Another school year, another opportunity to explore blogging in education

Background information
On the value of weblogs in education:
http://www.weblogg-ed.com/why_weblogs

Read the Fearless learners, fearful schools entry in http://www.weblogg-ed.com/2005/05/17#a3576

Who is behind Weblogg-ed:
Will Richardson comes highly recommended by Alan November
http://www.weblogg-ed.com/about


The following passage highlights the choices that we face as educators:
"Most students, as with many people, are passive participants on the Internet. They read, but they don't write for the Web. Now, composing html pages and posting them to the web is technically difficult for the classroom when compared to signing up for a blog and posting text. It's certainly not quite the same experience as making choices over page design, etc., but blog posting can make them active participants by having them join in existing conversations. And in many ways it's more dynamic than creating html pages, since it's much easier to continually add fresh content."
I think this is one of the major appeals of weblogs.
"Quite frankly, I haven't found the time investment required for creating websites (using html or a WYSIWYG editor, ftp-ing, etc.) worth what my students seem to get in return."(Joe)
This is especially true now...why are we still teaching html?


My comments:
I have long advocated teaching html. It provides mental exercise, discipline and the ability to build and create that makes some students blossom. When I teach HTML first and then teach FrontPage, the students stop thinking when they start cut and pasting. The dropoff in higher level thinking is immediately apparent. However, the essential question is "what is it we are trying to teach and what tool best serves that purpose." Web construction makes sense when it has a purpose: check out my yearbook class website: http://www4.steds.org/intranet/yearbook/Yearbook/2006YB.htm (everything is in one place, accessible from everywhere – great administrative tool)


Blogs however have the potential of being totally engaging. The technology is transparent. Students can truly break out of the "writing for the teacher" mode and communicate and receive feedback in real world situations. Blogs are not a fad; students will use them whether or not school "condones" them. Are we missing opportunities to engage them in new technologies because our comfort level is lacking. Last spring, I created a private blog for faculty on Tablets http://tablettalk.blogspot.com/. Only the techiest followed the procedures to join and no one tried posting an entry. I challenge a teacher to create a class blog that would have such poor response.

Are we as educators the problem or the solution? Are we as techies, stressing traditional software training? What is the role of technology is a modern education? Is it enough to teach academic subjects as they have always been taught?

Would it be reasonable to hope that as a minimum level of technical competency, faculty (and parents?) at least have experienced current technologies - chatting, blogs, webs, podcasts, RSS feeds, wikipedias, video conferencing etc.? What is the baseline for informed decision-making?

Taking responsiblity for our country

Andrew Rasiej, candidate for New York public advocate states that "The traditional model is that we elect a public official and they're going to solve all our problems.I don't believe that model works anymore. I don't believe that one politician can solve the problems of eight million New Yorkers. I do believe that eight million New Yorkers can solve their own problems."

He thinks that the Internet can help people organize and share ideas, and that the public advocate should make it possible for New Yorkers to use it. He has ideas aplenty about how that high-speed Wi-Fi could look.

For instance, Mr. Rasiej has begun a Web site (www.wefixnyc.com) where people can e-mail pictures of potholes with their locations, which become part of a photographic map.

As I read the above quotes, the analogy to levee problem was clearly evident. The people need to participate to a level that ensures that politicians have some strength stand up to Federal pressures.

Freedom of Speech

During the past week, the results of a recent study of student views on First Amendment rights was released and has produced some thought provoking material for faculty notice and classroom discussion. Notably, students were largely unaware of what rights were protected and, when informed, believed that these rights were too broad. Have the years from 9/11 distorted our fundamental beliefs? In proclaiming Homeland Security is the US rewriting the First Amendment? How to you believe adults would have reacted to the same questions?

Personally, this report is a red flag, a call for educators to take responsibility for putting Freedom of the Press into a historical perspective. In wartime and emergencies, it may seem expedient to limit personal freedoms. For a democracy to continue we must assure that in the long run, the constitutional foundations remain in place and represent a commonly held vision of our united beliefs.

On How Students Interpret the First Amendment

From a USA Today article by Greg Toppo (1/30/2005): "U.S. students say press freedoms go too far," reports a survey of First Amendment rights commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and conducted during the spring of 2004 by the University of Connecticut. It questioned 112,003 students, 327 principals and 7,889 teachers.

The students stated that: "36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion. Asked whether the press enjoys "too much freedom," not enough or about the right amount, 32% say "too much," and 37% say it has the right amount. Ten percent say it has too little."
Link to USA Today

While based on the same study, CNN provides a different emphasis on its interpretation of the data.
Link to CNN

The UN declares Freedom of the Press a basic human right

Lesson Plan

This lesson plan for 7-12th graders addressing the topic "The United Nations has declared that freedom of the press is a basic human right (Article 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights)" from the FrontLine service of PBS offers educators a structure for class discussion.

Link

A personal comment I would add for discussion is from an observation made while part of a small group of teachers invited to train Armenian educators in ways to integrate the Internet in their teaching. As we were brainstorming to identify a common topic of interest, we selected their constitution which had been translated into English. This allowed us to highlight and discuss its articles while actually pointing at the Armenian page for our viewers. The teachers response was very enlightening. They asked why we did not have our Constitution translated into Armenian for them. They spoke with reverence that ours was over 200 years old and was what they needed to use for instruction, rather than theirs which was in continual change. The point is that while the world recognizes the value of our rights and is teaching those principles to their citizens, are we somehow losing sight of our greatest rights as United States citizens.

Taking Technology's Impact on the News to an Extreme

Epically Speaking: A Video

This very interesting (and frightening) short video on the future of how technology might impact the news appeared on a librarian's listserv, entitled: Epically speaking...8-min of your time...
Link

Two librarian's comments to foster discussion:

Shonda Brisco. Re: Epically speaking...8-min of your time...
Link

Jacqueline Henry. Re: Epically speaking...8-min of your time...
Link

What is meant by "Fourth Estate"?

"Technology happens." Like the inevitable snowball, once in motion it's up to us to direct it, because we surely are not going to stop it. Are we all really guilty because technology provides us with the ability to "only see the sports or entertainment section." Is it so different than only reading those sections of the paper in print when pressed for time. Is the lesson that we need to take time to read "The Week in Review." Customization is the key element of e-content delivery in today's world and will undoubtedly continue. How does this tie into the topic of Freedom of the Press? Could the factionization of our most recent election be a byproduct of a citizenry increasingly able to view the news from exclusively from it's own viewpoint.