Comments on: Education vs. Eradication: Social Networking http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/ Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:50:02 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Jess http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/comment-page-1/#comment-90 Jess Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:15:13 +0000 http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/#comment-90 I had a similar experience when a student wanted to by my 'friend' on MySpace which I didn't accept. It led me though to look at her profile, and consequently the profiles of many of our students and I came to the same conclusion as you - that they sure do need to do some thinking about they way they are portraying themselves. But, blocking is definitely not the answer. I had a similar experience when a student wanted to by my ‘friend’ on MySpace which I didn’t accept. It led me though to look at her profile, and consequently the profiles of many of our students and I came to the same conclusion as you – that they sure do need to do some thinking about they way they are portraying themselves. But, blocking is definitely not the answer.

]]> By: RaenetteT http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/comment-page-1/#comment-89 RaenetteT Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:08:57 +0000 http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/#comment-89 I agree 100% about educating rather than forbidding. They will experiment, and they will try out social networking. Rather let them know pitfalls, make them aware of the reasons, and give them the tools they need to stay safe. I've seen with my own daughter how devastating cyber bullying can be. We need to empower our students with the skills they'll need when this happens, and remind them that the real-life values, like honesty, caring, quality and so on, all count in the cyberworld too! I agree 100% about educating rather than forbidding. They will experiment, and they will try out social networking. Rather let them know pitfalls, make them aware of the reasons, and give them the tools they need to stay safe. I’ve seen with my own daughter how devastating cyber bullying can be. We need to empower our students with the skills they’ll need when this happens, and remind them that the real-life values, like honesty, caring, quality and so on, all count in the cyberworld too!

]]> By: Dragon09 http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/comment-page-1/#comment-88 Dragon09 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:29:12 +0000 http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/#comment-88 I agree with Jane. There needs to be a more proactive approach to cybersafety....more consistent too. It sounds like you are being the process in your ICTPD cluster on the right foot. I would be interested to here how it develops over the year. Perhaps something more stuctured and formal needs to be implimented, or perhaps 'more education' for staff is concerned. It's hard when staff are not familiar with how the 'Net 'works'. They find it difficult to teach something they don't understand. I agree with Jane. There needs to be a more proactive approach to cybersafety….more consistent too. It sounds like you are being the process in your ICTPD cluster on the right foot. I would be interested to here how it develops over the year. Perhaps something more stuctured and formal needs to be implimented, or perhaps ‘more education’ for staff is concerned. It’s hard when staff are not familiar with how the ‘Net ‘works’. They find it difficult to teach something they don’t understand.

]]> By: TeachingSagittarian http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/comment-page-1/#comment-87 TeachingSagittarian Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:43:37 +0000 http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/#comment-87 We too, have this kind of dilema with Bebo at our Intermediate School. We block Bebo at school, but as we all know it is at home where the students are using it. Newsletters home to parents to encourage them to look at what their children are doing online don't seem to get the message through. I have spoken to groups of students who thought that their spaces were private, only to find that I could tell them details about what was on their pages, and they too didn't seem to know or care, that ALL of them were under the age limit of 13 years old. One parent I spoke to, about a particular photo their daughter had posted on her bebo site, couldn't comprehend the inappropriateness of it until I showed her a little bit of photo manipulation - that shocked her. But she had no idea what her daughter was doing online. Unfortunately neither do many parents. They don't see the information that their children are posting about themselves and others or the inappropriate nature of the language they are using. One parent had no idea that their son posted his home address and cellphone number on his Bebo page! So we MUST continue to educate our students in class about Online Safety - information - communication - collaboration etiquette, just like we continue to educate our students about manners, healthy eating, cleanliness etc. And we MUST continue to educate/inform our parents. We too, have this kind of dilema with Bebo at our Intermediate School. We block Bebo at school, but as we all know it is at home where the students are using it. Newsletters home to parents to encourage them to look at what their children are doing online don’t seem to get the message through. I have spoken to groups of students who thought that their spaces were private, only to find that I could tell them details about what was on their pages, and they too didn’t seem to know or care, that ALL of them were under the age limit of 13 years old.

One parent I spoke to, about a particular photo their daughter had posted on her bebo site, couldn’t comprehend the inappropriateness of it until I showed her a little bit of photo manipulation – that shocked her. But she had no idea what her daughter was doing online. Unfortunately neither do many parents. They don’t see the information that their children are posting about themselves and others or the inappropriate nature of the language they are using. One parent had no idea that their son posted his home address and cellphone number on his Bebo page!

So we MUST continue to educate our students in class about Online Safety – information – communication – collaboration etiquette, just like we continue to educate our students about manners, healthy eating, cleanliness etc. And we MUST continue to educate/inform our parents.

]]> By: andrewch http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/comment-page-1/#comment-86 andrewch Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:39:33 +0000 http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/#comment-86 Nice post. This is a discussion that is happening in schools through out NZ and right round the world. I don't believe in white listing sites, having strict restricted lists that limit access to only approved and checked sites (it reminds me too much of China). This does not teach our students responcible use, rather students will work around these restriction and gain access anyway. Rather I support an open access process, unacceptable sites (the obvious ones) are blocked, but there is active monitoring and concequences for unacceptable behaviour. The most effective concequence I have seen is showing the parents the site or sites that their son or daughter has visited. Showing the parents the cyberbullying, the unacceptable content they have posted or the pornography (or worse) they have viewed. Then putting in process, with the parents, suitable and appropriate concequences and more importantly support. Nice post. This is a discussion that is happening in schools through out NZ and right round the world.
I don’t believe in white listing sites, having strict restricted lists that limit access to only approved and checked sites (it reminds me too much of China). This does not teach our students responcible use, rather students will work around these restriction and gain access anyway.
Rather I support an open access process, unacceptable sites (the obvious ones) are blocked, but there is active monitoring and concequences for unacceptable behaviour.
The most effective concequence I have seen is showing the parents the site or sites that their son or daughter has visited. Showing the parents the cyberbullying, the unacceptable content they have posted or the pornography (or worse) they have viewed. Then putting in process, with the parents, suitable and appropriate concequences and more importantly support.

]]> By: Jane Nicholls http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/comment-page-1/#comment-84 Jane Nicholls Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:52:07 +0000 http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/#comment-84 A past student of mine invited me as a friend on Bebo. I took one look at the information he was sharing on his page and was very worried about things. There was no way I was going to accept the friend request but I was also aware of the fact that as a high school student (and I apologise to high school teachers who may be doing a good job in ICT but they are few and far between) I knew that he was not going to be getting the guidance on how to keep himself safe. So what to do. I decided that the students in my class were my priority and I see it as every teacher's job to teach kids to be safe, in any situation. We teach road safety, we teach stranger danger, for goodness sakes we even teach sex ed! So why all this fuss about teaching kids to keep safe online. We figured out the old "cross your legs and be a good boy/girl" doesn't work in sex ed so therefore banning youtube, Bebo, Facebook etc is not going to work either. A past student of mine invited me as a friend on Bebo. I took one look at the information he was sharing on his page and was very worried about things. There was no way I was going to accept the friend request but I was also aware of the fact that as a high school student (and I apologise to high school teachers who may be doing a good job in ICT but they are few and far between) I knew that he was not going to be getting the guidance on how to keep himself safe. So what to do. I decided that the students in my class were my priority and I see it as every teacher’s job to teach kids to be safe, in any situation. We teach road safety, we teach stranger danger, for goodness sakes we even teach sex ed! So why all this fuss about teaching kids to keep safe online. We figured out the old “cross your legs and be a good boy/girl” doesn’t work in sex ed so therefore banning youtube, Bebo, Facebook etc is not going to work either.

]]> By: Barb http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/comment-page-1/#comment-83 Barb Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:38:39 +0000 http://RUthere.edublogs.org/2008/04/01/keeping-your-distance/#comment-83 I agree. Having been part of a digiops project where we used a variety of new technologies in the classroom, (mobile phones and chat etc) a huge part of our programme was focused on safe practice through responsible practice. The students owned their online behaviour as they created the rules for responsible use. I really liked this quote from Chris Betcher yesterday. nice quote about website blocking "you don't teach kids to eat properly by locking the door on the fridge" I agree. Having been part of a digiops project where we used a variety of new technologies in the classroom, (mobile phones and chat etc) a huge part of our programme was focused on safe practice through responsible practice. The students owned their online behaviour as they created the rules for responsible use. I really liked this quote from Chris Betcher yesterday. nice quote about website blocking “you don’t teach kids to eat properly by locking the door on the fridge”

]]>