When you think of being active what comes to mind?

You might think of words like running, singing, dancing or drawing. These words all describe someone who is doing something. To be an active learner online you too are doing something.

Active learners in a digital world are thinkers. They are curious and question what they see and interact with while online. Being an active learner means that you are developing skills and dispositions when you are in the environment (James et al., 2021). 

The Common Sense Education (2022) video shows what an active learner does as they are reflecting on their actions and asking good questions. Active learning also means that you will critically think about what you see and try to find out if what you are looking at is a fact or a lie (James et al., 2021).

You may see the word phishing used in Reality River and in other places online. In fishing in real-life you put a hook and bait on the end of a fishing line – the hook is now disguised as something delicious for a fish to eat, but it is there to catch the fish. Phishing is where someone online is trying to feed you bait, but they are really trying to catch some of your information, like a password (Kiddle Encyclopedia, 2022).

You need to be an active learner to recognise phishing!