Tech & Learning - June 2008 - (Page 38)

FEATURESTORY Download this FREE series today! Fundamentals of K-12 Technology Programs Brought to you by Tech & Learning and sponsored by HP, this new series covers the educational technology topics that matter most to the profession’s leaders, practitioners, and innovators. Topics include: Leadership Sponsored by: Sign up today at http://www. techlearning.com/ K12/Fundamentals citizenship is publishing knowledge products to add value to the world. As with all technologies, there can be serious abuses. We must balance the few amazing stories of blogging with what can go very wrong. We have all heard the horror stories of what can happen when students pick up a free blog from Blogger, Facebook, MySpace, and many other free sites. Death threats to fellow classmates and inappropriate pictures by young teen girls who are looking for dates are horrible examples of blog abuse. The Pew Charitable Trust, a leading Internet in Society research organization, reports that a fifth of students in the United States already have their own blogs, and this number is growing. As with email, instant messenger, and text messaging, the question is not about whether students will be blogging. Eventually, the majority of students probably will have a blog. The real issue is: what is the professional response to blogging? Because of abuse on the public sites that are not controlled by teachers, some schools are blocking all access to any blogging sites. The blame is on the technology and there is no opportunity for pioneering teachers to provide adult role models. (As a point of information, with the right software, all comments to a class blog can be moderated by the teacher for complete judicial control.) Using the medium to teach responsibility is a direction recommended by Anne Davis (http://anne.teachesme.com/) from Georgia State. Anne works in the College of Education in the Instructional Technology Center. She writes that even when talking to second graders about blogging and about how to leave a comment, “I talked briefly about being ambassadors, of their class, their school, their state, country, and yes even the world. I spent time on the importance of learning how to use a tool well and being a good representative of responsible use of that tool. I’m planting blogging seeds so that when they are teenagers and want to ‘write all,’ maybe, just maybe, they’ll ponder the possible results” (Davis, 2006). We will need courageous leaders willing to explore the strengths and weaknesses of this medium. Our students will live in a world where they have access to increasingly more powerful communications tools. Who should teach them how to manage the power of these tools? The amount of personal information many students post on their personal blogs is staggering. In many ways it’s important for teachers to consider the use of blogs in the classroom if only to model appropriate behavior of this powerful communication tool and provide students with guidance and precaution about keeping themselves safe. Keeping children safe on the Web is obviously a very serious issue. If you plan on creating a blog for classroom use, here are guidelines you should consider. Choose a blogging service that offers moderating features. To protect the integrity of your blog and ensure it garners no inappropriate comments, you will want to be able to read comments first before they are published. Instead of using student names, consider having students use pseudonyms or class numbers. When posting student writing, be careful about publishing materials that include personal information that will identify students to the outside world. If you have younger students (13 and younger) and wish to blog, you must be familiar with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA; Federal Trade Commission, 1998). See Coppa.org. Cyber bullying is a real threat. Do not expect students to create their own blogs for classroom use unless you have precautions in place to carefully monitor their content and the comments they receive. In other words, please do not set your students up to be targeted in any way, shape, or form. Check to see if your school requires a parental consent form before beginning. For more info, head over to techlearning.com 38 | TECH & LEARNING F http://anne.teachesme.com/ http://Coppa.org http://www.techlearning.com/K12/Fundamentals http://www.techlearning.com/K12/Fundamentals http://www.techlearning.com/K12/Fundamentals http://techlearning.com

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Technology & Learning - June 2008 Contents Editor's Desk News & Trends They Said It: What Tech&Learning Insiders Are Writing Online Junket Justifiers Back Office Business Students of the World Unite! Get Small for Fall Summer Reading for School Leaders They Can Hear You Now What's New - NECC Highlights and More Leader of the Year Profile

Technology & Learning - June 2008

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