The article “Don’t Feed the Trolls: Using Blogs to Teach Civil Discourse” is an interesting read because it acknowledges that while technology is neither good nor bad, but only a tool that can be used for either, we, as educators are responsible for guiding the use of this tool in the right direction. Blogs have, in the past (and currently) been used for screeds, electioneering, personal attack and all sorts of other nefariousness. But the article gives some guidance and hope. “Blogs are particularly effective when teaching about civil discourse because unlike in face-to-face conversations, the interaction is captured online, allowing for review and reflection.” (Richardson, 2008) That’s true. Also, I have used blogs before, and one thing that I’ve made great use of is comment moderation. In this way, I, as the teacher/moderator am able to control content on the blog, but also allow a “mostly free” exchange of ideas. I am able to screen out anything that I deem inappropriate. I would imagine that kids would see that their comments weren’t included in the blog post, and would quickly understand (especially if they got a note back) why they weren’t.
Also the article talks about how teachers can be "modeling civil discourse." I could see how especially in a forum type of situation this would be a great idea. A civil, free exchange of ideas between two teachers (parallel), or just from the teacher (hierarchical) could both be beneficial. Besides parents, we will be the most stable example of adults in many, if not most, of these children's lives. We should act as such.
Moving to the concrete example of Mr. H’s blog. I find Mr. H’s example of a blog instructive in the way that he uses video. He doesn’t just put up work to do, but also goes one step further, and makes a video of himself using the blog and explaining the problem. It’s great for the kids who may not be good at reading and internalizing the instructions. Also, they can review as many times as they need to. The video of the teacher is never going to get tired, though the teacher sure seemed to look that way. This is great.
As my endorsement areas are Social Studies and Art, I think that this would be beneficial to me. I could link to history channel videos, make slideshows, post assignments, whatever! I think about how to describe how to throw a clay pot. That's difficult if you've never done it before. But you could always us an example. However, just like most things on the web, I could see how this could be a huge time suck, and would have to be managed judiciously. It’s only another tool, not the end all-be all of education.
Richardson, K. W. (2008, May). Don’t Feed the Trolls. Learning & Leading with Technology, 12-15.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Have you googled your teacher lately?
1. What did you find about yourself after you went through the Google and Pipl searches? Give me the actual links you found (unless you are really embarrassed by them).
For Google, I found myself as the second link. (http://skylab.org/~paranoid/biography/biography.html) the 14th (http://www.kingbeedesign.net/darinschmidt/about.html) and several others after. PIPL came up with me at the 1st two links (http://www.pipl.com/search/?FirstName=Darin&LastName=Schmidt&City=Portland&State=OR&Country=US&CategoryID=2&Interface=1)
Bluh. No, I'm not particularly embarrased by anything that comes up, but the ability to easily get ahold of my e-mail and address is a little scary. I also learned that my Google ranking has dropped from #1 to #2. Dangit.
2. Is there anything you want to change now or went ahead and already changed that may have been unbecoming of you as a teacher?
Not particularly. I'm pretty okay with what's up there right now. I might do some old blog removal and tighten up my Facebook security settings. But luckily it doesn't seem to come up Facebook on Google searches.
3. Do you think teachers should be held to community standards in terms of their personal lives? Should a teacher’s speech be held against them?
Which community? See, that's the problem with a lot of these examples in the article. I'll rant on that later. I think that so long as what a teacher is doing online is not considered outside of consensus morality then what they do or say shouldn't be held against them. They are humans with their own personal beliefs and rights that go along with the amazing responsibilities they take on as being teachers.
4. What was the most interesting fact/story you read in the article?
In the article, the teacher who was let go because there were some nude photos on the internet that were taken by her partner that got out. I find this crazy, especially with respect to the fact that they were art. Allow me to go on a screed about the Schizophrenically Puritanical nature of our society. It's okay for your kid to watch multiple R-rated movies, but if a teacher has a life where they do nothing illegal or immoral by nearly everyone's standards outside of school, they should be fired? PLEASE!
5. What are you going to do to protect yourself and your job?
Well, it looks like I'll be tightening the security so that only my most trusted friends and families will be able to have access to any social networking sites. The funny thing is that I live such a boring life that I can't imagine that I'll be saying anything that would be offensive or even close to anything that would get me in any trouble at all.
For Google, I found myself as the second link. (http://skylab.org/~paranoid/biography/biography.html) the 14th (http://www.kingbeedesign.net/darinschmidt/about.html) and several others after. PIPL came up with me at the 1st two links (http://www.pipl.com/search/?FirstName=Darin&LastName=Schmidt&City=Portland&State=OR&Country=US&CategoryID=2&Interface=1)
Bluh. No, I'm not particularly embarrased by anything that comes up, but the ability to easily get ahold of my e-mail and address is a little scary. I also learned that my Google ranking has dropped from #1 to #2. Dangit.
2. Is there anything you want to change now or went ahead and already changed that may have been unbecoming of you as a teacher?
Not particularly. I'm pretty okay with what's up there right now. I might do some old blog removal and tighten up my Facebook security settings. But luckily it doesn't seem to come up Facebook on Google searches.
3. Do you think teachers should be held to community standards in terms of their personal lives? Should a teacher’s speech be held against them?
Which community? See, that's the problem with a lot of these examples in the article. I'll rant on that later. I think that so long as what a teacher is doing online is not considered outside of consensus morality then what they do or say shouldn't be held against them. They are humans with their own personal beliefs and rights that go along with the amazing responsibilities they take on as being teachers.
4. What was the most interesting fact/story you read in the article?
In the article, the teacher who was let go because there were some nude photos on the internet that were taken by her partner that got out. I find this crazy, especially with respect to the fact that they were art. Allow me to go on a screed about the Schizophrenically Puritanical nature of our society. It's okay for your kid to watch multiple R-rated movies, but if a teacher has a life where they do nothing illegal or immoral by nearly everyone's standards outside of school, they should be fired? PLEASE!
5. What are you going to do to protect yourself and your job?
Well, it looks like I'll be tightening the security so that only my most trusted friends and families will be able to have access to any social networking sites. The funny thing is that I live such a boring life that I can't imagine that I'll be saying anything that would be offensive or even close to anything that would get me in any trouble at all.
Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants
When I was a kid, my father made the observation that my generation was “instant everything.” How little he would know about what the Millennial’s would be like. I am heartened by this series of articles. Though I’m “an old fogey” in the digital world (37) I am more similar to a Digital Native than a Digital Immigrant. I remember hearing of a third name called a Digital Pioneer, the group of people who grew up with the technology as it was being invented. Let me explain. I have been a user of video games since my father bought my brother and myself an Odyssey2 video gaming system. It had rudimentary programming capabilities, and we used them exclusively. I programmed on a Commodore 64 and an Apple 2e computer, used BBSes in the late 80s and Fidonet to communicate across country. When the WWW came about, I was an early adopter. Now, I multi-task constantly, with exposé going on my Mac, I’m able to switch between windows and programs with ease, listen to music in iTunes and search on Wikipedia. I believe that my mind is trained in much the same way that these kids who grew up with the technology as it’s “fully formed.” I can lose myself on Wikipedia if I allow myself to, and I have an inability to “turn off.” If I don’t have some kind of stimulation, be it electronic or verbal, I feel uncomfortable.
When I was a student, I didn’t find myself frustrated by “rage” as is described in the third article, but tech was on it’s way in, and I was frustrated by a lack of possibility. I knew that it could be done better, eventually. Our high school tech consisted of 16 mm film projectors, overhead projectors, and later, VHS tape machines and TVs on rolling carts. Over my college career, the styles of teaching were slower in keeping up with the advance of the technology. The modern Internet was created during my college career (1990-1997). We started using display technologies like digital projectors in college, but the Internet was not yet incorporated into classes. Now that I’m in school again after more than a decade, I find that my dreams from high school and frustration with information retrieval have finally been largely solved, as my information retrieval and way of working are vindicated. I wouldn’t say that technology impacted my education much because it was a little used tool.
I would like to call attention to several sentences in the first article. “Digital Immigrants don’t believe their students can learn successfully while watching TV or listening to music, because they (the Immigrants) can’t.” (Prensky) I believe that I, as a Digital Pioneer, am in the position to act as a bridge between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. I understand them both. Let me provide an example. As I am writing this, I am watching television, checking my e-mail every few minutes, and IM’ing my father. I believe that I actually CAN understand where these kids are coming from, and if my brain were examined under an FMRI, I would have a similar structure, despite being a pioneer.
Prensky Continues “…Of course not – they didn’t practice this skill constantly for all of their formative years. Digital Immigrants think learning can’t (or shouldn’t) be fun. Why should they – they didn’t spend their formative years learning with Sesame Street.” (Prensky, 2001) I did spend my formative years watching Sesame Street, and I think I remember being bored in school. Now, was that because I wasn’t stimulated? I can’t say.
I’ve read some criticism of Sesame Street, including this: “My second objection is that "Sesame Street" insidiously teaches short attention. The quick-changing format (ever so clever technically), moving from one idea to another every few minutes, actually boomerangs. The program's long-range goals are to stimulate a child's creativity, sociability, and desire to read. But the fast, quick-change pace, with its over-stimulation, actually cancels any hope for fostering in a child these long-range goals.” (Boerman, 1986) This is interesting. It’s just the criticism that Prensky has when he asks what we’ve lost. Do natives have time for reflection, time to process? It would appear that this isn’t a new concern with new media.
Prensky, M. (2001). On the Horizon. MCB University Press.
Boerman, V. (1986, October 20). Catapult Magazine Potholes on Sesame Street. Retrieved July 13, 2009, from Catapult Magazine: http://www.catapultmagazine.com/saturday-morning/article/potholes-on-sesame
When I was a student, I didn’t find myself frustrated by “rage” as is described in the third article, but tech was on it’s way in, and I was frustrated by a lack of possibility. I knew that it could be done better, eventually. Our high school tech consisted of 16 mm film projectors, overhead projectors, and later, VHS tape machines and TVs on rolling carts. Over my college career, the styles of teaching were slower in keeping up with the advance of the technology. The modern Internet was created during my college career (1990-1997). We started using display technologies like digital projectors in college, but the Internet was not yet incorporated into classes. Now that I’m in school again after more than a decade, I find that my dreams from high school and frustration with information retrieval have finally been largely solved, as my information retrieval and way of working are vindicated. I wouldn’t say that technology impacted my education much because it was a little used tool.
I would like to call attention to several sentences in the first article. “Digital Immigrants don’t believe their students can learn successfully while watching TV or listening to music, because they (the Immigrants) can’t.” (Prensky) I believe that I, as a Digital Pioneer, am in the position to act as a bridge between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. I understand them both. Let me provide an example. As I am writing this, I am watching television, checking my e-mail every few minutes, and IM’ing my father. I believe that I actually CAN understand where these kids are coming from, and if my brain were examined under an FMRI, I would have a similar structure, despite being a pioneer.
Prensky Continues “…Of course not – they didn’t practice this skill constantly for all of their formative years. Digital Immigrants think learning can’t (or shouldn’t) be fun. Why should they – they didn’t spend their formative years learning with Sesame Street.” (Prensky, 2001) I did spend my formative years watching Sesame Street, and I think I remember being bored in school. Now, was that because I wasn’t stimulated? I can’t say.
I’ve read some criticism of Sesame Street, including this: “My second objection is that "Sesame Street" insidiously teaches short attention. The quick-changing format (ever so clever technically), moving from one idea to another every few minutes, actually boomerangs. The program's long-range goals are to stimulate a child's creativity, sociability, and desire to read. But the fast, quick-change pace, with its over-stimulation, actually cancels any hope for fostering in a child these long-range goals.” (Boerman, 1986) This is interesting. It’s just the criticism that Prensky has when he asks what we’ve lost. Do natives have time for reflection, time to process? It would appear that this isn’t a new concern with new media.
Prensky, M. (2001). On the Horizon. MCB University Press.
Boerman, V. (1986, October 20). Catapult Magazine Potholes on Sesame Street. Retrieved July 13, 2009, from Catapult Magazine: http://www.catapultmagazine.com/saturday-morning/article/potholes-on-sesame
Introduction
Welcome to D-Money's House of Edu. My name is Darin Schmidt. I am hoping to teach Social Studies. Interestingly, my favorite animal is an orange Tabby. Meow!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)