“Conversation on Cybersafety in 21st Century Classrooms”

Laura Fogle, Technology Educator/Tech4Teaching

http://www.tech4teaching.blogspot.com

http://del.icio.us/lbfogle

Web 2.0 is here to stay!  Pointed out that John McCain and Barak Obama, both have a MySpace account, and that Dora the Explorer (kids’ cartoon) has podcasting/vodcasting on her site!

YouTube bad press and other media “hype” (mentioned Lee County fight club situation) evokes “highly reactive response” from general public.  DOPA, DOPA Jr., State Initiatives, Local Policies all reactions to this response.

“Real Concerns”

Online predators – 71% reported receiving messages online from someone they don’t know (netsmarz.org)  Need to know what real statics and real numbers are!

Proactive Response:  Protection, Responsible Use, Education and Advocacy

Used analogy of giving pointed scissors to kindergartners is not appropriate, but that doesn’t mean we should ban all scissors from the school.  We teach them using rounded scissors and allow them to be guided in learning how to use the tools!

Gave out different colored strips with a question as well as several delicious link sites. 

Danita and I have this question:  “What policy changes would you recommend to address Web 2.0 concerns?” (How ironic, as this is the very issue that was heatedly discussed at our ITF meeting earlier today.)

http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/Social+Networking+Acceptable+Use

Our Ideas: 

Policy committee for community buy in, parent involvement, student involvement, teacher representation, school board rep; staff development in Web 2.0 tools, gather large amounts of information – what are others doing?  What are the discussions in other areas?

Educating Others about web 2.0:

conversations with parents, show sites at PTO, show them how to set up their own accounts, encourage parents to be involved with their kids’ sites, share guidelines.

Can you use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom safely? 

Lab guidelines that need to be read, discussed, and signed by each student who enters the lab.  Students told the history on each computer would be checked, consequences set up.  Teacher must be engaged, actively involved, highly structured assignments/activities.  If you wait until the students are adults, they will never have the experiences they need to grow, put responsibility back on the student with well defined consequences and follow up.

Is student activity on social networks a school issue?

What if students post fictional sites of teachers with negative content?  Mentioned a Leading and Learning Article – Point/Counterpoint.  If the activity a “substantial and material disruption to the learning environment” the school has jurisdiction to intervene in the situation?  Download material and copy for the parents to view?  Check with ISP provider to locate offender.  My Space is working to help out in these situations, ie. taking sites down, as well as any comments they’ve ever made.  Social networking sites are working to alleviate some of this negativity.

Suggested having a panel discussion with policy makers, social network reps, law enforcement, teachers, parents, etc.  GREAT IDEA!!

Although we could have continued this terrific discussion for hours, the meeting had to close!  To be continued….

Joselyn Todd – MS Science Dept. Chair/Cary Academy/Teacher Editor: MidLink Magazine

http://web1.caryacademy.org/facultywebs/joselyn_todd/

http://midlinkemergingtech.wordpress.com/

wwwikis – Presentation wiki for today (PowerPoint is included here)

Joselyn has started out discussing much of the web 2.0 vocabulary, most of today will be about wikis. 

Nature Magazine article comparing Wikipedia to Encyclopedia Britannica – comparison of errors found in each.

Designates editors and formatters in her classes to make the wikis look appealing.

How does the wiki fit into the big 21st Century Literacy picture?  Allows for collaboration, thinking critically, self directed learners, technology integration, global learning, content development, creative thinking, intellectual freedom.

Why use wikis in classroom?  Easy to use, FREE, Allows teacher monitoring (times of posts are in the history) Intellectual creativity creates Life Long Learners!

http://science7chemreview1.wikispaces.com

http://chemreactions.wikispaces.com

http://science7acidbase.wikispaces.com

http://ca7rocketry.wikispaces.com

Kids assigned to teams and asked to spend 15 minutes working on “their” page for homework.  When she looked back at the history 148 edits had been made on the page the same day the wiki was created!  Used the history to see who had contributed and when.  Used the information the kids had put on the wiki to sense what she needed to reteach or go over.

Joselyn includes David Warlick’s citation machine link for her kids, on the wiki front page.  She uploads her documents and screen casts (vodcasts) for her kids to use as reviews or when she is absent.  Took apart the periodic table and each kid did a podcast of an element.  Her kids also incorporate YouTube videos to demonstrate their chemistry concepts!  The kids use the teacher’s YouTube account to put the videos they have made/selected, up on the wiki.

If she sees errors in the wiki contributions, she points them out privately to the student and THE STUDENT makes the edit.

Cary Academy uses no filters.  Policy at the school which tries to instill responsibility.  Good stuff outweighs the bad stuff.  The school has a recording feature, so she can go to the student’s account to check where they have gone on the web.

Grading?  She asks, “who did not contribute to the wiki last night?”  The kids are aware that she has the ability to use the history to check this.

Has the kids create questions for the test (and answers) and post them on one of the pages of the wiki, along with their name.  The wiki is then used as a study guide, and she uses 20 of those kid-created questions to create the actual test.

Created a blog out of a wiki for her kids.  Only members can comment.  There is a direction page, so kids know how to use it as a blog.  Kids have their own page, they copy and paste the blog prompt given by the teacher, and then blog about it.  Others add comments (kids who comment write their name on the board drawing a line from their name to the origianl blogger’s name – so everyone knows who has gotten a comment, and who needs a comment – GREAT IDEA!).  Students must then ammend their original blog after reviewing the comments.

“It is my job to educate them on how to use these tools…whether they are using it for educational purposes or not…” Joselyn Todd 

“How will we effectively teach them [students] if we are ignorant of it ourselves.” Joselyn Todd

“Do not confine your children to your own learning…for they were born in another time.” Hebrew Proverb