In this assignment, I decided to take a look at Ashley Hinck’s article “Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom”. In short, Ashley’s belief in today’s school system is that students are forced to follow a strict path while digital media making. She explains that the tools students use or are used to using in the classroom tend to create an environment lacking diversity, creativity, and exploration. Tools such as Canva, GIPHY, Facebook, and various other apps create an easily accessible template or mold of whatever the student wants to create. Students think that they are expected to follow a step-by-step, strict, and extremely linear route to success, but with this comes many harmful side effects to not only children but to the whole classroom in the long run.
The everlasting presence, or ghosts as Hinck calls them, haunts the class even if they are no longer present. Their extremely user-friendly interface is very appealing to students who need a slight push in the right direction, but Hinck would like to think that the “slight push” has become more of a stern shove over years of being pounded into the minds of students. Instead of using these tools to explore new and exciting avenues in their education, kids have come to rely on these programs to find any sort of success at all. Students have become afraid to step out of their comfort zones and rarely take risks. They have also become super lazy during the creation process after being given all the resources they could ever need; they assume that there are only one answer and one way of going about a problem when in reality teachers should be forcing the exact opposite.
If Hinck’s assumptions are correct, how are we supposed to fix a problem that is ingrained into a class’ society? Ashley says that the first step is raising awareness of the existence of said digital ghosts. Other things that students could do to help their situation could be claiming their agencies as creators instead of followers. The creation process is something that should be exciting and students must start truly believing that a failure IS an option!
Reading this article has proved to me that this sort of issue is affecting everyone, even myself. I laugh at the irony of me making a Canva, but now that I’m aware of the existence of such an epidemic, I will be trying to break out of the habit. Ever since high school, it seems like I’ve been using templates upon templates to achieve success in my classes, but now I have a feeling that taking more risks to be creative could not only benefit my work as a student but also benefit my teaching styles when/if I become a teacher. I just wish someone would have told me this information sooner!