Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category
January 17, 2012
Last week I wrote a post on the challenges of teaching shy students. I gave an account of my struggles with one particularly shy student and the strategy I used to get him to talk. I have great empathy for the child that is too afraid to speak and understand the frustrations involved when teaching such a student.
However, I feel a bit uneasy about a recent study that promotes conversation via Twitter between shy student and their teacher.
The Courier-Mail reports new research from Southern Cross University has found strong benefits for the use of Twitter by students too embarrassed or uncomfortable to ask teachers questions in the time-honoured raised-hand method.
Southern Cross business lecturer Jeremy Novak, along with Central Queensland University’s Dr Michael Cowling, studied the use of Twitter among university students as a method for asking questions and gaining feedback without having to stand the stares and scrutiny of fellow students.
The positive feedback from students, particularly international students, has convinced the research team the use of Twitter technology could also be embraced by classrooms at high school and even primary school level.
In my opinion, shyness is not a genetic disease or impenetrable condition. To me, shyness is a result of a lack of self-esteem. Shy children act that way because they don’t feel valued. Instead, they feel judged, ostracised or labelled.
A teacher can do one of two things. They can either enable the shy student by using Twitter, or they can actually attempt to help that student find their feet and feel good about themselves.
“But who has the time for that? We have the curriculum to cover!”
This line sums up my frustrations with current educational thinking (as perpetuated through teacher training programs). In my opinion, it is every bit as important for a teacher to assist their students in matters of self-confidence as it is for them to teach them the curriculum. In fact, I would suggest that it is more important. Facts are learnt and forgotten. The average person on the street has long forgotten calculus and how many chemical elements make up the periodic table. What they wouldn’t have forgotten is how they were treated and how their experiences at school have changed them for the better or worse.
Why placate a shy person when you can change a shy person? Why play the game when you can show them that they have a voice and it’s special and unique and something to be proud of.
And besides, receiving Tweets in class is so unprofessional.What, am I supposed to stop my class so I can check my phone for a Tweet?
Trust me, as good a feeling as it is to teach children new skills or concepts, helping a child discover that they are important and that their thoughts and opinions matter is so much more rewarding.
Tags:Central Queensland University, Child Welfare, Children, Dr Michael Cowling, Education, facebook, Generation Y, Jeremy Novak, kids, life, News, Parenting, primary school, Shyness, social media, Southern Cross University, Teachers, Twitter
Posted in Child Welfare, Social Media | 9 Comments »
January 9, 2012
People who draw attention the benefits of teacher/student Facebook communication miss the point. There is no doubt that there are some fantastic innovations through social media that would allow teachers to respond to the educational needs of their students. But all benefits go out the window when one considers the dangers.
High school teacher Jennifer Kennedy has a prepared response for students who send her “friend” requests on Facebook.
No. Or, at least not until they graduate.
It’s a rule she said she shares with fellow teachers at Sacramento New Technology High School.
Increasingly, school district officials across the region and throughout the country are coming up with their own guidelines for what kind of online and electronic communication is acceptable between teachers and students.
Is it OK to be Facebook friends?
What about direct messages on Twitter?
Or text messaging from personal cellphones?
“We have a generation of kids who communicate this way,” said Kennedy, who teaches sophomores and seniors. “If you say absolutely no Facebook or texting, you are cutting off an important relationship with students.”
In districts with policies against such behavior, officials have said social media sites blur the line between the professional and private lives of teachers. And then there are the rare but widely reported allegations of abuse initiated or intensified through social media.
These allegations of abuse spoil any chance teachers and students have of communicating via social media sites. Perhaps this if for the best.
What is your opinion on this issue?
Tags:Cell Phones, Communication, Education, facebook, friend, Jennifer Kennedy, life, News, Parenting, Sacramento New Technology High School, social media, Students, Teachers, Technology in the Classroom, Twitter
Posted in Social Media, Technology in the Classroom | 8 Comments »
December 31, 2011
Perhaps there should be a crime against stupidity. If there was, I would hope parents would be intelligent enough to think twice before injecting their disturbing sense of humours on the rest of us. To some, taping your children up and photographing them suspended on a weights machine is hilarious. To me it’s downright sick.
An Arizona couple remained in custody Saturday morning after police said they duct taped the wrists, ankles and mouths of their two children and posted the photos on Facebook.
The children in the photo were a 2-year-old boy and a 10-month old girl, according to a Coconino County Sheriff’s incident report. One showed the boy hanging upside down by his ankles from a weight machine.
A friend who saw the photos called the state child abuse hotline Wednesday, prompting the sheriff’s office to arrest the parents, Frankie Almuina, 20, and Kayla Almuina, 19.
The mother told investigators the photos were “all in fun” and that the children were unharmed and were smiling afterward.
She also showed the reporting officer, Sgt. Michael Curtis, several other photographs on her cell phone that showed the little girl similarly bound.
“They indicated they did this as a joke,” county Sheriff’s Commander Rex Gilliland told CNN affiliate KTVK. “But there was fear on the children’s faces in the pictures.”
“I don’t know how anybody can rationalize taping a child’s mouth and then binding their hands and feet,” he added.
Police would not release the photos, saying they were too disturbing.
In her Facebook page, Kayla Almuina describes herself as a “stay and home mommy and wife” and jokes she studied at “harvard :)! jk.”
She told investigators that the reason the girl was appeared to be crying in the cell phone photos was because she had received some shots that day.
Authorities placed the children in the custody of their grandparents.
The parents, charged with two counts of child abuse each, remain in jail with bond for each set around $25,000.
Last week, a 21-year-old Chicago man was charged with aggravated domestic battery after he posted a picture of his 22-month-old daughter bound with painter’s tape across her mouth, her wrists and ankles.
The caption on the Facebook photo read:
“This is wut happens wen my baby hits me back. ; ).”
No, this is what happens when collecting “likes” and “shares” becomes more important than being responsible parents!
Tags:Arizona, Children, Coconino County, facebook, Frankie Almuina, Kayla Almuina, Parenting, Rex Gilliland, social media
Posted in Parenting, Social Media | Leave a Comment »
December 24, 2011
Some teachers must live under a rock. The only thing worse than calling your students names is calling your students names on Facebook. Any teacher found to be insulting their students on Facebook deserve what is coming to them.
Two teachers have quit after staff allegedly called pupils “thick” on Facebook.
Headmistress Debbie Johnson and teacher Nyanza Roberts resigned when comments were printed off and stuck up near the school they worked at.
Teacher Stuart Clark sparked the tirade after he declared he was “fed up of bumping into pupils in town”.
Nyanza Roberts replies: “By town, do you mean top end of holderness road? That’s bout as far anyone goes. No wonder everyone is thick..
“Inbreeding must damage brain development.”
Head Debbie Johnson jumps in and says: “You’re really on one today mrs… !! Xx.”
Colleague Jane Johnson posted: “Massive queue of year 5/6 kids in poundland! x”
Parents found out about the conversation by staff at Westcott Primary School in east Hull when copies were attached to fences in the streets surrounding the building.
Mary Wallace, chairwoman of governors at Westcott Primary School in Hull, said the two had “decided to relinquish their posts”.
Hull city council added: “We’re supporting the school and will focus on ensuring children get the best possible standards of education.”
There are thick people in this incident, but they are not the students.
Tags:Debbie Johnson, Education, facebook, Jane Johnson, life, News, Nyanza Roberts, Parenting, professional conduct, School, social media, Stuart Clark, Teachers, Westcott Primary School
Posted in Professional Conduct, Social Media | Leave a Comment »
December 19, 2011
The very worst teachers usually spoil it for the rest of us. A prime example is social media. Social media is designed to aid communication and make interacting much easier. However, it can also be exploited and abused. Never a day passes where there isn’t a story about a teacher that acted innapropriately by saying or doing something on a social media site. These teachers have single handedly prevented other teachers from using these sites to help support their students.
My colleagues and I recieved an email from my boss a few moths ago, warning us not to have any communication with or about our students on Facebook. This is not an issue for me because I don’t have a Facebook page (I have a Twitter account but my students are unaware that I do). But the trend is clear. Schools don’t want their teachers in a position that could cause negative attention to their establishment.
My position on this is unclear. I am slighly leaning towards backing the school, as I am not fully aware of the benefits of Facebook for teachers and students. Whilst I can clearly see the disadvantages of such interactions, I don’t really understand how such a ban would effect the quality of teaching.
Clearly, there are teachers that swear by it:
Faced with scandals and complaints involving teachers who misuse social media, school districts across the country are imposing strict new guidelines that ban private conversations between teachers and their students on cellphones and online platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
The policies come as educators deal with a wide range of new problems. Some teachers have set poor examples by posting lurid comments or photographs involving sex or alcohol on social media sites. Some have had inappropriate contact with students that blur the teacher-student boundary. In extreme cases, teachers and coaches have been jailed on sexual abuse and assault charges after having relationships with students that, law enforcement officials say, began with electronic communication.
But the stricter guidelines are meeting resistance from some teachers because of the increasing importance of technology as a teaching tool and of using social media to engage with students. In Missouri, the state teachers union, citing free speech, persuaded a judge that a new law imposing a statewide ban on electronic communication between teachers and students was unconstitutional. Lawmakers revamped the bill this fall, dropping the ban but directing school boards to develop their own social media policies by March 1.
School administrators acknowledge that the vast majority of teachers use social media appropriately. But they also say they are increasingly finding compelling reasons to limit teacher-student contact. School boards in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia have updated or are revising their social media policies this fall.
To those that have used social media with their students – is it really worth the risk?
Tags:cellphones, Charol Shakeshaft, Department of Educational Leadership, Education, facebook, Jennifer Pust, Lewis Holloway, Parenting, policies, social media, Teachers, Twitter
Posted in Social Media | Leave a Comment »
December 8, 2011
The teacher who swapped the word “gay”with “bright” so that her class wouldn’t giggle during their rendition of “Deck the Halls” was always going to draw the ire of at least one parents. As much as she may have made the change with the best of intentions, I am sure if she had her time over, she wouldn’t have fiddled with the lyrics:
A Michigan teacher chose to censor the word ‘gay’ from the festive holiday tune ‘Deck the Halls’ and was met by a frosty response from parents.
Parents thought the Cherry Knoll teacher had been naughty and not so nice when the elementary instructor replaced ‘gay’ with ‘bright’ after her students wouldn’t stop laughing when they sang the word.
They took to the school’s Facebook page ranting about the teacher’s decision to change that word in the traditional holiday carol.
Cherry Knoll principal Chris Parker told 7&4 News in Traverse City that he was disappointed the music teacher decided to change the lyrics, saying she could have used the moment for a learning opportunity on tolerance.
‘This would have been a great opportunity to teach that “gay” has more than one meaning and is not a bad word,’ he said.
Enraged parents took to the school’s Facebook page, which has since been disabled, to voice their complaints over the word-swap.
A teacher’s poor choice is not the real story here. The real story is the way the parents handled the situation. Instead of confronting the school or teacher with their displeasure, they did what many parents are now choosing to do, and turned their disapproval into a large-scale Facebook campaign.
I have no doubt that a few quiet phone calls from concerned parents would have been sufficient to provoke this teacher to revert back to the original lyrics and make a profuse apology to all offended. Instead, this teacher had to contend with a barrage of negative comments on Facebook, and now, worldwide media coverage.
This sends a shocking message. It says that whenever parents are upset over the actions of a classroom teacher they can turn to Facebook for a fully fledged smear campaign. This amounts to bullying of the worse kind.
Teachers make mistakes. Some small, some huge. But no well-meaning teacher deserves to be pillaged on Facebook – ever!
Tags:Bullying, Carols, Cherry Knoll, Chris Parker, Christmas, Deck the Halls, Dr Jane Mohr, Education, facebook, Gay, Lyrics, Michigan, Music, News, social media, Teacher Welfare
Posted in Social Media, Teacher Welfare | 2 Comments »
November 24, 2011
Last month I wrote the following comment about the lunacy of putting naive children on child pornography charges:
The same laws that seek to protect children are being severely undermined by a total lack of common sense.
Australia has a sexual offender registry which was designed to assist the government authorities to keep track of the residence and activities of sex offenders. You don’t have to be Einstein to realise that being on that list is detrimental to that person’s ability to get a job, loan, sense of freedom and quality of life.
The registry is a vital tool in dealing with pedophiles. That is why I was astounded to read that children caught ‘sexting’ photos of themselves or friends have been put on this very list.
Two days ago I spoke against the “Sneaky Hat” craze. “Sneaky Hat” refers to teenagers posting half-naked pictures of themselves with a hat covering their genitals. As much I find this fad quite unpleasant and potentially dangerous, I would be very disappointed if the teenage founders of this craze to face child pornography charges:
Police are investigating a Facebook craze that originated in Queensland encouraging teenagers to post pictures of themsleves nude on the internet.
The Queensland teenagers behind the new Facebook craze “Sneaky Hat” and contributors to the website could face child pornography charges, a cyber safety expert says.
The craze involves young people posting naked pictures of themselves with a hat covering their genitals and/or breasts, and has spawned similar social media pages, websites and Youtube videos.
The original page was started by 15-year-old students from Dalby, Queensland “for a laugh” but quickly attracted about 100 photos of their friends in the “Sneaky Hat” pose — and more than 10,000 followers.
“We just thought it was funny, but after a while it started like getting wild, out of control,” the Sneaky Hat website’s founder told ninemsn.
“There were all these people who were posting naked pictures and stuff.”
“My mum saw it, she knew and just thought it was funny.”
Police have now requested the images and Youtube videos created by the students.
Cyber safety expert Susan McLean, formerly of the Victoria Police cyber safety project, said the page was infamous around the world and that “any pedophile worth his salt” would be saving the pictures for their own purposes.
“I would question the brain matter of these parents,” McLean said. “That it is just for fun or between friends is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard.”
“This is a form of child pornography and they need to realise that the law applies to teenagers just as much as anyone else.
Well if that is the case, change the law! It is just plain senseless to ruin the life of silly immature teens by charging them with an offence intended for paedophiles. This isn’t just dumb. By bunching young, stupid teenagers with sick, evil paedophiles, we completely undermine the significance of being on the sex registry.
Tags:Cyber Safety, Education, facebook, Greg Dickman, Law, Parenting, pornography, Queensland, Sneaky Hat, Sneaky Hat Brisbane, social media, Susan Mclean, Victoria Police, YouTube
Posted in Social Media | 4 Comments »
November 12, 2011
There will be many supporters of the concept of online classrooms. People will see it as cheap, engaging and an opportunity for children who haven’t been able to acclimatise to the classroom to find a workable alternative.
But do we really want our children living through their computers? Is real human interaction being permanently dismantled in favour of communication via the computer screen?
The online classroom takes the social media age a step further:
In a radical rethinking of what it means to go to school, states and districts nationwide are launching online public schools that let students from kindergarten to 12th grade take some—or all—of their classes from their bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens. Other states and districts are bringing students into brick-and-mortar schools for instruction that is largely computer-based and self-directed.
In just the past few months, Virginia has authorized 13 new online schools. Florida began requiring all public-high-school students to take at least one class online, partly to prepare them for college cybercourses. Idaho soon will require two. In Georgia, a new app lets high-school students take full course loads on their iPhones and BlackBerrys. Thirty states now let students take all of their courses online.
Nationwide, an estimated 250,000 students are enrolled in full-time virtual schools, up 40% in the last three years, according to Evergreen Education Group, a consulting firm that works with online schools. More than two million pupils take at least one class online, according to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, a trade group.
It’s all part of a burst of experimentation in public education, fueled in part by mounting budgetary pressures, by parental dissatisfaction with their kids’ schools and by the failure of even top-performing students to keep up with their peers in other industrialized countries. In the nation’s largest cities, half of all high-school students will never graduate.
Advocates say that online schooling can save states money, offer curricula customized to each student and give parents more choice in education.
In my opinion, some of the biggest advantages of the conventional school system is that it provides children with the exposure to help, guidance, leadership opportunities, social interactions and a taste of the challenges that they will meet in the real world.
None of these advantages are addressed by a i-Pad.
Tags:BlackBerrys, Child Development, cybercourses, Education, Engaging Students, iPhones, Online Education, Parenting, Rocketship Education, social media, technology, Technology in the Classroom, vergreen Education Group, Virtual Classrooms
Posted in Social Media, Technology in the Classroom | 3 Comments »
November 2, 2011
To those parents who are contemplating assisting their underage children to get on Facebook, I strongly suggest you reconsider. The age requirements for Facebook is necessary, as Facebook has a clear downside. From cybersafety issues to cyberbullying, Facebook is clearly not designed for pre-teens.
Almost all parents of ten-year-olds signing up for the site – 95 percent – were aware of what their children were doing, and 78 percent of those helped them do it.
“Although many sites restrict access to children, our data show that many parents knowingly allow their children to lie about their age — in fact, often help them to do so — in order to gain access to age–restricted sites in violation of those sites’ ToS,” the authors write.
“This is especially true for general–audience social media sites and communication services such as Facebook, Gmail, and Skype, which allow children to connect with peers, classmates, and family members for educational, social, or familial reasons.”
The survey found that 55 percent of 12-year-olds, 32 percent of 11-year-olds and 19 percent of 10-year-olds were active Facebook members.
The authors suggest that the COPPA rules may need re-examination, given that they appear only to be encouraging parents to lie. Universal, rather than age-based, privacy protecitons might make more sense, they say.
The full report is here.
Tags:Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Children, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, COPPA, Cyberbullying, Cybersafety, facebook, kids, Lie, lying, Mozelle Thompson, Parenting, social media, Survey, Underage, Why Parents Help Their Children Lie to Facebook About Age
Posted in Social Media | 1 Comment »
October 26, 2011
We all love our internet connections and mobile phones and would find it extremely difficult to live without them. However, addictions are still addictions, and there is no doubt that our children have grown a deep addiction to the internet. So bad is the problem, that children have become more addicted to the internet than to TV:
Just 18% of children would miss TV most, compared to mobile (28%) and Internet (25%), finds Ofcom research
A new research by communications watchdog Ofcom has revealed that more young British teenagers can do without TV but not without mobile and the Internet.
Ofcom research found that just 18% of children aged 12 to 15 would miss TV most, compared to mobile (28%) and the Internet (25%). However, the research suggests that the teenagers are also watching more TV than ever before, with viewing figures increasing by 2 hours since 2007.
In 2010, children aged 4-15 watched an average of 17 hours and 34 minutes of TV per week, compared with 15 hours and 37 minutes in 2007. Nearly one third (31%) of children aged 5-15 who use the Internet are watching TV via an online catch-up service such as the BBC iPlayer or ITV Player, said Ofcom.
Ofcom’s research said that 95% of 12-15 year olds now have Internet access at home through a PC or laptop, up from 89% in 2010 and 77% in 2007.
Social networking is still one of the most popular uses of the Internet amongst 12-15s. Ofcom said that children are visiting social network sites more often on their mobiles. Half (50%) of 12-15s with a smartphone visit them weekly compared with 33% in 2010.
Children aged between 8-11 are more likely to use Internet for gaming, with 51% saying they play games online on a weekly basis, up from 44% in 2010. 8-11s are also spending more time playing on games players/ consoles compared with 2010 (9 hours 48 minutes – an increase of nearly 2 hours), said Ofcom.
In my school days television addiction was a problem. Now we have another addiction which comes with the same side-effects. It creates tired students who have been up so late they can’t concentrate. It has compromised our children’s capacity to have healthy social interaction. Playing with a friend has now become messaging a friend. It’s just not the same.
As soon as people go from the moderate to the obsessive, they lose control of themselves. Children today are certainly showing the signs of a lack of control, to the point where they are smuggling mobiles in their bags so they can reply to Facebook messages as soon as they receive them.
Kids require rules for their internet usage. Rules that outline when, how and where they can use it.
Tags:Addiction, Children, Ed Richards, Education, facebook, Friends, Gaming, Health, Internet, kids, Mobile Phones, Ofcom, Parenting, social media, technology, Teenagers, tv
Posted in Social Media, Technology | 1 Comment »
Topical Teaching 