If I had not learned as much as I have during the past couple months about SNS and web 2.0, I might have reacted to the Frontline video like an emotional parent. I'd be worried about my two teenage daughters online 'life' and possibly doing my best to invade their privacy. But, two things stand out in my mind that prevent this.
First of all, this video, while factual, seems to focus on the negatives without ever providing facts as to what percentage of teens fall into these negative traps. The video only once, and very briefly, mentioned that a study was done by the Dept of Justice, confirming that kids usually know what to watch out for.
The second thing that sticks in my mind is that the horrific examples used in the video all seemed to include a degree of distrust/disconnect with their parents. When the PTO mom reacted to the pics and videos of her son and other students who attended a concert, she managed to push her son even farther away. To me, this is the real challenge. Whether it be via technology or around the dinner table, as parents and as teachers we need to make sure that kids know that can come to us - whether for help or just to vent - and that we will do our best to protect them. They need to know that we care about the person they are, not just about the person we want them to be.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
My own SNS
Yesterday I set up a Ning site for my project. It was actually pretty easy to do. My goal is to collaborate with other business/entrepreneurship teachers because that's something that I've wished I was able to do since last year when I took on this class. I'm not sure the layout of my SNS is optimal yet, but I have some good ideas of what I'd like to accomplish. I'm anxious to see if I can actually pull together some other business educators and accomplish my goal. The address of my SNS is http://entrep.ning.com. Check it out!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Annotated Bibliography
I founded some really interesting aritcles, and finally stopped myself so I could prepare my lessons for this week. I also found it very convenient to use del.icio.us as I came across articles that looked interesting. I'm anxious to try del.icio.us with my students at school, especially in my entrepreneurship class where we do a lot of internet research rather than relying on a textbook. Following is one of the annotated bibliograhies I assembled. (I'm not sure how well the format copied in.)
Willard, N. (2007). Social networking technologies: Here to stay and it’s really okay. Retrieved March 1, 2008, from http://www.galeschools.com/article_archive/2007/10/NancyWillard.htm.
The author examines the reasons for fear of social networking, and makes a case for why social networks should be allowed in schools. She points to two fears: One being that new technology challenges the power of authority to control the dissemination of information because people are able to engage each other and communicate more readily, thus forming their own alliances and opinions rather than all information being handed down from the powers in charge. The second fear she talks about is the one most of us anticipate, which is safety related. She feels that most of the internet safety guidance we hear about is grounded more in fear-mongering than in reality. She has challenged the Attorney General’s office to provide support for statements like, “MySpace is a breeding ground for sexual predators,” but has yet to be provided any. Her point is essentially that students are going to use social networks regardless of education’s position, so wouldn’t it behoove us to teach teen how to do so safely? The author is not denying that social networks could be dangerous if misused, but instead is taking a realistic perspective and proposing that our teens would be better off if we taught them how to use social networks responsibly.
Willard, N. (2007). Social networking technologies: Here to stay and it’s really okay. Retrieved March 1, 2008, from http://www.galeschools.com/article_archive/2007/10/NancyWillard.htm.
The author examines the reasons for fear of social networking, and makes a case for why social networks should be allowed in schools. She points to two fears: One being that new technology challenges the power of authority to control the dissemination of information because people are able to engage each other and communicate more readily, thus forming their own alliances and opinions rather than all information being handed down from the powers in charge. The second fear she talks about is the one most of us anticipate, which is safety related. She feels that most of the internet safety guidance we hear about is grounded more in fear-mongering than in reality. She has challenged the Attorney General’s office to provide support for statements like, “MySpace is a breeding ground for sexual predators,” but has yet to be provided any. Her point is essentially that students are going to use social networks regardless of education’s position, so wouldn’t it behoove us to teach teen how to do so safely? The author is not denying that social networks could be dangerous if misused, but instead is taking a realistic perspective and proposing that our teens would be better off if we taught them how to use social networks responsibly.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Guest Lecture re: tags
I was somewhat disappointed with this. Perhaps it was just me, but my reaction was that the value I gleaned from this would have taken about 5-10 minutes to share if it had been more organized. Things I found interesting:
- website that creates tag cloud from a body of text - www.tagcrowd.com
- resource you can put on your own website and use to create tag clouds - zoomclouds
- games - ESP game aka Google Image labeler - kind of cool, but I can't begin to imagine the day when I have enough free time to look for things to do, like ESP
- advice for tagging - this was my question going in, which was finally answered at the very end - no real advice or right/wrong way to tag - spontaneity is best
I apologize if I'm offending anyone or being too harsh. In all honesty, this is the first time I felt one of our listening/reading assignments wasn't worth the time, so that's pretty good compared to most classes, especially considering this is the first time for this class.
- website that creates tag cloud from a body of text - www.tagcrowd.com
- resource you can put on your own website and use to create tag clouds - zoomclouds
- games - ESP game aka Google Image labeler - kind of cool, but I can't begin to imagine the day when I have enough free time to look for things to do, like ESP
- advice for tagging - this was my question going in, which was finally answered at the very end - no real advice or right/wrong way to tag - spontaneity is best
I apologize if I'm offending anyone or being too harsh. In all honesty, this is the first time I felt one of our listening/reading assignments wasn't worth the time, so that's pretty good compared to most classes, especially considering this is the first time for this class.
LibraryThing.com
It took me a while, but I eventually found the APA format citing example. I went to Edit Info in my library listing, then selected APA under the book details tab. It seems like some of the benefic from this would come from using it over time. I entered a dozen books or so that I've read over the past several years - some for pleasure, some a combination of business/work and pleasure. If I were diligent about making a library entry everytime I finished a book, my comments/review would be more meaningful. I didn't take the time to enter a lot of comments/reviews, in part because some of the books - like the Grisham books I read for pleasure - I no longer remember enough about and was more interested in understanding how this works than reviewing every Grisham book I've read.
Again, I can see some benefit to using this in my Entrpereneurship class. I require students to read one self-help business related book that interests them. I've read many over the years, so if I developed this library to list and review all those books it could be a resource for my entrepreneurship students to use in their book selection. Realistically, though, I don't think they struggle that much to select a book for a couple reasons. First, if you visit borders and read the book covers it's pretty easy to get an idea of what the book's like. Second, there are so many book reviews, cliff notes, etc. available online that adding my 2 cents would be worth about that much - 2 cents. :)
Again, I can see some benefit to using this in my Entrpereneurship class. I require students to read one self-help business related book that interests them. I've read many over the years, so if I developed this library to list and review all those books it could be a resource for my entrepreneurship students to use in their book selection. Realistically, though, I don't think they struggle that much to select a book for a couple reasons. First, if you visit borders and read the book covers it's pretty easy to get an idea of what the book's like. Second, there are so many book reviews, cliff notes, etc. available online that adding my 2 cents would be worth about that much - 2 cents. :)
del.icio.us bookmarking
I was able to set up my del.icio.us account and bookmark several articles I've used for research to date. I also learned how to edit article tags because I initially idn't tag them EDMT592. After doing that I figured out how to use the del.icio.us site and search on EDMT592 to see the articles everyone tagged - pretty cool! I also thought it was itnerested to see how many other people had tagged the same articles as I did - in some cases hundred of people had tagged the same article. I can see where this might be helpful during research because the most useful articles would likely have the most tags.
In my entrepreneurship class we use the internet as a learning resource a lot. There are several websites that I've found to be pretty good - it'd be cool if I could set up a del.icio.us account for my students in that class to use. I'll have to see if del.icio.us is accessible at school - long shot, but worth checking.
In my entrepreneurship class we use the internet as a learning resource a lot. There are several websites that I've found to be pretty good - it'd be cool if I could set up a del.icio.us account for my students in that class to use. I'll have to see if del.icio.us is accessible at school - long shot, but worth checking.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Facebook's Trainwreck
I just read Boyd's article about Facebook's Trainwreck. After reading it I revisited my privacy settings for my Facebook account and realized that I hadn't fully understood some of the settings. Now I have a much better understanding of my privacy settings, particularly as related to the News Feed feature (which was the focus of Boyd's article). So, if it took this much for a reasonably educated and cautious adult to get my privacy settings right, what are the chances that students who just sign-up and go get it right?
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