Dr. Eileen Gallagher

As a facilitator of an Online Masters of Education program, I have found the widening possibilities provided by new technologies and the vast amount of accessibility on the internet very exciting. As a grandparent I have been extremely disappointed in the amount of innovations I have seen in my grandchildren’s classrooms. It seems to me that the NCLB rules and accountabilities are causing school districts to limit class time to teaching the materials to be tested causing a conflict for teachers as to what they should be working on with their students.

Will standardized tests of multiple choice answers provide our children and grandchildren with the kind of learning they need to be successful in the digital world evolving around them?

Fifteen years ago when I first became a city wide technology coordinator in the Chicago Public Schools, teachers were concerned with children being exposed to inappropriate material. Finding ways to limit their access on the internet was the priority. Over the last decade the children in the schools have become more digitally savvy then most of their instructors. However they are still children and need to be taught how to be critical of what they read and how to verify facts.

Unfortunately it seems few teachers have had the time to receive instruction in how to develop critical thinking skills in using the internet. In my graduate school courses I have many teachers that make no effort to verify sources or find legitimate sources. Graduate school students who do not understand that anyone can add to or revise a wiki and therefore it may not be an appropriate source as a citation in graduate work.

If these students who are utilizing the internet to get a graduate school degree do not understand how to use their critical thinking skills when citing from the wide variety of sources on the internet, what do teachers who do not regularly use the internet as a personal tool understand about this important topic?

Who is teaching the children how to develop critical thinking skills and use them on their internet sources?

I am just starting to develop a fuller understanding of the vastness of this problem. I have always felt that steering my students to sites that were .gov or .edu would be enough. Having read Alan November’s book, Empowering Students with Technology, I now see it is not nearly enough. So I am asking those of you that are far more savvy then me…

What is the best way to help teachers understand how to teach needed critical thinking skills and proper use of internet sources?

How have you learned what skills are needed and how to use them with your students?