Internet Safety

As the web 2.0 becomes a part of school curriculum, issues such as personal internet safety need to be addressed. Many students feel a false sense of security online because they have experience on social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace. Sites such as these offer built in security options which limit the amount of information others can see. However, when students post information to a public site such as a class blog, discussion board or other media, it is open for everyone to see if not protected properly.

The first step teachers need to take is educating their students about how to prevent personal information from getting on the web. The OSPI website offers links to resources including iSafe. The next step is for teachers to protect the sites by requiring registration and teacher approval before access is granted or a password known only to students. Teachers should also monitor these sites and remove any personal information such as pictures with names, personal details such as where students live and any other information which could identify individual students.

As teachers, we have a responsibility to keep our students safe. OSPI has also included it in their standards (Educational Technology EALR 2.1- Practice Safety: Demonstrate safe, legal and ethical behavior in the use of information and technology.) We have monthly fire drills, intruder drills and even an earthquake drill during the school year. Teachers also need to education students about how to keep themselves safe while on the internet.

Wikis In Science Classrooms

Wiki technology provides opportunities for collaboration around a common topic or subject with unlimited individuals contributing to a page. While wikis such as Wikipedia have been criticized by some as unreliable, many others see the potential of this addition to the Web 2.0. Anyone can edit it and contribute their own knowledge to a wiki. Some argue that wikis allow contributors to add whatever they want, right or wrong, the beauty is that another contributor can correct it. Wikis are self-policing.

Science has been doing this for quite awhile although not as streamlined and accessible as a wiki. When a research article is published in a journal such as “Nature”, the methods and results are published so that other scientists can recreate the experiment to check its validity. An experiment’s conclusions are invalid if they cannot be replicated. This is a foundational component of science. Bad research is quickly identified and good research is validated and usually  improved.

A purpose of the classroom is to prepare students for the work force. Students who want to enter a scientific field need to gain experience having their work critiqued by others. A wiki would allow students to post their results from an experiment and have other students try to replicate their experiment. A discussion could then begin between the two groups about necessary changes to the experiment.

Wikis can also be useful for teachers. I found this wiki using a quick Google search for “physics wiki”. It provides teachers with labs for different physics units. Teachers can discuss what worked in the lab, how they changed it, and how to extend it.

As our world becomes smaller, collaboration is going to play a larger role in our jobs. We will not only be working together with people in the same building but across the world. Wikis provide students with the opportunity to practice the skills necessary to be a contributing member of the global community. They have to be responsible for the content they put up and thoughtful about the feedback they provide to others. This is a skill we can begin developing in schools using wikis.

Bridging the Divide

The article we read this week suggests there is a divide between teachers who  use web 2.0 technology and those who don’t. It is suggested the main cause for this is lack of time. No one disputes teachers don’t have enough time but I don’t think that fully explains why more teachers aren’t using these tools. I would like to suggest a reason the more experienced teachers don’t readily accept new technology is because they have seen it come and go before. Let me provide you with an example.

When I started teaching four years ago in the Highline School District, technology was hard to come by. I had a desktop computer and that was basically it. Four years later, in the Kent School District almost every part of my job has been effected by technology. I’ve made a list below of what I used at Highline four years ago and what I use at Kent today.

• Overhead projector –> Digital projector
• Whiteboard –> SmartBoard
• Microsoft PowerPoint –> SmartBoard Notebook
• Gradebook Pro –> Skyward (Online tool)
• Paper attendance sheets –> Skyward
• Actual calendar –> Outlook

I am only a new teacher so I can imagine how the more veteran ones feel. It seems like technology changes every few years so what is the point in developing new curriculum if something new will come along to replace it. New and more technology is not always better. Our district has put a SmartBoard in every room. These are amazing tools and I am not complaining that we have them. However, they are difficult and cumbersome to use at times when a whiteboard would work better. Also, the board is compatible with PowerPoint which all my lessons are in but the district is providing training using new software called Notebook which integrates better with the SmartBoard. In my opinion, this isn’t an improvement and I don’t want to transfer all my PowerPoint lessons over to Notebook only to have it go away in a few years.

My point is that technology is not always the best thing for the classroom. There are  good reasons some teachers are not jumping on the bandwagon. I tend to wait and see if the technology will sustain the test of time and not go the way of the laser disc.

That being said, I don’t think all new technology should be avoided. Blogs, discussion boards, websites and instant messaging have stood the test of time and could be incorporated into classrooms. Education is a field constantly changing and teachers know how to deal with that more than most. Web 2.0 has some great tools to offer and we should do everything we can to advocate for more teachers to use some of these tools.

SmartBoards are new pieces of technology that allow you to use the computer by touching the screen.