen and be able to accept them.
Very pertinent comment, PeeVeeAh. Why should children be force-fed the grim realities of today's world?
Through C大象传媒, the 大象传媒 already indoctrinates children with its (simplified) bias through distortion and omission of facts.
It is bad news indeed that the 大象传媒's reach will be extended to US schools. Yet more PC dumbing-down will be the inevitable result.
PeeVee... I think you're worrying unduly; certainly, when I was eight or nine my favourite lesson was current affairs. In the hands of the right teacher, it can actually be reassuring to have news stories explained when you're a child - it's not as if taking the internet out of schools will stop children coming into contact with news coverage of Iraqi bombs or companies driving heaps of dubious turkey meat backwards and forwards between East Anglia and Hungary. Better, surely, to be able to explain in accessible and understandable ways what's happening than just leave the kids to be frightened?
I think that it is wrong to direct children to a sole source for their news. One needs a range of sources to form an opinion of what is going on in the world. If I relied on the 大象传媒 for all my news I could end up being an anti-police, U.S.-hating and Bush-bashing green CND marcher. Take today鈥檚 headline: 鈥淧olice criticised for terror raid鈥. Do you really want your kids exposed to that every day?
Regarding the current issue, I do believe the network provided globally allows for an informed construction of opinions not only on our classrooms, but with hindsight on our community as a whole. Chldren from Mexico or Malaysia informing on current affairs. Allows for a greater enlightened debate that adds insight and enriches the true value of our democracy, and adds a broad, unbiased, decisive instruction of our future leaders.
I agree with the points made in the main article. I think it would be a big mistake to take the internet out of the classroom. The internet is a big and important part of ours *and our kids'* lives and it's not going away. I think it's only a matter of time before those newspapers develop their online news for schools. The commercial news industry seems to be a bit behind the public news providers in this area - maybe kids have a way to go before they become good consumers ;).
In response to PeeVeeAh鈥檚 comment, I agree there鈥檚 a responsibility to make classroom material fit for educational purposes. Our sister site C大象传媒 Newsround does this every day, producing news for primary school aged children and teaching material, and its editor Tim Levell posted a good explanation here recently of the many considerations they take into account when covering distressing stories
On the News website there鈥檚 the abovementioned School Report section for older children (12 and 13-year-olds), and as for the News website itself I think simon hb has a point when he says it depends how the teacher uses the material.
In response to Steve #9,
Please address the question 'how will you ensure unbiased viewing'?, you fail in all other areas so how are we to trust the 大象传媒 to sort it's house out with this latest idea?.
It is not good enough for you to say that 大象传媒 is impartial after reading the attack on the right wing newspapers in a different blog, I am a life long Labour supporter, however, you make me blush with the unbalanced news you provide.
The 大象传媒 used to have a reputation for being impartial, that has sadly gone and been replaced by biased reporting and a club for Guardian journalists, this I now to be the case as I read the Guardian daily, indeed my wife and I play spot the Guardian journalist on your programmes.
So come on 大象传媒 start acting like the respected institution you used to be and give both sides a chance to express themselves, after all if Mr Littlejohn was given 5 minutes to spout his views, I am sure that the Daily Mail would soon be embarassed into letting him go.