Reaction to Dana Boyd's SNS podcast

Dana makes some valid points about SNS in her podcast. One of her closing statements really sums it all up for me. Dana said that the role of educators is not to condemn students for using social networks, but rather to help them learn how to use social networks to their advantage. Her recommendation, which I think is sound advice, is for educators to engage in conversations with students and discuss the pros/cons of social networks via 'what if'' scenarios that anticipate possible consequences so that students are better prepared to make good choices. I think this message cannot be underestimated, be it relative to SNS or other life situations, regardless of the subject area being taught. While there's technology curriculum standards that a SNS discussion can be tied to, most teachers struggle to meet their subject's curriculum requirements and don't have time to entertain a topic like this. I understand and respect what the state and local school districts are trying to accomplish with their curriculum standards, but I believe we're doing students a grave injustice if we only focus on those curriculum standards.

SNS is not going away. So we have two choices - we can talk about how bad and dangerous it is, which will effectively encourage students to use it more, and perhaps be more secretive about it so we're less likely to know when they need guidance; or we can accept it and help students to be wise users who are able to consider the consequences of their choices, weigh the pros/cons of each, and make informed and intelligent decisions.

Some of the considerations that Dana enumerated with regard to how we deal with students and SNS were consistent with what I learned in my short research paper. For example, some universities and law enforcement have tried to use the information (videos, pics, etc.) posted in Facebook to arrest students for underage drinking or other unlawful conduct. Students respond to this is to using false names to hide their real identity, which Dana points out this is teaching students to lie. One student at George Washington University did one better. He posted information about a huge 'beer blast' which turned out to be a cake and cookie party with the word 'beer' written with frosting on the cake and cookies. I hate to admit this, but I chuckled at this prank both times I read about it.

So, Dana's advice is that we embrace SNS, accept it, learn about, even participate in the SNS that's most popular at our school so that we can have conversations with students and help them understand all the possible consequences to SNS so they can make informed and responsible decisions.

Facebook - private vs. public

I'm getting more comfortable with Facebook and being able to leave messages versus writing on someone's wall, etc. I will say my daughter has helped accelerate the learning curve a bit.

I randomly picked a dozen or so of my students names, just off the top of my head, and was both surprised and pleased to find out that most of them had their Facebook set to private. I wonder what the statistics are and if it varies between HS and college students, or between genders.

What is MACULSpace?

I'm a little out of sequence, but if you want some details about MACULSpace, here it is.

MACUL stands for Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning and is a network of 373 members who are primarily educators who incorporate computer technology in their teaching.

In my opinion, this is a very beneficial site because it provides an opportunity for us educators to network with each other about technology issues - whether it be trouble shooting a problem or getting input and advice before trying something new. I can see myself using this site in the future for a number of things - from helping myself to stay abreast of new technology and getting ideas of how to use it in the classroom, to seeking experiential advice on new tools or online simulations that I come across and want to try in my classroom. I've already learned a lot just from reading other posts on this site.

MACULSpace SL discussion

There's a pretty interesting discussion thread recently started in MACULSpace about the usefulness of SL in education. Both Ben and Chris share some valuable perspectives on how realistic it is to incorporate SL into classroom instruction. Follow the link or paste it into your brower address window.
http://maculspace.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=612492%3ATopic%3A25099

fun vocabularly builder & food donation

Check out this cool site. Someone shared it in MACULSpace. It's a vocabularly builder that donates 20 grains of rice to the UN for each correct answer you get. Charity and vocab building, all in one. :)

http://freerice.com

MACULSpace - integration of tech

There is some interesting dialogue in the MACULSpace about the extent to which technology is integrated in the classroom. I think even if teachers do integrate technology in the classroom what often happens is that the students come with such limited technology skills (other than IM, ebay, Facebook, etc.) that it's dificult for teachers to expect much without taking the time to teach students how to use Word, Excel, etc. The students I've had in the past few years seldom use spell check, let alone headers/footers or even the beginning of Excel spreadsheets. This scares me because I think without these skills our students will be ill-prepared for the real world.

Facebook

I just set up my Facebook account and have to say I'm pretty impressed with the sophistication of the site - especially the ability you have to adjust who can see various elements of your facebook. My daugther actually allowed me to be her friend on facebook - I'm probably ruining her reputation at this very minute. :)

Anyway, despite having just started to understand how it works, I think Facebook is pretty cool and a much more extensive and efficient way of networking than when I was in HS.