Here is what our focus is for Week Two:
Educational use of social media
(Starting Monday Nov 19 - Wrap-up Sunday Nov 25)
We will look at:
This week's elluminate session will look at 'tagging' but not the graffiti kind (for all you hip educators out there).
I wanted to commence this week with two cautionary tales from my daily newspaper which highlights the plight of young people using the net for social purposes. Whilst these stories are not unique, they indicate the tip of a growing iceberg. I wonder how many other stories are happening today just like them and how the guardians of young people can act to limit the opportunity for such tragic outcomes:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=494906&in_page_id=1770
These incidences should bring home to us the necessity of configuring very clear guidelines of internet engagement. It's not a 'free for all' and is clearly a highly dangerous opportunity that permits strangers direct access to the young and vulnerable. Just as Teen Second Life has a very stringent policy that gatekeeps that environment, we are duty bound to inform and guide activity on the web.
David,
Isnt it a fabulous resource. I don't know about 21st Century learning in other countries.. I shall scout about and see.
Tia
Internet Safety for Teachers and Students
From the experience gained in many years of working with the use of the Internet in education CIESE has come to the realization that it is important to balance protecting students with the need to utilize the technology to its full potential. For these reasons, rather than advocating policies that completely restrict students and teachers in regards to the content of their web sites, we advocate the following:
Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) - These are basically "contracts" that outline how students can use the technology, what they cannot do with it and the consequences for violating the policy. These should include school web pages and the content that is allowed on them. AUPs should be signed by an authorized representative of the school, students and parents so that all concerned parties are aware of the policy.
No Student Names - We recommend that when referring to students on a web page that either their names not be used or only their first names be posted. Some schools have found the use of "nicknames" to be an effective way of dealing with this issue.
Student Pictures - Although we do encourage the posting of student work that may include student pictures, we strongly encourage teachers to get written permission to post student pictures and work before placing it onto the web. We have found that most schools already have such permission slips for use when student pictures are placed in newspapers. These can often be re-worded to cover the issue of posting to the web.
School or Classroom Web Pages - It is important that teachers and students recognize that a web site that refers to their school or district represents them in cyberspace just as a school newsletter or yearbook represents the school in their community. Because of this they need to respect the interests of the schools system and post only appropriate materials to the web site. What is "appropriate" regarding content should be clearly defined in the schools AUP .
http://www.k12science.org/about.html
There are lots of “rules” on how kids and parents can be use the Internet but the most important rule is that parents and kids agree to a set of criteria. Here, based on “
http://safekids.com/family-contract-for-online-safety/
http://www.socratesinstitute.org/curriculum/cyberethics.html
"The technology that has so dramatically changed the world outside our schools is now changing the learning and teaching environment within them.” - National Education Technology Plan for the U.S. Department of Education
This site is designed to show educators and administrators how to use NetSmartz interactive materials in their classrooms, accumulate more information about Internet safety and technology, and take steps to bring their classrooms into the 21st century.Educators can draw inspiration for their own 'Safety Online' Chart from these sites:
http://www.getsafeonline.org/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1
Kids Rules for Online Safety” and “Guidelines for Parents” are two pledges that kids and parents can take.http://technologyactivelearning.pbwiki.com/
http://technologyactivelearning.pbwiki.com/Images-of-Active-Learning
Diedre's representation of how it can be done.