Written by The web started in 1974 and took a decade to spread after that, so effectively we‘ve only been online about 25 years. How did we survive all that time without it? Yes, that’s how vital it’s become to most people’s lives, including me! In terms of it’s significance it pretty much blows everything else out the water, TV & radio- definitely, what about fire or the wheel?
Since I first got online in the early 90′s, it’s growth and my use of it has increased enormously. A brief review of how I/most people use it now days, both professionally & personally, quickly reveals how essential it has become; banking, booking flights & hotels, communication (with absolutely everybody!), maps, news, music, podcasts, chess, you tube, applications for lessons, blogging, the list goes on and on. If you just stop and think for a moment about what fantastic programs are available for free, take skype for example, and how it all works, it’s either a 1 or a 0 right, it a miracle isn’t it? Well very close anyway as this site explains all aspects of it.
Web Connections
Course 2 Final Project – A look at the AUP
Three ISB High School teachers from different departments, Richard Harvey (social studies), Neil Lewin (science) and Dan Bentley (math) collaborated, around a few cups of Italian coffee to review ISB’s existing AUP (Acceptable Use Policy document is embedded at bottom of post) and bring it up to date with the most recent thinking around course 2′s enduring understandings, and modifying it in anticipation of the school 2012-13 1:1 lap-top roll out.
As we worked through the document we discovered it to be thorough and succinct. We did however, isolated a few areas that may need some revision or elaboration. They can be found here. We chose to link to this rather than to embed it in order to preserve our general and specific comments highlighted from the existing text. We encourage readers to follow the link and add to our comment thread either the general comments on the top right of the Doc. or the specific comments throughout the body of the AUP itself.
Our discussion kept turning to the implementation and communication of this document rather than its contents. The three of us are are in our first year of working at ISB and at no time had we been specifically made aware of this AUP. Other than an older version which had been printed into our HS student handbook (which we, of course have committed to memory). Had it not been for our participation in this COETAIL program it would have been completely off our radar. We felt this needed to be a much more visible and a living document in our HS community. The following are ideas about the issues involved in the successful implementation of the AUP at ISB.
- Should the AUP be K-12 or division specific?
We thought that the document was broad enough to cover the required elements across the various divisions of the school, however there would be specific elements in terms of delivery of the AUP which would relate more to specific levels.
- Should it be given more importance?
Perhaps part of the school’s mission statement or definition of learning? Or does it fall under the umbrella of something that is already contained in these documents?
- How is the AUP seen and interpreted by students, parents, teachers?
As a policy document we felt it gave administration, teachers and parents some good guidelines and saw the relevance of its publication in the student handbook, however as a working document for students we felt it was a little vague and gave them a lot of “wiggle room’ on certain issues. This is one of the main reasons we began looking at the implementation of the AUP rather than a review of the document. See below for recommendations. As discussed above we also felt that there was very little staff knowledge about the document.
- How is the AUP implemented?
All at once or when needed in context of assignment or topic?
Methods and recommendations for the implementation of the AUP at ISB
- An ISB Responsible Digital Citizenship course is run during flextimes, student would be expected to sign up and attend these course, maybe 3 early in the year for grade 9 & 11. It should be led by IT teachers for accuracy and consistency. This could act as a “drivers ed. course” in order to get your school issued laptop.
- An alternative could be an online module course (similar to the Google apps-ninja course) where students complete a short online quiz and/or write a reflective blog post. A simple Pass/Fail or 8/10 or greater on a quiz to enable them to use a school laptop will ensure this is completed. This idea would work well for students who join ISB in later grades and have not come up through our system. We are assuming here that the current AUP is more embedded into teaching and learning in the elementary and middle school and students who have not gone through our system do not have the same digital citizenship skills.
- To supplement these courses the ideas should be delivered in context. A model for this could be for each department to pick one aspect and develop ideas on how it can be incorporated – it can be kept brief. It would need to be coordinated by the IT department to ensure coverage and ensure accuracy but it has the added advantage of educating staff. Each year a different aspect could be covered.
- Teachers need to be made more explicitly aware of the AUP policy and have a greater responsibility for delivering it within their day to day teaching. We noted that this would involve teacher training around these issues.
- We have identified there is something in there about respecting copyright laws, but it is vague and might also need to reflect copy law or lack there of Thailand. Students need more direction on what exactly that means and how to do it in this day and age. We feel explicit training around creative commons is a way of improving this. Currently this does not happen in the high school.
- We acknowledge the openness of the AUP and understand this is necessary in order to allow teacher and/or administrator discretion. However, some of these ideas will need further explanation and assistance in adhering to. eg. anti-viral protection. Refer here to the annotated Google Doc for more on this.
Student Safety & Bullying
- Some rights reserved by Girl With Butterfly Wings
Although my students are all digital natives and I am a digital immigrant I can still teach them to be respectful and ethical digital citizens, one of the best ways to do this is by modelling and highlighting good practice.
Another technological goal I have with my students is rather than let them just consume (which is what 90% of the population do) I try to encourage them to create using technology, for example using measuring devices/probes and programmes to record and present data.
The issue of bullying has always been an unsavory one and difficult to deal with. These days the attention seeking and social power that bullies crave can be achieved through technology particularly for girls where rumors, gossip & intimidation can be spread easily. Boys can use this method but also tend to adopt a more physical approach. I find one of the saddest aspects of bullying is that it is reflective of normative behavior and can develop into future adult behavior. The solution is not easy and multifaceted but some positive directions would be to identify the issues and stop it escalating, build empathy and nurture an environment where this kind of behavior is not validated. A clear written statement of school policy, as always, is a good place to start. Here is the one we have in our AUP at ISB:
Cyber-bullying is not tolerated at ISB.
ISB becomes involved when students’ online activities impact at-school life and community. In other words, if the actions of students outside of school have an effect on students feeling unsafe or uncomfortable at school, then ISB administration will act and remedy this. Additionally, if members of ISB staff or its community are targeted, then the school administration will get involved.
I was very impressed with the comprehensive technology curriculum on the Common Sense Media website. It is aligned with the Digital Citizenship standards of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and runs from K -12 dealing with issues such as digital society, rights & responsibilities, safety & security, etiquette, law & ethics and lifelong learners. Each section has clear targets, teacher notes and a variety of student activities. Well played!
Copyright is right
One must have caution and a sense of responsibility when reusing media, most of us, but not all colleagues I have worked with, appreciate that there is something unethical about photocopying/scanning whole sections from text books and then distributing to students. When using other peoples work I always ask myself the ethical question but how can I be sure I answer it correctly? It is not only students and teachers that can use material unacceptably, as some recent high profile court cases have shown, corporate websites and advertisers are also included. It can quickly become a very complex issue and I note that many of the articles I have read the author states they are not legal experts. Some simple practical guidelines to follow, consistently modeled by staff and students would be a good way to avoid potential issues – an acceptable use policy. For example a basic understanding of the creative common license and how to use and respect it.
Most school IT department’s have filters to stop peer2peer sharing, monitor sites and generally stop malpractices. They will also have personal that can advise teachers or at least point them in the righteous direction. Myself, I will continue to ask ‘the ethical question’ encourage my students to follow the AUP and discuss with colleagues the use of media to get a better understanding of some of the issues.
Privacy online
Some rights reserved by DonkeyHotey
There is some disturbing stuff floating around e space, not least the rate my teacher site, you don’t even need to know the teacher to be able to rate and post a comment! Anyone can post anything about you and where is your comeback? Through the courts, I suppose, if it’s libelous, good luck with that one. It’s banal anyway i.e rate Easiness as bad to great, what on earth does that mean? Fortunately there are too few schools, teachers and comments on the site at the moment to make it anything but dull and boring so I don’t see it catching on in the way facebook did.
Nevertheless the idea behind it is a real professional worry, I am all for accountability and openness but this is a step too far.
Following on from this; there is probably much information on us in cyberspace that we are not aware of or in control of. We may prefer it not to be there but there is little to nothing we can do about it. The recent facebook announcement and subsequent u turn by the company stating they own all pictures uploaded, even on deleted accounts shows the potential sites like this have with your personal information. The message is think before you post, well I have so I will……….
The Pitta Patta of Digital Footprints
In conclusion, it did make me think how important a positive web portfolio could be (I include this blog as one part of that) and also how damaging unsuitable photos and comments could be.Course 1 Lesson Plan – Global Warming
Rather than factually teach and then discuss the possible causes of Global Warming I tried to personalize the issue by getting students to make suggestions about what they could actually do to reduce their global warming footprint.
The previous lesson we watched a video and had some discussion about the issue, they were also required to do some general research and reading at home to have a better grasp of the subject.
When the lesson started they got into pairs and signed into Google Moderator with an anonymous name. They then researched and discussed their ideas in pairs, after this moderation process each students submitted three suggestions including reasons, figures and links. I then selected some of the more interesting ideas and drew out a class discussion.Following this they modified and improved their suggestions and submitted again. We then continued the class discussion and voted on them. The students enjoyed deciding which to vote for and why.
This process also allowed them to feel sacrifices that need to be made whenever decisions are made by the majority and understand why some peoples/countries don’t want to be proactive in addressing the issue.
Using Google moderator really allowed this personalization and majority rule to shine through.
Dan Meyers Talks and so do I
One can not disagree with the benefits of teaching Maths or indeed many subjects the way Dan Meyers preaches in his TED talk. Unfortunately the school reality is that for students to do well in the IB DP they actually requires the very skills that he dismisses as pointless and unrealistic! Occasionally I do believe there is a time and a place for students to perform repetitive drills to cement that knowledge; ie here’s some tricky Physics and associated equations, now use they in these 10 prescribed questions to get to know your way around them. The follow on activity could be an open ended task, but unfortunately the content heavy DP allows very little time for this and does not reward this skill highly anyway. The IA which is the closest task where this could be applying is worth a maximum of 24%. Currently the IB are the only international show in town so they do what they want, a point sadly brought home to me at a recent IB conference when myself and a number of other Physics colleagues presented this very point to the middle aged man in charge of group 4 Sciences. He heard us alright but he wasn’t prepared to listen. What drives his rationale? Here are some suggestions, answers on a postcard to……..
1. He is listening to what the Universities are telling him.
2. Overall/worldwide teachers and schools still see his model as the best/most suitable one.
3. Inertia of the IB, education system in general.
4. Too risky a strategy to change, not prepared to make the change, keep that statue quo and don’t rock the ship IB.
5. He actually believes it is the best, ‘It can’t be bad because that’s the way I learnt and it didn’t do me any harm.
6. Money.
Reflection on MacArthur conclusions
Reading the Macarthur report has given me information and ideas to reflect on technology in our society and schools. There is this rather strange divide between digital immigrants and natives along the lines of age, an integrational wedge exists and I want to be on the technologically competent side this so I can at understand the issues and uses so I can apply these to my students and also to my own children.
Youth is the future it’s shaping the direction we are going. It is important for teachers & parents to understand their relationship with technology so they can offer sensible advice.
Social media has incredible power, as can be seen from the recent Arab uprising, this brings into question safety of postings, who should be monitoring it and how?
Interest driven, peer based learning and assessment is very powerful in the digital age and is a great tool to incorporate in curriculum delivery. I do use this technique but have not used it in a technological sense. It can be difficult to formally assessment however this could happen in the context of the subject matter; sometime to think about.
I have been particularly surprised by a quick poll I conducted with my students about how they feel about using e books, an overwhelming majority opted for hard copies! I think as e books develop and become more interactive this will capture student’s imagination and change their attitudes towards them.
Geeking out
I was reflected on the course so far and thinking how long it’s been that I have wanted to get up a blogging, RSSing & revisit twitter all things I have been encouraged to do in the last 3 weeks so thank you coetail course for making that happen. A key aspect of this enthusiasm and also referred to in the Geeking out article and highlighted by Jeff in his videos and that is the personal interest angle.
When young people are ‘geeking out’ I was struck by their ability and motivation to self learn. It is very difficult and almost always unsuccessful for students to self learn Physics. I believe the difference lies in this personal interest aspect as mentioned above as well as the obvious difference in nature of the subject matter.
A useful feedback tool I use in my classes and it seems when ‘geeking out’ it has even more power is peer feedback. It is interesting how the amateur can help the expert. The geeks appear to crave feedback as a way of getting better, the difference here is the quantity of feedback and its anonymity. The geeks get encouragement and growth from it, both goals I have when using it. I liked the quote that one good comment can outshine many bad ones, as long as someone likes my music I am happy.
The other point I found refreshing was that geeking is all about a desire to produce something/succeed and not driven by money. Nice.
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