Ms. Raser's Blog

What is Media Literacy? Image Source Media literacy is the ability to interpret messages in the media. There are several ways people have access to information through the media: radio, billboards, television, Internet, and social media. The average time a day a person spends with major media is 750 minutes (nearly 13 hours!) But how can we decide what information we see is the truth? By knowing how media is used to convey messages and knowing what to look for to spot fake news, we can decipher what is real. When I took the Easiest Quiz of All Time I was shocked to see how little I actually knew about what I thought were easy facts, quotes, or famous references. Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase "the medium is the message." McLuhan believes that how people receive the message (the media that is used) almost becomes more important than the message itself. Essentially, if a person does not understand the medium, then they won't be able to understand the message.  Hobbs...

As the Internet continues to make advancements, classrooms have become more digital. These days, it is nearly impossible to teach without having some form of technology involved in students' daily lives. Because of this, kids have access to much more information as well as the possibility of having their data collected and stored. With this in mind, it is important for educators to keep our students safe in their online learning and know about the laws that are in place to protect the underage population of Internet users. A blog from the Prey Project outlines the laws that were put into place in order to protect children on the Internet. Image Source CIPA The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a federal law that was signed into effect in 2000 and updated in 2011. CIPA requires libraries and K-12 schools to use web filters and other measures to protect children. CIPA applies to all schools that receive E-rate funds. Throughout the school year, schools must provide a ...

Digital Tattoos Growing up I remember being told to "be careful what you put on the Internet, it's there forever" and I never thought much about what the saying actually meant. Now, as I think back on my Internet use and how I used social media, I wonder if I would have changed anything with what I know now.  I love the term "digital tattoo" because it has more of a permanent feeling than "digital footprint." In a recent post , I did a data mine on myself to see how much of a digital tattoo I have on the Internet. From this data mine, I was surprised by how much information I was able to find about myself in a matter of seconds. However, I am not super active on my social media accounts- I use them more as a viewer rather than an active participant. Because of this, I wanted to take time to check my privacy settings to see how much access others have to my accounts.  Privacy Check Image Source This week allowed me to take a deeper dive into the privacy...

Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) are agreements between the student and the district in order to help keep students safe online. This Kajeet article states that there are two main components to an AUP: protecting students from harmful content on the Internet and providing students with access to digital media that supports engaged learning. After reading the article, I learned that there are different elements that are included in an AUP. The three elements that stood out to me were (1) Acceptable Uses, (2) Unacceptable Uses, and (3) Violations/Sanctions. These elements will outline what is acceptable/unacceptable for students to use on devices and the consequences should they not follow the AUP. Image Source My school is 1:1 for student devices, each student has their own Chromebook. Because of this, I think it is important students know what is acceptable/unacceptable when they are using a school device. The AUP for my school district can be found in the Student Handbook . The AUP f...