Digital Smarts Video

Davis’s use of digital media helps kids learn how to learn in that she does not give them all the answers, but rather only the tools to find the answers. For instance, she often uses new terms in class and requires her students to look them up on the Internet instead of telling what it means. Moreover, she does not teach solely what she already knows about. She dares to use programs or suggest topics that she is not totally at ease with. The students therefore have no choice to find the information through the Internet, with the help of their peers or even people from all around the world that they meet through telecollaboration. All in all, Davis motivates her students by giving them the tools to ‘‘learn how to learn’’, tools that will empower them both in school and at home to learn on any given topic.

I believe it is of utmost importance that kids collaborate with other students across the world. Discovering different cultures opens their minds to the world that surrounds them and makes them see and understand what life outside of theirs is. Students can learn so much about themselves and about the people around them simply by learning other cultures and I think it is an extremely enriching experience.

As mentioned in Davis’s video, there are numerous media tools to connect ESL students to the world. I particularly like the idea of using e-mails and wikis. If I were to become a teacher, I would try do a project with a class in England (I say England rather than another part of Canada or the United States because although their L1 is also English, the culture is much more different from ours in England, so I think it could be more enriching for both groups), for instance. I would give the students specific guidelines and explain the goals of the project, without omitting to talk about the cultural differences, in order to avoid tensions.