MACUL Tech issue

I joined the MACUL Ning site earlier today and was quite intrigued by one of the posts, which focused on the availability of web 2.0 in schools and the pros/cons of the security filters, etc. that most schools impose on their internet access. The blog discussion has been going on since mid-November and does an excellent job of examining the issue from both sides. I could relate to this because one of my frustrations as a technology teacher is that so many websites are blocked - from google to about.com, and what seems like a limitless list in between.

I appreciate and respect the community's and board's desire to protect our students from inappropriate information and images, but I also think that by the time students are 16-18 years old, they're old enough to be responsible for their actions and need to learn how to make good choices - how will they survive the real world if they can't be trusted to use the internet appropriately when there's an adult present?

Another issue that was poitned out, is that not all teachers are actively engaged in watching their students when they're on computers. While I'm sure there are some teachers who sit behind their desk and do their own work while their students are on the computers, I don't think this represents the majority of teachers. Perhaps I'm still too new a teacher to have a realistic view, but I think most teachers are actively walking around the room observing and assisting students who are on the internet, etc.

If you're interested in reading some of their arguments yourself, here's the link to the discussion. http://maculspace.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=612492%3ATopic%3A13305

If you're a teacher who uses technology, I'd be interested to hear your praises and/or frustrations with using technology in your district.

SL Meeting & Exploration

We saw a lot of stuff today in SL; certainly more than we could see in the real world in 2 hours. I'd like to go back to some of our stops and do some more exploring. I thought the Sistine Chapel was cool and if anything peaked my desire to see the real thing some day. I did some business travel in Europe 10-15 years ago and maanged to squeeze in a few tourist moments, but would really like to go back some day. I saw Notre Dame in France and was quite touched by the experience, so I'm very intriqued by the Sistine chapel.

When we were in the aquarium I clicked on a green shape that displayed a director's chair when I hovered over it. I thought it was going to give me a chair to sit in but instead it teleported me to another location that I think was still related to the aquarium. I couldn't figure out how to get back - I tried another green shape and went to another, similar place, then accepted Oyama's teleport offer and rejoined the class. I'd like to go back and check out those locations sometime.

The other thing I'd like to go back and check out is the planet Mercury. When we were in outer space after the rocket ride I noticed something about visiting Mercury. There's definitely a lot of educational potential with the sciences based on the sites we saw today.

Looking forward to more SL exploration.

SL 1st meeting

In SL my avatar's name is Suni Mornington. My 1st meeting in SL was both fun and tiring. I still need more practice at maneuvering so that my avatar looks natural and doesn't have to contemplate sitting before doing it, or so I don't 'walk through/over' things on my way places. It was also a bit tough keeping up with all the IM comments before they scrolled off my screen - this may have been in part a function of there being so many of us. Overall it was pretty cool and I look forward to more practice and becoming more agile and relaxed when in SL.

First Post

This is my first experience with blogging. In the past two weeks I've learned and explored a lot of web 2.0 tools as part of EDMT592. Way cool!