Will Richardson says that
"This is one of the most interesting changes that blogs and wikis are bringing about, the idea that we must learn to seek our own truths and not just rely on the interpretations of truth by others. The read/write Web by its very nature creates unedited texts that are going to have more and more influence and impact on how and what we read and believe. And, it requires us to think about new ways to teach students (and ourselves, for that matter) to find truth"He then quotes Colin Brook of Syracuse, who says that
"credibility is something you earn and develop, not something you simply have. When we ask our students to do research and to prepare the results in written form, we are teaching them to earn credibility through breadth and depth of research. You don't earn credibility by citing an "authoritative source," whatever that means. You earn it by testing your sources against one another, understanding what the reasons are for differences of opinion, and figuring out how to resolve them or to choose among positions, etc."
Yes, I think it's still good to teach students to quote sources and to find ideas similar and different from their own. But we should also teach them that THEY themselves can have much knowledge and truth that they can teach others. That's what blogs and wikis do: they make everybody an expert and everybody can have an audience. If you have good thoughts, more people will read you. For example, I read Will Richardson's blog every day because he has established credibility with me. I trust him and his ideas as much as any encyclopedia.
What do you think class? Am I messed up? Is it too dangerous to let students pretend that they know something? Should we require them to stick to the knowledge already created in the past, by "authorities"?
If you want to read more about this, go to my other blog, or Will's blog.
