Recently in 01. Issues and Concerns Category
Cyberwellness is quick becoming a concern for teachers and parents alike. Chanced upon this and it seems the Australian government has quite a head start:
For primary school: Cyberquoll
Cyberquoll is a computer based Internet safety program for primary school students. It teaches students about the risks of using the Internet and provides advice on managing and minimising those risks. (adapted from this resource index)
For secondary school: CyberNetrix
CyberNetrix is a computer based Internet safety program for secondary school students. It teaches students about the risks of using the Internet and provides advice on managing and minimising those risks. (adated from this resource index)
just saw this off /. :
"Facebook Users Get Lower Grades In College"
so if you're very engaged in facebook, myspace etc, BEWARE ;)
and if you've students who are extremely engaged in fb as such, perhaps it's time to highlight this article to them :O
juz "fetched" my copy of feb 09 classroom news from the server.
some useful ideas within:
1. on cyber-wellness/safety: a study that involved emailing students who posted explicit contents to their socialnetworking profile (myspace, facebook as such). awareness through email brought about behavioural change to some students. this idea could be tested n come in handy for a teacher :)
2. students turned to video clips in youtube/teachertube/schooltube for learning. students can "watch the video as many times as ... needed"; thinking out loud processes can be recorded and shared as well, and it may be 'not as daunting'.
3. reports and discussed a survey that suggested "sending or posting nude or semi-nude cell phone pictures starts at a young age and becomes even more frequent as teens become young adults" ... this would fall in the same category as (1) as well. some food for thoughts, including "Most parents have at least some sort of experience or
understanding of what adolescence was like in terms of other risky behaviors, but no one old enough to have teenage children today had a cell phone when they were
teens"
u'll be the free subscribption to read the full text.
"She is one of 650 students who receive an Apple Inc laptop each day"
"compete for high scores by completing mathematical equations"
"It has no textbooks"
" 'The dog ate my homework' is no excuse here"
" 'Why would we ever buy a book when we can buy a computer? Textbooks are often obsolete before they are even printed' "
"Computers track a range of aptitude levels, allowing teachers to tailor their teaching to their students' weakest areas"
" 'Our projections show that 50 percent of high school courses will be taught online by 2019. It's about one percent right now.' "
"Horn expects demand for teachers to fall and virtual schools to boost achievement in a U.S. education system..."
" 'You deliver education at lower cost, ... a teacher can spend with each student because they are no longer delivering one-size-fits-all lesson plans' "
exciting development i would say but 'demand for teachers' doesnt sound too good though i dont really agree with that :P how will the school (in today's definition) become and what would be the teachers working more on, assuming the subject matters can all be first taught by software?
check out the full article "Technology reshapes America's classrooms".
it's been eons since i last posted anything and the examinable essays are running behind me ....... *SCREAM*
ok ???? , saw an article by Christopher D Sessums entitled "Internet Safety Discussion and Resources" and the topic would definitely be something of interest if i were back in school now (? school ?? school). some words that came as a form of reminders: "online predators", "parental supervision", "youth victimization", "cyberbullying", and there's a link to a presentation on safety entitled "5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do". interesting title? but Christ reassured readers that it's a presentation on safety, but the download's very slow at my end, only clocking abt 3000bytes per second? reminds me of downloads off my good old 56kbps dial-up.
saw links to this "Growing Up Online" production by FRONTLINE|PBS looking into the life of our youngsters. have not had the time to go through it myself, but i'm believe the issues and concerns raised in the programme would be common to us all teachers/parents and even growing up youngsters themselves? even as we are watching it we too are growing up online in a way isnt it?
here's a direct link to some of the press responses after the broadcast of the production.
First came across this from Wesley Fryer's post, this video was produced by a working group of Kansas State University students and faculty dedicated to exploring and extending the possibilities of digital ethnography led by Asst Prof Michael Wesch.
This video calls for us teachers to reflect upon what our students are learning/doing in class when we are 'teaching n preparing them for tomorrow'. Enjoy n reflect :)
[updated 20071019] found an alternate link to the same video here.
