DISQUS

Eric · 2 years ago

Quality beats quantity in my book any day. Thanks for this quality piece ... timely, necessary, and something we must all think carefully about, and soon.

Anonymous · 2 years ago

Great post, Vicky. I have to confess to awe when I read it over at T&L Blog earlier today....


Miguel

Sharon Peters · 2 years ago

Kudos, Vicki, on a terrific article that is so current and so relevant to the worldwide educational community. Some administrators seem to think that if they block it (youtube, and the like), the problem will go away. This goes way beyond merely blocking sites that show inappropriate content. The students themselves are now able to easily CREATE the inappropriate content, upload it, tag it, and wreak havoc on professional and personal lives of unsuspecting individuals.

Students and teachers alike must be aware that their actions could be digitally captured at any time and this certainly raises the bar on expectations of ethical behaviour at ALL times. Good point about teachers needing to conduct themselves professionally - we are under more scrutiny than ever before. And just as students are held accountable for their behaviour, so should we educators.

Revisiting the Acceptable Use Policy is an excellent beginning to addressing the issues surrounding ethical uses of digital content. Articulating the dangers and issues to the teachers is another action that should be taken. As an aside, this might also be a good opportunity to introduce the educational value of web 2.0 tools as well. To present these tools in only a negative light is a disservice to the power and potential of web 2.0 tools. They are neither evil nor good in themselves - it is how they are used and for what purpose.

The research you have provided on this topic is excellent! Having student input into this issue is a great idea. Several educators who have responded back to my blog post about AUP suggested that the students themselves be involved in the drafting of an Acceptable Use Policy so that they could take ownership of the standards and policies.

I will be sure to pass along your article to the administrators at my own school and to the many other educators who are interested in this timely topic.

Thanks again!

Karyn Romeis · 2 years ago

Well done, Vicki, for once again tackling an issue head on that many people would prefer to duck. Things are changing in our society, things are afoot and we have got to face up to these changes - we cannot simply move into the independent State of Denial. Teaching our kids the ethics and etiquette of life in a world-sized goldfish bowl is essential, but takes guts.

Appropos the happy slapping thing - this culture has now taken hold to such an extent, that some kids have taken to slapping when there isn't even anyone recording. The "slapper" doesn't even think about the humanity of his victim. He's "just having a little fun". Isn't it amazing how often we hear that from bullies? These instances MUST be reported, or the abuse continues - just as it does in cases of domestic violence. The silent victim is unwittingly complicit. Schools need to set systems in place for these incidences to be dealt with. I recommend on-campus community service as punishment...

Jeff Branzburg · 2 years ago

A very interesting post, and equally interesting comments.

RE: "Students and teachers alike must be aware that their actions could be digitally captured at any time and this certainly raises the bar on expectations of ethical behaviour at ALL times" - reminds me off the question, do you stop for a red light at 3 AM on a totally empty road? The law says to do so, but do you? Are we only ethical when we can be caught?

RE: "I recommend on-campus community service as punishment (referring to "happy slapping) -how about prosecution? It is assault, after all. This might seem extreme, but extreme actions can require extreme reactions.

Miss Profe · 2 years ago

Vicki, your post really raised my level of awareness the proverbial ten-fold. Thank you for such enlightening reading.

janet pedersen · 2 years ago

Great post and very thought provoking. I am trying to instill online ethics with my elementary age students. I have the advantage that they still listen to me...

I view this--ethics training--as my part of preparing them for their world. Your post made me realize how important it is. Thank you.

Anonymous · 2 years ago

Vicki,
Great post, should be required reading for all teachers, administrators, and parents (and kids too). I've commented some on your post at Ubiquitous Thoughts

Mark van 't Hooft

Anonymous · 1 year ago

Wow! Lots to think about. We struggle with these issues at our school even though I think that we do a good job with managing technology and ethics of use. It is something for which we will always have to stay on our toes! Thanks for the good info!

Lisa B.

Darlene · 1 year ago

Thanks for the information. It has opened my eyes. We live in a day and time where nothing is private and where actions are constantly in view. Teaching under a microscope has new meaning when technology is added.
I like your concept of taping all of your classes. What a fresh approach.

CC · 1 year ago

Schools must develop rules for the use of technology and then enforce those rules. Students do NOT need to have cell phones. etc. with them during the school day. All student electronic devices (SED) should be kept in their locker - turned off. Any violation should deny them the right to bring any SED to school again. Locker and purse checks will be necessary to check for compliance. Have the student empty their backpack/purse in front of how ever many administrative officers you want! Students will comply with rules that you inspect - not rules that you expect them to follow. Second offense should mean expulsion. We must have strict consequences if we hope to control SED.

coolcatteacher · 1 year ago

@CC -

I use cell phones in the classroom! They are a great friend to everything I
do! They have more computing power than the PC's we scrimped and saved to
buy in the late 90's so why can we not figure good uses for them. I have
special permission to use them in my class when called for. If they are out
at other times -- the cell phones go in detention w/ th eprincipal. When
they go to the bathroom, they have to leave their cell on the teacher's desk
to go (if they have one.)

There are ways to handle this but just remember that there are great uses of
cell phones -- filming, gcasting, and even studying (using something like
Cram.)

Jennifer Coleman · 1 year ago

I cheer you on. This is really great information. I really did not realize how easily something can be recorded in a classroom or anywhere else. It throws privacy out the window. I like the thought of recording all of your classes. I think that is wise.

Johny · 1 year ago

not sure if its a good ideea mate

Thing #4: WOW-Jennifer Coleman · 1 year ago

I am still cheering you on. The more I have been thinking about what you said the more I've seen. I have seen students recording each other singing in the hallways or recording a fight. It amazes me st how much technology has changed since I was in school. Thanks so much for sharing this information.

jen r. · 1 year ago

Wow! You've opened my eyes. I have always thought of our new technology as a positive force in education, but because of your article I now see the negative impacts as well. We have known all along that the Internet would create new privacy issues. This definitely needs to be addressed.

resim · 1 year ago

We live in a day and time where nothing is private and where actions are constantly in view. Teaching under a microscope has new meaning when technology is added.
I like your concept of taping all of your classes. What a fresh approach.

Deborah Shultz · 11 months ago

WOW- My husband is a high school history teacher who strictly bands cell phones in his classroom. The stories he tells to get student engaged in learning are always real and from history and the student love hearing them, but I can see how one undetected cell phone could put a real swing on one of those stories by just recording some and out of context put with something else... hummm Teachers be ware is all I can say. I wonder if someday we will have a box in the front of the room where you drop your digital equipment off before class?

Janet · 10 months ago

Does make one wonder how much is posted out there. Or for that matter waiting to be posted until the student feels safe from consequences. It also brings to mind a story from a fellow teacher about going out to dinner and being confronted by a former student who was her waiter. At least he did it to her face.

Tina Amores · 10 months ago

I think that schools should have rules for the use of cellpones in the classroom. We had an incident in my school last year. A student video taped a teacher in the classroom and put her on Youtube. I really don't see why students need to have cell phones to begin with. Every classroom in my school has a phone and our school office has phones.

physicsAddict · 10 months ago

By saying that students can not use their technology in the learning environment, we seperate the learning environment from their future. Which is not the goal of education. I have let students use cellphones as calculators, timers for experiments, and reminders to to do something when they get home. By giving the suggestion for students to set their alarms for 30 minutes after they get home, that can trigger a reminder that I specifically had for them. Very Useful.

Polleverywhere is a website that will let you create questions that students can answer by text reply. This gives you immediate feedback and allows the students to have fun while enguaged in an activity relevant to the concept. This makes the students cellphone function similar to the student remote devices that cost the school money. The student can see the percentage of submissions seconds after they text. They even get to take ownership in it because they are using their phone.

It does have to be addressed what proper use of cellphones are in the classroom, but can be a greatly benificial thing.

Kaywadie · 9 months ago

Your first point is so apt. Schools cannot be Luddites by forbidding technology. The potential of smartphones in particular is yet untapped. I had a student lamenting last week that he couldn't take lecture notes in his prefered medium -- on his iPhone -- because its use was banned on campus.
Thanks for the link to the polling site.

Mom2 · 10 months ago

Some parents condone their kids having their cell phone at school. Some even text their children while in class and then get upset when their phones are taken up. If some of the parents could see some of the conversations that are going on they would not be so thrilled. Technology is a wonderful think that can help us out in everyday life, but there needs to be some limitations. Nothing is really private anymore, but these kids have no idea just how public their posts are.

coolcatteacher · 10 months ago

Everything has a use whether good or bad! We use cellphones in class
just today, but there is a purpose when we do! One day we'll require
kids to have cell phones!

Vicki Davis
Cool Cat Teacher Blog

Building the bridges of today that the society of tomorrow will walk
across.

Sent from my iPod touch

Betty's Blogs · 10 months ago

Cell phones are a fact of life and we need to deal with the issues they present. Videos can be edited, posted and cause lots of damage. Students need to be taught proper cell phone use!

KSUetclearningweb2.0 · 9 months ago

I think there is a need for various technologies in all aspects of education although I think the professional relationship teachers have students creates abuse or proper use of the cell phone. I caught a student setting up a drug deal while in the library. I found that he uses his phone on a continuous basis all day in every class and teachers, although suspicious, turn their heads. At this point I question what some teachers think their role is...I took the phone up and made him see an administrator to get it back, maybe it threw him off schedule.I think cell phones can be used for many things under supervision and in certain classes. I think teachers should be able to determine what and when students should be able to use them in the classroom and enforce ramifications for misuse; setting up lesson plans for use, specifically, although time consuming to plan can be very usegful and interesting. We should all know that we must march to the beat of the new generation's learning style and outlawing cell phones entirely will turn-off 99% of the students in today's world. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." Henry David Thoreau must have been able to see the future.
General student texting, to me, is questionable since kids are not stupid and cheating is BIG on the texting scene.
Parents are paying the big bucks for students to have the latest hand held computers, there must be safe and effective ways to use them to enhance the learning experiences.

Thing 4 Doug SMith · 7 months ago

Funny, teacher's controlling technology like cell phones, our government can't control it and has no idea how to police it. What chances do we as educators have? I say slim but that shouldn't stop us from using it in the classroom. Will we stop all of it no. And you can have all the ethics classes you want, people are going to do what people want and rationalize the ethics or actions to fit their needs or wants. But administrators must take an active role in dropping the hammer on any misuse to let the students know what is acceptable and what is not. And we as educators must teach the necessary skills for students to choose to do the right thing. We can't force people to be good all the time, but we can arm them with the tools to make the right choices.

coolcatteacher · 7 months ago

Balanced, wise thoughts!! Yes!!

Vicki Davis
Cool Cat Teacher Blog

Building the bridges of today that the society of tomorrow will walk
across.

Sent from my iPod touch

John · 6 months ago

Values and ethics.
Should be supported at school but should start in the home.

Problem? lots of homes don't have values that transfer to positive traits in public.

Most of the time there are no tech. problems in my classes. Ones that reoccur: texting, gaming,and the occasional ring on the phone that wasn't shut off.
Solution?: I tell them to put it away, I take it away till the end of the period w/o making a scene, I let them listen to their music in none teacher centered times.

Rationale?: I explain that in college it is unacceptable, at work it is unacceptable, and that we are always working on life skills so that they can be on their own once they graduate HS, whether they are going to college, work, or military

Result?: consistency in life works. Call it modeling.

jfuller · 6 months ago

Great article, I just finished reading all the comments. I recently watched Michael Wesch's short YouTube film "Students are Changing", filmed by with in collaboration with his college students. I would suggest everyone watch it!!! As an educator who went to high school when the only way we could receive a phone call from our parents was through the main office, it is up to me to try and educate myself and my students about best practices of technology. I agree with the comment made about modeling and being a role model. Creating a comfortable and safe environment for my students to is one my main priorities.

Michelle Herring · 5 months ago

Thing# 4
I agree with you. I believe we should use these technologies to our advantage, but we need to teach the students how to use them responsibly. They have never been taught the ethics behind using them. We have acceptable use policies in place at school, but do the students really read it and understand them. Do their parents really read them and understand them?

coolcatteacher · 5 months ago

IF you look at the Digiteen project - http://wiki.digiteen.net - you'll see that digital citizenship should be taught to students. I agree with you totally that students nor their parents understand how to use the technologies as they should. It should be part of what we teach!