Comments on: Safety vs. Panic

By: Anaklets

Anaklets — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:22:52 +0000

Interesting…

By: Blogs in the Classroom « ETC 547 Reflections

Blogs in the Classroom « ETC 547 Reflections — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 01:56:38 +0000

[...] Parent complaints — children might be posting about things that parents feel can help others to identify them, or that they find objectionable. (http://yongesonne.edublogs.org/2007/05/10/safety-vs-panic/) [...]

By: Bill Compton

Bill Compton — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:28:53 +0000

Hi Jim. Photos i received. Thanks

By: Ben Wilkoff

Ben Wilkoff — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 11:41:26 +0000

GLS-
I have found that the only way to sustain interest in blogging for a class is to keep bringing the student work into the classroom. It can’t feel like something more to do, but rather something integral that enhances understanding and enjoyment of the material. Also, providing time to do blogging in the classroom is important too. (My two cents) Thanks for the comment.

By: gls

gls — Fri, 25 May 2007 19:25:34 +0000

I teach science and social studies at a day treatment facility for kids out of school due to long-term suspension, expulsion, or even adjudication. Because of the work we do and the source of our funding, confidentiality is mandated. Still, I was able to get a blog going for the kids and they were, for a time, excited about it. I’m afraid I didn’t do a good enough job promoting it. All that being said, I think in future wired teaching endeavors, I will apply the same standards: no names whatsoever.

By: Weblogg-ed » The Battle is (or Will Be) Lost

Weblogg-ed » The Battle is (or Will Be) Lost — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:26:14 +0000

[...] Schmidt’s last comment was my first thought after reading, albeit a bit late, this post on Ben Wilkoff’s blog about a very successful wiki collaboration project he was doing with his students in Colorado and a class in Connecticut that was derailed when one of the Connecticut student’s mothers threatened to call state attorney general to complain about the site because: 1-there were three personal pictures — all on the map of the home page2-some kids used their real names on pages or as a username3-in my post on icon I identified that where I live and that I teach at a “blue collar school”4-I had pictures of the school and the rooms which could provide a blueprint for a killer5-some kids put personal descriptors “I am five feet tall with brown hair named Sam”6-on my “lesson plan blog’ One thing i wrote down last Thursday was something like “Myspace words of Wisdom” which she interpreted as me telling the kids about how they should join. [...]

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:36:14 +0000

At the heart of the matter is the fact that people are often afraid of things they don’t understand. The knee jerk response is rather than promote on-line safety, pull the plug. I’ve had a computer in my classroom since 1983 and internet access since the early 1990s.

I’ve often wondered if the same fears and arguements came up in the early days of the last century when schools started to install telephones. Any improper behaviors, threats, and interpersonal connections that can be made on the internet can also be made by phone. For some reason, phones no longer scare too many people .

By: Brian Crosby

Brian Crosby — Sat, 19 May 2007 05:16:44 +0000

Herein lies one of the big issues of bringing teachers onboard to using these powerful tools with students. Most teachers are wary anyhow - how many are going to not only take on technology they are not comfortable with, but buck up against even the most token resistance - much less what we are seeing here?
After making that negative point however, I will re-state that I continue to see cracks in the wall, and even some holes. I have teachers at my school, and that have taken inservice trainings I’ve taught and attended conferences I’ve been to that are some of the most reluctant adopters that seem to be newly intrigued and interested in finally looking into trying something new.
So overall I’m more optimistic than I have been in years - and I’m almost wondering if in a small way we have NCLB to thank for that. Are teachers AND PARENTS maybe trying to come into the light of a new day after so many years of test prep and misuse of evaluation? I think there is hope.

By: PB

PB — Sat, 19 May 2007 00:24:11 +0000

…here is an update to the update…
Got a message from our local PD’s youth officer that basically said no one in the department can look at the wiki to determine it’s threat. It has been driving me crazy that the people that come and talk to our kids about internet safety don’t know anything about the internet.

Finally talked to the investigator at the Attorney General’s office. Very nice guy…spent a lot of time with me. Basically there is now way they could say that I am doing anything right, or wrong, because there are no “rules” in place to determine what is right or wrong. He said that I could post a kid’s picture with name, address, phone number, etc…and there is nothing they could do. He said that it all simply comes done to what the Superintendent wants to do.

I got an email from out head tech guy today. He wanted to basically know what issues the parent had. I am reading way into his words here — but I get the sense that he might start the conversation with the Super and ass’t super about how these type of School 2.0 things are catching on and how they better have an answer before parents call. He is working on approving a bunch of podcasting grants and he might be thinking that the system needs a policy…needs to take a stand on this before a podcast is let out of onto the web. I worry that the entire conversation at the top will revolve around safety issues and not include any of the benefits of using 2.0 tools. As the investigator from the AG office said, you can’t protect against someone taking one of my kids, forcing them to give up the password to the wiki, and then posting lewd stuff…I hope they don’t focus on the extreme cases. The crazy what-if questions are a killer.

To be continued….

By: Scott McLeod

Scott McLeod — Fri, 18 May 2007 20:03:44 +0000

As David Warlick says…

For how many years, or months, or days is the MySpace nation going to allow us to put their learning into containers?

http://tinyurl.com/2xfgfc