Teacher Control of Technology
From Eduwiki
Hugh, Jonathan, Julian, Mike, Angel, Jeff
Freedom is not what it is cracked up to be. The purest form of freedom is just another form of anarchy. Is this what we want for our society?? For our children??
Our side will argue that control is not a bad thing. Would we always say "Yes" to our children (for those who have children), without any limits? If we never say "No" to our children, it will inevitably hurt them in the long run as teenagers and adults. Without any limits on technology, we may hurt the next generation without knowing it.
Freedom has its limits. As adults, we have a responsibility to protect children. The proof lies in the fact that our government regularly creates and attempts to pass legislation to keep our children safe from predators as well as themselves. As teachers, we have an even greater responsibility to protect children and show them proper use of the internet.
Contents |
Responsibility
"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." -George Bernard Shaw
No one here is against student freedom; what we are against is misinformation. Material posted without a clear provenance, without disclosing the bias, without a nod toward their sources, material without any review is material that has limited value. What we argue for is responsible use of the web.
"Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect." -Eleanor Roosevelt
How do we tell the difference between material of value and material that has not been reviewed?
-Cultural norms and controlling freedom-
Freedom is prone to lead to abuse. This truism has a common saying, “Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile.” Maturity (wisdom) needs to be the companion of freedom, or that freedom will lead to abuse. Even the bible warns that freedom lives on the edge of trouble. “..you have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh…” “…as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice…” . In the same way that a parent raises their own children, having safeguards (restrictions) in place when the children are youngest and slowly giving more freedom as responsibility is shown. So as teachers we control the freedoms given to our students as we evaluate the choices the students make with the freedom given. The level of freedom is in the teacher’s control and so it should be until students have reached a maturity to handle the governing of their own education.
wiki- no controls
The Internet is a wonderful thing. Access to information that my parents never imagined possible, but how much is valid and how much is opinion?
As an already overburdened teacher, do you have time to monitor, correct and update the entries of your 150 students?
More Thoughts on Responsible Use of the Wiki
Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia founder) has warned students NOT to refer to Wikipedia, reports the US education weekly The Chronicle.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, passed in 1996, specifically states that "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker." So unlike print and broadcast companies, online service providers cannot be sued for disseminating defamatory attacks on citizens posted by others. Thus, Wikipedia has no real motivation to fact check.
Wikipedia has insufficient safeguards against anyone intent on vandalism.
What Wikipedia has done in response to vandalism of thier pages, is to create a Counter Vandalism Unit/Task Force and they have begun a WikiScanner to address special interest groups making wholesale changes to entries. http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/
Self-Serving edits to Wiki pages include edits from: Diebold, NRA, DOW Chemical, Chevron, Government organizations: U.S. House and Senate, EPA, Democratic and Republican Parties and the CIA.
Research and write about computer access/control by teachers
Software / hardware example to control: Apple Remote Desktop VNC Server side accounts/preference Firewall "Simple Finder" on Macs Open-Firmware
A productive classroom is a working classroom Teachers need to learn to maintain their own computer labs in good working order so that everyone can benefit from instruction. Effort should be made to minimize effects of student errors and to standardize computer systems.
Computer Models
- Standardize computer models to streamline software, driver installations
Secure system settings
- Prevent student user access to system files, control panel to avoid system failures
Limit user accounts
- use limited accounts for students to prevent software installation by student, reducing conflicts
Standardize computer setup, clone
- For large labs this is critical and can save hours on configuration
Software and Network resources
- Network deployment of software is much easier and quicker then individual client installations and are exchangeble
Print server, Document Share
- Students need access to printers and to shared drives for the access and sharing of files
Provide tools to enhance the collaborative learning process, dissolve user-created time-wasting, make student accountable for learning experience.
Teacher control of technology:
Safety: Teacher Bashing
Classroom discipline in the absence of teacher control remains a vexing problem, and teachers now grapple with issues of student access to online pornography, bomb-building instructions, and Internet child predators.
Legal issues Copyright protection Confidentiality protection
Classroom management Computers, Curriculum, and Cultural Change p.137-138)By Eugene F. Provenzo, Arlene Brett, Gary N, McCloskey (ISBN:0805822682)
Preventing Intra-class communication: Technology Smackdown
If the students actually found some creative way to use a cell phone or a BlackBerry in a class demonstration, I’d be all for that...but what I found in most cases is that it was just a fancy new way of passing notes.
Cheating:
- Using cellphones to transmit answers to friends
- Staying on task:
- Computers in schools have the power to enhance the classroom experience for both students and teachers. But the benefits can easily be lost to distractive elements such as games, instant messaging, and web surfing.Empowers teachers with control over classroom technology and student attention
- Fosters cooperative classrooms where learning is achieved through interaction and collaboration.
- Strengthens teaching effectiveness with the ability to monitor student progress
- Ensures students are kept on task and engaged in an environment where technology accelerates their learning experience.
Take Control of the Classroom Technology
Misinformation:
- Wikipedia problems
Wikipedia founder admits to serious quality problems
- Wales was responding to author Nicholas Carr, who in a dazzling post on the transcendent New Age "hive-mind" rhetoric that envelops the "Web 2.0" bubble, took time out to examine the quality of two entries picked at random: Bill Gates and Jane Fonda.
- He wasn't impressed by what he saw. "This is garbage, an incoherent hodge-podge of dubious factoids that adds up to something far less than the sum of its parts," he wrote.
Accountability Software / hardware example to control:
- Apple Remote Desktop VNC Server side accounts/preference Firewall "Simple Finder" on Macs Firmware
freedom to computers everyone has the computer, as long as the work is done
Student-Generated Websites
Online Safety- From Cyber Bullying to Social Networks
Cyber Threats
- Information posted online that raises concerns or threats against someone or something
- Threats can be of suicide, violence against others or general threats of "something happening" at school or at a public place
- These threats often lead to real life reactions; stress in individuals being threatened, schools being locked down or activities being canceled
Cyber Bullying
- Sending cruel, vicious, and sometimes threatening messages to others
- Creating web sites that have stories, cartoons, pictures, and jokes ridiculing others
- Posting pictures of classmates online and asking students to rate them, with questions like "Who is the biggest..(fill in the blank)?"
- Breaking into an e-mail account and sending vicious or embarrassing messages to others
- Engaging someone in IM, tricking that person into revealing sensitive personal information, and then forwarding or posting that information to others
- Taking a picture of a person in the locker room or other compromising situation using a cell phone or digital camera and sending that picture to others or posting it online
- Assuming the identity of someone online, creating a false image of that person, harassing others, or soliciting actions for that person
Kids Online-FBI Statistics,2005
Nationally, over 45 million children ages 10-17 use the Internet. Of these:
- 1 in 4 has encountered unwanted pornography
- 1 in 5 has been sexually solicited
- 1 in 17 was threatened or harassed in the past year
- 1 in 33 received an aggressive sexual solicitation(were asked to meet someone in person, called on the phone, and/or sent correspondence or gifts) in the past year
- Nearly 60 percent have received an e-mail or Instant Message from a stranger, and half responded to the stranger's message
Why Predators Use the Internet
- Perfect medium for predators
- Better resources to locate that "special child"
- Quick communications between predator and child
- Predator's perception that they will not get caught
- Child and Parent's perception that their children are "safe at home"
- Everyone's "anonymous"
- Internet is very "target rich"
Preferential Patterns
Well developed techniques
- Skillfully lie and manipulate others
- Will use slang, lingo and popular references to blend in
- They are more convincing 14 year olds than most 14 year olds
- Quick to adopt technology for sexual needs and purposes
- Seek out target rich environments (social networks, online gaming, chat and IM)
Social Networking Concerns (MySpace)
- Anyone can create a profile
- Users can lie about their age(A forty year old man can pretend to be a 14 year old boy)
- May contain personal info
- If a user's profile is not private anyone can view their profile and send them messages
- Profiles often include blogs, pictures, videos , and messages
- Students may post
- Inappropriately
- Unsafely
- Irresponsibly
- Provocatively
- Illicit or illegal behavior
- Students can find
- Unsafe or self-harming online commenities
- Hate group and gangs
- Violent games and addition to games
- Gambling
- Hacking
Reasons for Control
1. Contractual obligation:
As teachers we have a contractual duty to protect students on campus and in the classroom—if the internet is part of the classroom, then we have an obligation to protect students from harmful material that can be accessed via the web.
2. Failed parental control:
Although we assume that parents have the responsibility of teaching their kids right from wrong, and that they should monitor their children’s use of the internet, we can not guarantee this is happening.
3. Internet savvy kids:
Though schools have made attempts to block certain sites, internet savvy students have found ways to bypass these protective barriers giving them access to non-academic sites in the classroom, where they are presumed safe.
4. Protecting the whole and not the part:
I have reviewed several articles, both fur and gin---nearly all of the fur arguments point to the first amendment—they forget, however, the limits to the first amendment—remember the old saying, “your rights end where my nose begins”—the internet in the classroom can affect all of the students, not just one---we have to think of the whole and not the part.
5. Not censorship, but control:
My position, then, is not to censor the internet, nor is it to ignore or trample on the 1st amendment. Rather, I accept the responsibility of protecting children from the dangers of the world wide web. In short, I feel the role of the teacher and the school should extend to controlling the internet in the classroom.
