Friday, January 28, 2011

Tools for Teaching Cyber Ethics by by Linda Starr

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech055.shtml
Summary: This article is about how a lot of students don't understand that a lot of the things they do with the internet is illegal. This is because they've grown up with the technology so they don't realize there are legal limits to what they would consider ordinary activities. This problem goes beyond the realm of hacking and investor fraud and go into pirating with things like movies, games, and music. The author states that it is very important to lay out the ethics of using technology on the first day they get it. If the students don't get a clear idea of what they are allowed to do and what they should do then they will just learn it on the street, so to speak. The author suggests making parallels between the real world and the cyber world and to work together with the students to work on a code of ethics for using the technology, similar to classroom rules. It is also extremely important to not model inappropriate behavior. The author then ends the article with a quote about how the internet is much like a Pandora's box, and it should be opened. There is also a 10 commandments of computer rules.

Reaction: The story that the author told at the start of the article about the student who invested in penny stocks and then went to an investment chatroom to jack of the price is pretty funny because just recently a famous rapper named 50 Cent got into trouble over that. He bought a large amount of penny stocks then went to Twitter and told people to invest in it. It worked and he made a lot. I believe that he did not get into trouble over that. All he had to do was post something else on his Twitter saying that he is not a professional and that everyone should contact their broker for stock advice. Everything else seems pretty solid. I am not sure about the Pandora's box analogy though. As I recall Pandora's box contained every evil thing in the world and only had one good thing in it. I also thought the point about porn not being a big issue with technology is also interesting. Oklahoma is under a lot of scrutiny because their public schools have software that blocks websites. This normally wouldn't be a big deal but it seems the software bans atheist websites too which many feel suppresses freedom of religion. The reasoning that was provided was because they didn't want to promote fanatical religions but atheism isn't actually a religion and it has been my experience that atheists are much nicer and more sensible than religious people.

Starr, L. (2005, August 04). Tools for teaching cyber ethics. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech055.shtml

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants by Marc Prensky

http://www.twitchspeed.com/site/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.htm

Summary: This article is about how technology has fundamentally changed the way people act and process information and how our current education system is not readily equipped to handle this new change. The author states that our brain structures have changed to adapt with all of the information and stimuli we have coming at us and we need to change our teaching methods to adapt to that change. He then states that we are digital immigrants coming to a new world that our students are native to, and it is up to us to adapt to this new world. The author also states that immigrants shouldn't dismiss different ways of learning and processing information for the natives just because their immigrant brains can't process things the same way. The authors conclusion is add more experiential learning to classrooms and have that experiential learning reflect subjects and methods that the students are interested in. The example he used was teaching students to code so they can create their video games about a subject.

Reaction: I think this is a very good article. It reinforces the fact that teachers are there to help students. This article also shows my age because of the usage of words. The author says that the word singularity refers to the large dissemination of information that has been happening in the last few years because of new technology, whereas I have understood the word singularity to refer to an event sometime in the future when robots gain self-awareness. Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 both dealt this subject decades before their time. Both books stated that in the future there will be too much information, and issues like censorship of books won't be seen as important because for the most part interest in reading books has died off because of new technology. In Brave New World specifically, people are bombarded with so much information that it is impossible to process all of it, so the people just pay attention to things that give them pleasure, rather than information that will educate them. Overall, I think this article is very useful and just reinforces the fact that our primary goal should be to educate students first and that can only be achieved by knowing our students and the best way to teach them.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Beyond Social Networking: Building Toward Learning Communities by Ruth Reynard

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/07/22/beyond-social-networking-building-toward-learning-communities.aspx

Summary: This article is mostly about social networking websites can be used to facilitate learning in the classroom. The author gives reasons why social networks should be used as well as tips on how to utilize it effectively. The strongest argument the author makes for using websites like Facebook is the concept of social networking and collaborative learning. Instead of just limiting students to small groups, they can use these social network to automatically build connections and share information to the entire class almost automatically. The author stresses that while the students can use this media to interact socially with each other, teachers should only use it in a professional capacity when using it with students. Like with any other type of learning and thinking the teacher must be there to scaffold learning. She also states that it is important to constantly update and keep track of the information on the social network site all the time and not just from 9-5. The author points out that students in this generation are good at multi-tasking, but if the scope of the information is too broad they could get lost, so using multiple platforms with a narrow topic is good. The author then points out that many skills that teachers try to traditionally teach can be enhanced by using modern tools, such as discussion skills.

Reaction: I agree with this article for the most part. I sort of feel that for younger kids there needs to be a clear separation between personal life and school life, which can get blurred if you use social media this way. It is also difficult to ignore how valuable social media is in the professional and academic world. If these students go to college they will be expected to know how to use social media to synthesize ideas and do academic work. When working with middle and high school students though, there can be good things and bad things with blurring those lines. Those lines can and will get blurred in college and in most knowledge based professions, so in a way, starting will just give them more practice later on. Overall it is a complicated issue and really requires a teacher to examine their students and figure out what is appropriate for them.