Facebook in schools...

And here’s why schools should use social networks …

oh, that was easier than I expected...good one! Talk about using the phenomena of Facebook and run with the flow, controlling it by channelling it into something useful... Interesting.

info overload

Perhaps my unfamiliarity with the newer tools of the web is shining through, but I am a bit weary of where we are going...Thinking back 14 years ago when I was an exchange student at UWA and email was kind of new, and a phone call to mum and dad back in Sweden cost $2 a minute, I feel the world now is SO much smaller! Being able to access newspapers and information from around the world at your fingertips, is truly amazing - no longer can one blame the distance for not keeping in touch. Following this incredible trend, perhaps we can expect to see the social role of say, Facebook, increase to a more vital status in our social lives, where one's presence to connect and make peripheral friends becomes an integral part of one's success. I would hope not, and perhaps for my generation it will keep as an added extra rather than take up any major importance...

Being overly specific in what you want in an on-line search is vital to avoid drowning in results, however, having the web "getting to know you" and help you in your search for answers, and really without you knowing, I find a little less advantageous. Undoubtedly we get overloaded and interrupted by the web whether we like it or not. I am afraid a little "help" in finding our way out there, can also hinder our curiosity and our openness to the approach of others.

...and then we have those online dangers...

Maintaining safety - and protecting children from inappropriate data- on the net is undoubtedly an important issue. Suddenly, your living room, or classroom, is inundated with gory sites and unsuitable web pages for those wishing to search for them. The same curiosity we wish to preserve in children can place them in uncomfortable situations. Although perhaps helpful in a school setting with 30 children's joint inquisitiveness, I doubt the department's current censorship is the answer. Rather we need to nip it in the bud and explicitly inform and instruct on how to act and partake safely on the web.

However, this in not entirely the teacher's role - each child's home structure shares this responsibility, where parents have to take an active role in what they believe is appropriate use of the Internet and teach their children the pitfalls. The current censorship at DET schools, where websites are blocked, will limit the possibilities for teachers to develop their student's true understanding for the dangers on-line.

Clearly this is an area identified as important to elaborate on. Plenty of resources has been developed to assist teachers and parents in creating a safe on-line presence. Cybersmart has a range of these resources that can be used in the classroom.

Highlighting etiquette on the web is another area that needs attention, discussing cyber-bullying and how to address it. Similar to the angry feedback sheet handed in at the end of a course, the feeling of being anonymous on the web can result in an individual's comfort in expressing themselves, which obviously can be hurtful to others. I believe an openness to discuss - and confront - is the key to combatting cyberbullying. The web is after all just another area - alongside the schoolyard - for these actions to take place.

critical literacy

When I recently was writing about the new national curriculum in History, I came across a rather interesting disagreement with regards to indigenous history in the media, where totally opposing views were equally portrayed. Historians like Keith Windschuttle were claiming a less cruel and intent behaviour towards the indigenous population in the past, backing up his arguments with various details and data and another acclaimed historian, Robert Manne who was opposing Windschuttle’s views with equally researched material to mention one such public disagreement. These diverse and opposing interpretations of Australian history mainstreamed through media and the web can be both confusing and uncomfortable, and it brings me to the discussion we had this week about the importance of critical literacy when dealing with information on the net and how difficult it sometimes can be to make a judgement on the facts without substantial background knowledge. Naturally, few primary school children will drag through any of these historians' research papers or articles, but it highlights an issue. Moving away from the obvious misleading hoax on the web, we can still get such diverse information presented as facts, from reputable authors, from reputable publications or web pages. You clearly have to monitor, prepare the students, and do the homework before asking students to do their research on the web.

digital story telling and voki's

After having played around with Movie Maker for the first time in my life, I have realised that it isn't quite as hard as I first imagined. If I can do it, I am sure any upper primary school student can do it too. It would be an engaging way to tell a story, requiring a similar thought process to writing a story. It might engage the student who may not see literacy as their strongest side, teaching them the ideas behind a text and for them to express it in the shape of the digital story. It is time consuming at first though and to have a whole class fiddle around with it would require extensive access to computers. Of course you could divide the work up in teams where certain students do certain jobs, filming, interviewing and putting it together, where each students could work in the areas that suits them.

Creating voki's can also be quite fun and at times useful with the limitations of photographing students in schools today. It is quite a slow process to make one and might be best left as a carrot once other work has been completed. It could be incorporated in arts and would make a great presentation or assembly item.

txtspk

I think there is enough exposure to text or net speak in the world around us to not have to spend an abundance of time on teaching it in the classroom. Before we can start to change and personalise our language and create text or net speak in an efficient and poignant way, we need to master our written and spoken language.

For the weaker literacy students, would text speak really be a detriment to learning our correct conventions? or could it perhaps be the entry point to learning more?

At the same time, by allowing text speak to be flowing into our classrooms without control we may run the risk of spending more time than necessary on the subject. After all, at the end of the day, we want our students to be comfortable and confident in using the correct conventions of our language in order to lead a fulfilling life, not being limited to making friends through the net or sms.

It is a very current subject that would appeal to most young adolescents (would they not at least have to have a mobile?), more as an entertaining and engaging issue than a need to actually learn how to master it. When it creeps into an area where it does not belong, it is important to make the students aware of the audience and perhaps give opportunities to express their wishes to use text speak in other discussions.

Get a Voki now!