Digital Texts in and Out of School

Chapter 4: "In each of these articles, Wikipedia is represented as an inferior source of information and its use is linked to a perceived deficit in the young: they are not achieving; they are lazy; they are not critical; and they do not appreciate the significance of traditional forms of knowledge."

What this sounds like to me is a bunch of grumpy old people who are jealous that they did not have access to this source when they were going through school. Though Wikipedia can be changed by anyone on the internet it is easy to be swayed as an unreliable source. Wikipedia is monitored by people who are hired to do just that and by the community that uses it. Even if you think what you read might not be true, there are usually sources at the bottom that can be clicked on so that the viewer can see exactly where the information came from and determine if that is a reliable source. If used correctly, Wikipedia can be a powerful tool for research.

Chapter 5: "As we have seen from our initial exploration, the blog format offers a range of interactive and collaborative possibilities for individuals and groups."

Well this is a familiar sight; I am sure that we are all aware of how power a tool blogging is by now. Being able to collaborate and interact with other people and share ideas is a great way to start a project and get feedback on it. Seeing the views of others on the same subject can help the blogger have a deeper understanding of the content because they can now see it from multiple angles.

Chapter 6: "Arrangements had been put in place to design a 3D virtual world in which pupils would be engaged in purposeful interaction and communication."

So this sentence blew my mind! I have seen some stuff with the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality technology and this reminds me of just that. It also reminds me of an anime I watched called Sword Art Online where the players put on nerve gear that actually puts them in the game; of course the sensors for pain are disabled and abnormal human strength is gained like in most video games. Pulling that into the classroom would be some exciting technology, but maybe not to the extent of the anime. In the anime someone deactivates the pain override and players are stuck in the game where their lives are at risk because they cannot re-spawn.