Alec,
I finally recognized your name from your blog - it's on my reading list.
I know how your student feels, I got to that point myself. I realized that one can only handle a few blogs at a time. I've learned to schedule time to check my reader, use Suprglu and Pageflakes. I'm now looking at Google homepage and using google Notebook to try to limit the number of tools that I have since I have way too many tools that I am trying. I've come to a point where I need to make some decisions and just go with what I have.
I have reduced my blogs from 7 to 4 which is pretty good. One is a professional one www.kwhobbes.edublogs.org and the other 3 are for specific information - school, family and pd type discussions. I've also decide that this will be my last online discussion for awhile as one can get overzealous with all that is available.
I believe that is one area that we, as teachers and schools, will need to look at in greater detail - use of time/time management. With the explosion of technology, we are noticing that it is affecting some of our students as they get caught up in its use and are not spending time sleeping or working. We've even had parents consult with us regarding the impact that it is having on their children. Heck, as an adult, I really must watch myself as I can easily get lost in the WoW or SL for hours. Sometimes it's more than blogged out - it's technology used out.
From your student's view, sounds like everyone has jumped on the blog bandwagon without truly doing the work to see how it works with their course. How often have we seen that happen? (powerpoint presentations anyone!) Thanks for the reminder that we have to be judicious with the use of any tool.
Kelly Christopherson
Posts made by Kelly Christopherson
Richard,
The blogs we use for students identify them with their initials. They are told not to write their names on the blog and, because I see each blog before posting, I ensure that no personal information is used. Now, I do teach this in the class and I repeat it quite often. However, having seen some of the students MySpace accounts, one can see that what we do at school is not tranferred - it is quite startling how many people give out their personal information on these sites. With saying this, I also realize that many young adults also do this - maybe it's a case that we are seeing a shift in how people relate to one another with a more global perspective. I guess we'll see where this will take us.
The blogs we use for students identify them with their initials. They are told not to write their names on the blog and, because I see each blog before posting, I ensure that no personal information is used. Now, I do teach this in the class and I repeat it quite often. However, having seen some of the students MySpace accounts, one can see that what we do at school is not tranferred - it is quite startling how many people give out their personal information on these sites. With saying this, I also realize that many young adults also do this - maybe it's a case that we are seeing a shift in how people relate to one another with a more global perspective. I guess we'll see where this will take us.
Again, I partially agree with you. We already know that people are doing things on the web and not considering their actions. However, with the advent of video recording, we have seen a number of highprofile people who have been put in rather negative situations because they were recorded on video, without their knowledge. With that being the case, you can still find yourself in trouble, much like the beauty queen contestants, without even going to the web. I also had a prof who was very similiar to yours when I took a poetry appreciation class and many of our students will run into situations when they have to decide how to handle a situation that is rather questionable. It won't matter if it is a prof or an employer or some person videotaping private moments, it is important that we understand that "privacy" is a very loose term these days and all people, myself included, must be aware of our actions.
I don't know if all people on this forum understand how to self-censor or if they carefully consider their assignments. I do know that it really doesn't matter if it is on a blog, shot with a camera-phone, recorded with a digital recorder or video taped, there is no guarantee that your past won't come back to bite you. Like the johns who are caught on video and in pictures, their actions are used without their knowledge or their consent. Is it right? Eventually we will need to answer that question as a society. When is it okay to look at past personal incidents in order to inform a present decision? We do it quite regularly now - especially when we can watch someone in power or in a high position fall from grace. Maybe, with the use of blogs, there will be a realization by the average person that there are things that need to be private and past digressions don't necessarily reflect the present situation. Then again maybe not. So, don't use blogs or wikis. You haven't actually removed the threat of having past events being used against people. Heck, from what I've seen with the videos and pictures from porn advertisements, the blogs and wikis are the least of people's worries. Really, the ads on tv are just as bad. I really don't know if a blog entry 20 years from now will be any more or less damaging than a video, picture or some other artifact that may get posted, without the person's knowledge. Heck, we can now have things made up so you actually don't have to do anything and still be put in a compromising position. Hopefully, grade school children of today will not be judged by their work 20 years from now as they make their way into the world workforce. Of course, they might but maybe we can worry about that bridge when we get there.
I don't know if all people on this forum understand how to self-censor or if they carefully consider their assignments. I do know that it really doesn't matter if it is on a blog, shot with a camera-phone, recorded with a digital recorder or video taped, there is no guarantee that your past won't come back to bite you. Like the johns who are caught on video and in pictures, their actions are used without their knowledge or their consent. Is it right? Eventually we will need to answer that question as a society. When is it okay to look at past personal incidents in order to inform a present decision? We do it quite regularly now - especially when we can watch someone in power or in a high position fall from grace. Maybe, with the use of blogs, there will be a realization by the average person that there are things that need to be private and past digressions don't necessarily reflect the present situation. Then again maybe not. So, don't use blogs or wikis. You haven't actually removed the threat of having past events being used against people. Heck, from what I've seen with the videos and pictures from porn advertisements, the blogs and wikis are the least of people's worries. Really, the ads on tv are just as bad. I really don't know if a blog entry 20 years from now will be any more or less damaging than a video, picture or some other artifact that may get posted, without the person's knowledge. Heck, we can now have things made up so you actually don't have to do anything and still be put in a compromising position. Hopefully, grade school children of today will not be judged by their work 20 years from now as they make their way into the world workforce. Of course, they might but maybe we can worry about that bridge when we get there.
As an administrator, I think we have an obligation to teach students about the implications of what they do now and the impact that it may have on the future. Kind of like getting a tatoo of a Marjiuana plant on your arm when you are 2? and then trying to tell your kids to stay away from drugs when they are in their teens. However, having said that, I often think that if we become overly cautious, we won't do anything and it will be the sameold, sameold. It also depends what we want for the students. Do we want understanding of critical issues to be discussed in a context of large audience or just one-to-one or small group? What is the purpose of school? Why do we have schools? What do we expect from schools?
As a blogger, adult learner, administrator and father, I know that once anything is written, it can last forever. Heck, my mom just gave me something I wrote in highschool that is 20ish years old. It was very interesting to read, to see where I was and how my thoughts and ideas had changed but how some of them were still the same. I've kept it and read it with my kids. I guess, anything we do could potentially cause us problems in our future endeavours - like telling off a director/superintendent - that has some long term affects! We've also seen two beauty pageant queens get into trouble from videos of them during college. Yes, the past can really come back to bite us.
So we need to educate and use the tools that students have available, teaching them to be responsible citizens, guiding them while also understanding that they are children and will make mistakes. When does that no longer hold water? Depends what you do. For beauty queens, high school. For people involved in various trades, maybe never. It is very difficult to teach children the right and wrong way to do things by just telling them. Like driving a car. We tell them in drivers ed class but we also guide them through practice driving and other stipulations. We usually don't just say, "Hey, you're sixteen, go hard!" and turn them loose.
I work from a positive/proactive vision of where we are going. Things will go wrong, sure, but we can and will be able to deal with it. How will all this pan out in the future? NO CLUE! Will those people doing wild things on YouTube and MySpace regret their actions? For sure some will. Do I regret some of my actions of youth? Sure do. Will it cost them? Yep, for sure. Did it cost me? Sure did, but I learned great things from those mistakes and work to improve what I do and who I am because of them. Blog or no blog, people will say and do things that will affect them later on in ways they cannot imagine. Teaching students to be responsible users will be a beginning step to reducing those who do such things.
As a blogger, adult learner, administrator and father, I know that once anything is written, it can last forever. Heck, my mom just gave me something I wrote in highschool that is 20ish years old. It was very interesting to read, to see where I was and how my thoughts and ideas had changed but how some of them were still the same. I've kept it and read it with my kids. I guess, anything we do could potentially cause us problems in our future endeavours - like telling off a director/superintendent - that has some long term affects! We've also seen two beauty pageant queens get into trouble from videos of them during college. Yes, the past can really come back to bite us.
So we need to educate and use the tools that students have available, teaching them to be responsible citizens, guiding them while also understanding that they are children and will make mistakes. When does that no longer hold water? Depends what you do. For beauty queens, high school. For people involved in various trades, maybe never. It is very difficult to teach children the right and wrong way to do things by just telling them. Like driving a car. We tell them in drivers ed class but we also guide them through practice driving and other stipulations. We usually don't just say, "Hey, you're sixteen, go hard!" and turn them loose.
I work from a positive/proactive vision of where we are going. Things will go wrong, sure, but we can and will be able to deal with it. How will all this pan out in the future? NO CLUE! Will those people doing wild things on YouTube and MySpace regret their actions? For sure some will. Do I regret some of my actions of youth? Sure do. Will it cost them? Yep, for sure. Did it cost me? Sure did, but I learned great things from those mistakes and work to improve what I do and who I am because of them. Blog or no blog, people will say and do things that will affect them later on in ways they cannot imagine. Teaching students to be responsible users will be a beginning step to reducing those who do such things.
Very interesting little debate that goes on. To answer your first question - To what extent should we be controlling such output? Depends on the context. In this situation, in a university where debate is healthy and people must learn to differentiate between debate, issues, personal slander and other such things, I don't think there is a need to wade in. However, in a grade school or high school, I wouldn't have let it get past page one! There are too many other variables that would infect what was happening. In a business environment, I'd stop it cold. It isn't contributing to the overall productivity of the business so it would need to stop. Out in "cyber space" - in, let's say, a community like found at MySpace or other places - it would probably be up to the person who is the monitor/owner. For most of them, there is a code-of-conduct that is used to establish what is allowed and what is not allowed, much like YouTube.
For question two - how do we draw the line for what might be academically or ethically acceptable? I believe that this involves the social norms and culture in which you live. What might be acceptable in one space will not be in another. In this little debate, it might have been useful to suggest that all posts that have adult content have a delay similar to that found in MySpace or YouTube. That way, the images would not pop up immediately. It would not silence anyone but would allow people to make their own choice over the content. In another context, the examples in the world community of the comics of the Islamic prophet Mohammed demonstrated how what one group finds acceptable another does not and the reaction that ensues establishes the point of acceptability. In another context, we continue to debate such things as abortion, same-sex marriages and stem-cell research and, as the social context changes, so does the reaction. How do we draw the line? Very carefully!
For question two - how do we draw the line for what might be academically or ethically acceptable? I believe that this involves the social norms and culture in which you live. What might be acceptable in one space will not be in another. In this little debate, it might have been useful to suggest that all posts that have adult content have a delay similar to that found in MySpace or YouTube. That way, the images would not pop up immediately. It would not silence anyone but would allow people to make their own choice over the content. In another context, the examples in the world community of the comics of the Islamic prophet Mohammed demonstrated how what one group finds acceptable another does not and the reaction that ensues establishes the point of acceptability. In another context, we continue to debate such things as abortion, same-sex marriages and stem-cell research and, as the social context changes, so does the reaction. How do we draw the line? Very carefully!