Instructify

BY BILL FERRIS

Whenever a new social networking tool shows up, a horror story of someone getting into trouble for abusing it follows shortly thereafter. A teacher in Scotland got into trouble recently for writing about her students on Twitter, during school hours no less.

You’re all smart people, and I have no doubt that you always maintain the utmost professional decorum in your online communiqués. Nevertheless, it can’t hurt to remember to exercise discretion while playing around with Twitter, Facebook, and to a lesser extent these days, MySpace. Here are three…I won’t say “rules.” Let’s call them guidelines for safe social networking.
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A new site from the AdCouncil is designed to help communicate with teens about the problems associated with “Cyber pressure.” Times are certainly different for teens now than they have ever been before, thanks to technology being as accessible and popular as it is. Thats Not Cool is a site that helps teens find ways to respond to pressure brought on by their peers through texting and social networking. What’s more is that the site is clever, funny, and engaging, without being overly preachy or authoritative. Specifically, the topics covered are such things as “textual harassment” (harassing cellphone messages from a significant other), “Pic Pressure” (requests from a boyfriend or girlfriend to send lewd pictures) and  “privacy problems” (which is about what it sounds like, especially when it comes to social networking).

The site has some great content, including cute sock-puppet starring videos that are designed to tell both sides of the story, which allow viewers to make decisions of what choice the subject should take at the end. There are also “Callout Cards,” which are badges and graphics that site visitors can take and paste onto the profiles of someone who may be harassing them. It allows teens to take matters into their own hands before they escalate too far, and to educate them about the perils of peer pressure and disrespect.

As cheeky as the site is, there is a lot of merit to the AdCouncil’s initiative, as it affects teens in a way they haven’t had to deal with in the past. There’s even a section for teens to get further help if they need it. Let your students know there’s assistance out there on the web if they are being pressured to do things they aren’t comfortable with, or if their friends are harassing them in ways they can’t relate to adults. For a site that’s called “Thats Not Cool,” this site is pretty darn cool. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Thats Not Cool

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As educators, it is our responsibility to provide our students with the tools necessary to be successful, not only in our classroom, but in life. As a technology integration specialist, I believe part of this responsibility we have is to teach our students how to be good cybercitizens.

Most districts in the United States and around the world implement some sort of web filter. In some districts, the web filter is doing exactly what it is designed to do, protect our children from online pornography, obscene material, and anything else deemed harmful to minors as required by the Children’s Internet Protection Act. Others, however, are much more restrictive.

Jon-Michael Poff, a senior at Batesville High School in Batesville, Arkansas, has written an excellent article in Edutopia  entitled “Stop Blocking Online Content” which focuses on web filters from a student’s perspective. He discusses his frustration with the filters in place and describes a situation in which a fellow student was unable to access a blog that was assigned by his teacher and an incident in which another student was unable access image files, from a popular image hosting site, for her desktop publishing class.

No responsible educator would argue that students do not need to be somewhat protected when accessing computers in our schools, but what about teachers? Teachers are trusted with the safety and well-being of our nation’s children everyday yet, in most districts, they are not trusted to make sound, responsible decisions with regards to the internet.  In some cases, teachers are “digitally handcuffed” and are unable to use some of the best resources available. Google Docs, YouTube, and Flickr all have high educational value but are blocked in most districts. Why?

Last I checked, we live in an unfiltered world. Are we truly preparing our students for life after school when we have such restrictive filters in place?  In many districts, why are teachers not treated like professionals and given the opportunity to make the decision on what is appropriate or inappropriate for their classroom?

This topic always raises many more questions than answers. If you have an opinion, let us know in the comments. - JERRY SWIATEK

“Stop Blocking Online Content”

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It seems that the news lately has been full of teachers running afoul of technology. There’s the case (ably covered by Instructify editor Bill Ferris) of the Austin teacher who incurred the Wrath of the Internet by writing, very mistakenly indeed, that “No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful.” There’s the case of the “Drunken Pirate” student teacher who posted a rollicking picture to her MySpace page, was denied her degree in Education just before her graduation from Millersville University, and then sued — and lost.

And then there’s the case of Julie Amero. In 2004, Amero was substituting in a seventh-grade classroom when inappropriate, possibly pornographic pop-ups began appearing on the computer. Amero was arrested and then convicted in January 2007 of four counts of child endangerment, and she was facing up to 40 years in prison until her conviction was vacated a few months later and a new trial ordered.

When I first heard the case described on the radio, it was immediately obvious to me that the computer had been hijacked by malware. I’ve only had a computer hijacked once, but once was more than enough, believe me. No one who has been startled by the appearance of multiple pop-up windows that spawn yet more pop-up windows when you try to close them would be likely to doubt Amero’s protestations that she hadn’t been deliberately visiting porn sites in class. Since my own hijacking, I’ve been very careful about installing and automating programs like the free Ad-Aware on my own computers. Ad-Aware updates itself and scans my system automatically, but every once in awhile I look at it, and it’s catching some nasty stuff every time, let me tell you. All the major web browsers now also allow pop-up blocking, and I make darn sure that it’s turned on, especially since I can grant pop-up exceptions when I need to. Your school’s IT staff almost certainly puts such protections in place for your classroom’s computer(s), but it might be worth a delicate inquiry — especially since evidence shows that the IT staff at Julie Amero’s school weren’t taking basic precautions.

It’s widely agreed in the tech community that the Julie Amero case was a tragedy and a travesty and a farce and just, well, extremely frustrating. At least it’s now over: on November 21st, 2008, Julie Amero chose to end a four-year court battle by pleading guilty to a single misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, paying a fine of $100, and having her Connecticut teaching credentials revoked. What does she think about computers, after all this trouble? She doesn’t “touch them except for e-mail.” — AMANDA FRENCH

State of Connecticut vs. Julie Amero (Wikipedia)

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The recent disgraceful outcome of the Julie Amero case does at least show how very, very much we want our children to be protected from the worst parts of the internet (and there are some very, very bad parts of the internet). If you know some parents who are worried (or ought to be) about what their little ones might see online, you might recommend that they give KidZui a try. KidZui, which is meant for kids younger than 12, is basically a kid-safe browser; you download it to a hard drive and, presumably, remove the icons to other browsers such as Internet Explorer or Firefox so that your kids can’t use those.How can a browser be kid-safe? Well, it’s only allowed to access certain sites and certain content on certain sites such as YouTube; over 200 teachers and parents worked for about three years to create a long list of approved online content. A parent can add additional sites with a parent account, and can even recommend those sites for inclusion in everyone’s KidZui. Parents can also track exactly which sites their kids are visiting, which makes me a little uncomfortable — but then again, kids under 12 don’t have or even need the same level of privacy that teens or adults do.

Perhaps most importantly of all, there are many educational websites on KidZui’s approved list, and a “Homework Helper” is available in the paid version (the “Basic” version of KidZui is free). The Homework Helper is described as “an exclusive teacher designed [sic] system of websites and content matched to their grade level and the subjects they’re studying in school.” (I hope they study hyphenation at some point.) It’s nice to see a company that trusts teachers so much that it involves them so thoroughly in the design of a piece of technology. — AMANDA FRENCH

KidZui

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Ever feel like you’re working hard but not meeting your goals? This list will help you get organized and get things done. Tips like not confusing “urgent” with “important,” and batching small jobs together and doing them at once are great ways to boost your productivity.

10 Most Common Passwords
It’s a fine line between creating a memorable password and making things too easy for hackers and identity thieves. PC Magazine lists the 10 most common passwords on the Internet. Suffice it to say, if the password to your bank account is on this list, you’d best change it ASAP. -BILL FERRIS

Photo credit: Thomas Hawk on flickr

Stranger Danger! Children are taught at an early age how to recognize a stranger in their community and how to respond appropriately. However, in the 21st Century our students are socializing in more communities, on and 0ffline, rather than just with their local neighbor. As many more of our students are becoming active participants in the community of the World Wide Web we need to teach them safe ways to interact without shutting them down.

iKeepSafe is a website full of ideas on how to keep our students safe online. They focus on the three main dangers students will face: inappropriate contact, inappropriate content, and inappropriate conduct. They provide great resources for parents on hot topics such as social networking and cyber-bullies. For educators, iKeepSafe has resources that can be customized to align with your state’s laws. The site also includes game simulations for students to put into practice what they have learned to keep them safe.

This site would be great to introduce to your parents during an open house or a family reading night. So the next time you are teaching your students safety rules, don’t forget the global community. Remember, as parents and educators we have a responsibility to our students to keep current, keep communicating, and keep checking! -MONIQUE ST. LOUIS

iKeepSafe