Scenario #4 Age Restrictions
This is very interesting because there are age recommendations/ restrictions on many sites. The one that I think about all of the time is Facebook. You are supposed to be 13. Why? Sometimes I think it should be even older when I read some of the crazy stuff posted on young people's walls. In our house we told our kids that they really could NOT have a page until age 13. This was met with unhappiness, because many many other kids had pages well before they were 13. This meant that they had to lie about their birth date. Is it a big deal? Probably not... but if you stretch the truth on this one - could you stretch it on other "age" restricted items as well? As a parent I tried to model this by not allowing a facebook page until age 13 - and then my kids have to be friends with at least 2 adults that I trust, and they have to show me there page at any time I request it. (I am not on facebook for a multitude of reasons - mostly the mental it adds to me life.) So far that is working, but I also know that there are ways to get around showing mommy everythinf so I keep preaching appropriate use and hope that it sinks in and is practiced.
As a teacher, I think it is a very bad idea to use a site in a class where there are age restrictions and ALL of your students do not meet the criteria. If I found out during or even just before (like with glogster) I would change plans and explain to my students why. Good lesson for them. Maybe the teacher in that scenario could give out more than one option and glogster could be one that they use at home with parent permission. Maybe she could use google instead during school... while not as cool looking it does meet the age restrictions for her class.
Scenario #6 Course overload
I have had many students complain about the amount of accounts and passwords that they have. I feel their pain. I have so many accounts on so many different sites that I am sometimes overwhelmed with the amount! I think that this needs to be talked about as a school. I know teachers that insist that their way and the site that they have chosen is the best way - not the site that the school provides. That is all well and good until a kids has to keep track of books, papers, backpacks, and all of the e-sites they are required to be on. Not all students can handle all of this so what do we do??
It seems like there are 2 places "supported" by our tech dept.: google and moodle. Both are OK. I have used moodle for a number of years and it is OK. It doesn't do anything fancy, but I have had OK success with using the forum to have the kids write essays, taking quizzes, and linking videos. In general, kids do not love it, but most do it as a part of the class. I run into kids every year that basically do nothing that is required outside of class and is online. This frustrates me and them. A lot of the time it is simply because they cannot keep track of all of the log in information. If I can get them one on one I can almost always get them logged on. I do think that having activities, quizzes, screencasts, etc. are extremely valuable to a class, so we as a school district should embrace the technology while thinking clearly about how to streamline what students are required to do.
As a new/young parent, I appreciate your awareness of technology issues with adolescents and how you implement safety parameters with your kids. I cringe to think how many kids go home with unlimited and unsupervised access to cyberspace! This was a non-issue just 10 years ago. Sadly, my 2 year old sees us using the Ipad enough where he knows to swipe to turn it on and thinks all things now have a touch screen. Can't imagine what it will be like in 10 more years!
ReplyDeleteI totally understand the multiple sign-ins. One thing that can be done to remidy this of course is to allow teachers to look up this information. As of yet, you cannot find students moodle password. BUT you can find their gmail account password. If you pull up their info on icue (that little rolodex card icon) and go to contacts it is at the bottom. You can even change it!
ReplyDeleteWith that said I think students need to learn the responsibility to keep track of their sign in information. We expect students to bring paper and pencil and they should bring something that keeps track of their ignorance. There is no reason a student, especially a high school student, should not be able to remember or keep track of this info or be able to recover if need be.
Age restrictions are an interesting topic. Facebook started as a college only platform and was great to get to know other people you were going to school with. When it grew to other adults, naturally the trend kept going (and they wanted more money) so they allowed teenagers to use it. Many parents allow their children to be on it under 13, but as we try to tell our students, what you post online could follow you forever. The age should be older, but to be honest, I know many adults that post much worse things that kids. Good Analysis!
ReplyDeleteWow! Your description of how you approach Facebook with your kids is really insightful. I bet so many parents let their kids go free and unsupervised on Facebook and I just cringe thinking about the personal and educational consequences of that. Thanks for being such a good role model!
ReplyDeleteI love your common sense approach. And how involved you are with your kids and their technology use. That is such an important part of being a modern day parents. And while I agree that students need to keep track of online logins, remember that some of our more immature students or those with some handicap might have difficulty. When dealing with technology I try to teach students that we need to be patient with each other and I try to model that.
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