Responsibility

The value of responsibility emphasizes the inherently participatory and distributed nature of new media. Of course, responsibility is not a novel concept in education. The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (1991) identified responsibility—exerting a high level of effort and persevering towards goal attainment—as an essential personal quality for productive workers in the global economy. Responsibility is closely related to numerous other life and career skills such as initiative, self-direction, productivity, accountability, and leadership. According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (n.d.), these “soft” or “applied” skills are essential complements to cognitive skills and can be at least as important in determining both academic and career success. Responsibility is also related to the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources (judgment) and to the discipline to use technology, information, and media legally and ethically.

Responsible students:

  • Manage time and resources efficiently
  • Share group responsibilities fairly
  • Routinely monitor progress toward individual and group goals
  • Use tools and resources legally and ethically
  • Lead by example

Reflection Questions

  • Do I complete my work on time or do I make excuses for being late?
  • When I work on a project, do I plan my time and figure out what resources I’ll need to complete the project?
  • Do I contribute my fair share to group projects or wait for others to do the work?
  • When I set goals for myself, do I stick to them?
  • Do I help set goals for myself and other students when I work on group projects?
  • How do copyright laws apply to me as a consumer and producer of new media?
  • What kind of example do I set for classmates and younger students?