Journal #10

“She Used to be Pretty: Schoolyard Harassment goes Online”
Edutopia/June 2007
By Kaley Noon

The author talks about her experience conducting a workshop on cyber bullying with middle school girls. This demographic represents one of the highest users of online communication tools. She is surprised with the cruelty that is displayed on social networking sites with very little empathy. There have always been “mean” girls in the world, especially in this age range. Matters seem to have worsened, however, as their technical skills have become more sophisticated. One of the girls who happened to be a foster child came up to her after the meeting and needed help taking down her my space page because an ex- friend had stolen her password and written derogatory things about her sexuality on the page. She did not inform her foster parent about the incident. Many parents are not even aware that this type of harassment occurs. The author feels that the anonymity of cyberbullying worsens the behavior. Since they don’t see the damage directly as with a face- to- face confrontation, the perpetrators feel little remorse.

As an exercise, Kaley held up a picture of Britney Speers after she shaved her head and asked them to write on a piece of paper their thoughts about the picture as if they were texting a friend. When she peeked at some of the comments, she saw things like, “ She looks like a naked mole rat”, “She’s on drugs”, “Eww, she used to be pretty, but now look at her”.

She feels that the best way to curb his type of behavior is to show them the consequences of their actions, as well as to offer ethics training. Parents need to be aware of what their children are doing online. Schools need to set up anti-cyber bullying policies and enforce them. Right now only a handful of states have pending legislation on this matter. Other states need to step up to the plate as well.

By the end of her session, she noticed that a lot of girls seemed to get the message and they started scrubbing their pages of information that could be inappropriate. However, there was a group of girls laughing and whispering how they were going to place a caption on someone else’s page that said how ugly she was. Apparently the message did not get through to this group.

Kaley Noon is a program manager of Zoey’s room, an online education community for girls 10-14 to encourage interest in science, technology, and math

Questions:

1. What recommendations do you have for an educational program regarding cyberbullying. I think it needs to involve a comprehensive effort and either be part of an educational effort on bullying or in addition to any internet safety program. It can be led by the school counselor or a group of teachers and involve both the students and parents. The program should offer guidelines as to how to protect yourself online, including the tracking down of a bully by using the IP address. Consequences for bullies should be outlined. I assume that will help deter a lot of would- be bullies.

2. Many teachers feel that it is not their role to teach values and ethics, which this basically comes down to, and that it’s the parents. How do you feel about that issue?
I agree that many values such as these should be taught in the home, but that’s just not the case in many circumstances. Therefore, someone has to address it and I think the educational community should be involved and involve the parents in the effort. I think teachers need to think about what’s going to support our community of learners and take action accordingly.

Journal #9

Classroom 2.0/Collaborative Documents

I followed the Classroom 2.0 discussion on collaborative document sharing where the originator of the discussion was interested in exploring alternatives to Google Docs. There was a good deal of participation in this discussion. The originator took a very active part in it and that probably helped. Some of the applications that came up were:
www.Yourdraft.com
www.YouFig.com
www.writewith.com
www.writer.zoho.com
www.stixy.com
www.spruz.com

She has apparently evaluated several of these tools. Many respondents seemed pretty pleased with Google Docs and one teacher mentioned that his students had participated in a national writing project using it. Another respondent said that he really enjoyed Zoho for the following reasons: only one sign-in, it offered functionality with spreadsheets, presentations, and a set of templates. The also have a quick upload and a new virtual meeting feature he finds useful.

Another respondent suggested YouFig. The originator tried it upon his advice and found it to be different than other document sharing applications in that there were 2 side- by-side frames. The 1 side holds the discussion and the other the document itself. Collaborators can view and compare different versions of documents and they can embed videos and images into them. They can even edit html.

Spruz was another application that was mentioned which apparently offers similar functionality and is very user friendly in that it offers step by step instructions that appeals to many people.

A couple respondents mentioned a concern that their districts block either Google Docs or another document sharing application. The originator of the discussion suggested that he try Google Apps for Education. This is a free version and can be set up so that it is only allowed for users within the school domain.

I found the discussion interesting and also like the “follow” feature, which feed you emails when someone else responds to that discussion.

Journal #8

“Simulation Nation: The Promise of Virtual Experiences”
Edutopia/March 2007
By Marc Prensky

The author in his article discusses the issues involving the limited use of simulations in today’s classrooms. It has been widely agreed that simulations can prove to be useful additions to instruction, but their use has still remained infrequent. Computer simulation helps learners to develop “what if” scenarios and to test out alternatives and different variables and be able to see results and consequences. Simulation can be a powerful tool because it offers opportunities for hands on learning when situations are complex or too dangerous. Students can gain knowledge about a complicated product or piece of equipment such as a car or an airplane. They can also learn about a system or a behavior without the risk of hurting themselves, others, or expensive property.

It was pointed out that simulations have been used in many professional fields, such as medicine, finance, the military, city planning, science and engineering. The corporate world not only has simulations in place, but also has ways of measuring results. This type of measurement has not been used in the educational world as frequently.

The author feels that the use of simulations in our schools is “far more infrequent and unorganized as it could be”. Out of 2.2 million teacher subscribers, less than even 1 percent use simulations in class. Why is this? The reasons cited include the lack of money, time, knowledge, technology, and sharing. In terms of money, there are free or low cost websites available to teachers. With limited time available to cover multiple subjects and objectives and the concern over testing, matters that don’t teach directly to the tests have fallen by the wayside. Some teachers are reluctant to move away from the traditional approach and are not comfortable with technology. Additionally, many schools do not have the most up to date technology like handhelds and global positioning technology.

Simulations can bring more reality and application into student learning. Hopefully in the future, teachers will share their experiences so we can all learn and find out what has been effective, and perhaps this will increase usage.

Questions:
1. Can you give me an example of a learning situation that may lend itself to a simulation? My son has a couple computer games (which he loves) that are good examples. One he gets to build a race car and through trial and error, he tests various variables as far as speed and basic physics principles. The other is where he builds a theme park. He builds rides and tests out things like ride safety and feasibility. He also sets up concessions stands and hires the people to staff the park and gets to see how his decisions affect the total profits of his little business. There are others on the market like this.

2. Many teachers are concerned about testing and feel that they don’t want to introduce anything “extra” when they don’t even have enough time to teach the subject matter that is required. What are some ways to deal with this issue?

Simulations can be integrated into different subject areas in a way that it wouldn’t take up any more time; it just requires a little more planning and effective time management. It can also be used as a final stage of the lesson and hopefully the children will be motivated to get to that stage, so they pay better attention. Additionally, Information can be provided for at home use and/or after school enrichment programs.

Journal #7

“Global Challenge: Save the World on your Way to College”
Learning and Leading with Technology/November 2007
By David Gibson and Susan Hull Grasso

This article summarizes an innovative way for students all over the world to collaborate on global issues that affect us all through the use of technology and a contest called The Global Challenge. This is a contest put on by the National Science Foundation ITEST (Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers). The article profiles 4 contestants; Brian and Rudhi are high school students from the US who pair up with Meghna and Pranav, a couple of students from India. They are attempting to work on a viable solution in reference to the problem of Co2 emissions in transportation. The solution needs to apply science, technology, engineering, and math. They share ideas, conduct research and develop a business plan to forward that goal. The technology that they use is Skype, which is a file sharing application for meetings and eFolio, which is an electronic portfolio application used to share collaborative artifacts. They can assess and leave comments for each other’s work using efolio and based on the established rubric. The program also offers mentoring assistance. They all conduct the research and contribute ideas, but they will draw on each other’s strengths by further specialization. Meghna is interested in cell biology and science writing. Pranav like physics. Rudhi prefers to work on sustainability issues, while Brian enjoys working on the economic issues. Their varied interests and strengths can lead to a greater range of ideas while brainstorming and can result in a better overall project. They also learn the importance of team dynamics and working through differences.

Teachers can get involved at various levels depending on how much time they are able to commit. Involvement opportunities include: becoming a mentor, using these types of teaching units in their own classes as well as making use of the websites and other resources, or by helping create team challenges. These types of issues are complex and we need to go beyond conventional thinking to create solutions. This presents an opportunity to put our heads together even if we’re across oceans from each other.

Questions

1. This is a great way to share ideas and work together towards a solution to a problem. How can this same idea be modified for the upper elementary grades?

I think they can start small and start pen-paling with children from other countries and then move on to a group discussion online and then on to a solution based project, but much less complex, so they can build up their skills. That way, when they reach high school age, they will be more prepared to participate in a contest such as this one. Exploravision is a similar contest held at the elementary level, but it involves only US entries.

2. How would you, as a mentor, deal with the differing cultural attitudes and work styles in this program? I think it’s important to educate the students on cultural differences prior to the start of the project as soon as they know whom they will be working with. Even minor issues like terminology and slang should be addressed. This should increase understanding between cultures and help the project to progress more smoothly.

Journal 6

The Threat of security
Hindering Technology Integration in the Classroom
By: Leanne K. Robinson, Abbie Brown, and Tim Green

This article highlights some of the restrictions that teachers face in using technology in their classrooms. The authors are of the opinion that some of these restrictions hinder efforts to integrate technology into curriculum. Some examples cited include the following.
· Policies that prohibit accessing any sites even before or after school hours for situations other than for instructional purposes.
· A teacher who had a computer with a CD-RW drive that did not work due to a concern that teachers may violate copyright laws if they are allowed to burn CD’s.
The authors feel that security and the safety of our children is indeed important, but that some of these requirements go a little far and deter teachers from even using what they have as effectively as they could. It has been shown in studies that teachers who use technology in the classroom have been able to meet standards for curriculum development and been able to create constructionist and hands on activities. Many students learn best this way.
School districts first began to explore issues of security once greater access was made available. Initial policies first included limiting students to inappropriate websites, which is very understandable. Antivirus software was also a concern, again very understandable. Copyright infringements and unauthorized software copying posed another concern.
Due to some of these concerns, many school districts have implemented policies that monitor faculty use and prohibit email for personal use. Some districts discourage the use of a classroom website or severely limit the content that is presented. The article cites an example of a teacher who had to deal constantly with logoff scripts, which interpreted the flow of his instruction because he had to ensure he went back every 15 mins. to activate the demo computer again even if the class was involved in a side project. The authors believe that school districts need to balance student protection needs while still supporting technology integration efforts.

Questions:
1. The article points out some obvious concerns about the need to balance student protection with the effective use of technology in the classroom. What are some ways this can be accomplished?
Perhaps setting up educational sessions for teachers to let them know specific examples of what would be appropriate and inappropriate. At the same time, focus on the numerous positive examples of how they could use technology in their classrooms without scaring them away from using it. I think that some teachers are a little afraid of technology and scaring them away is the last thing that districts want to do. Allowing some creativity while setting parameters can go a long way. I also think that they should solicit feedback from the teachers about how to resolve some of these issues because they are on the front lines every day and may have some good ideas.

2. What might be considered inappropriate internet usage in terms of security issues in a classroom? You could be treading a little dangerously whenever you offer unlimited access and kids can get to sites that are beyond your control, so keep an eye out even when they are supposed to be doing research and be sure that they stick to those sites.