This Thing Called Internet - Reflections on Early Technology Use in My Classroom

I've seen the video I'm posting at the bottom of this blog post one time before, and now that it's come across my stream again, I want to preserve it here. It brought back some memories and has caused me some reflection on my early use of technology in teaching.

If the broadcast date listed in the comments on the source page of the video is correct, October 8, 1993, when it first aired I was just weeks into my first year of teaching. Within a year, I would have my first email account on the Texas Education Network (TENET - I had to go to a day of training at our local education service center just to get an account) and my first AOL account. Within two years, I would be lugging my personal Macinosh computer up to my classroom, pulling the phone off of the wall and plugging in a modem so my students could begin exchanging emails about the books they were reading with another group of sixth graders down in the Valley.

It would be nice (and easy) to look back and say "I knew what an amazing phenomenon the Internet was going to become and so I was on the cutting edge of integrating technology into education." The truth is, I didn't and I wasn't.  I had dabbled in a computer science concentaration in college before switching back to English, but my interest in computers and their practical uses hadn't gone away. Just my interest in programming them!

So, when an opportunity came along to get an email account, it was something new and interesting and it had to do with computers,  and I took it. Then, because I was on TENET, I connected with another 6th grade teacher who wanted her students to exchange "litterary letters" via email with other 6th graders. Another opportunity had arrived, and this time my students got to benefit. They would have a much more authentic audience for their writing than just me. I guess I was in the early stages of technology and Internet integration when I arranged that opportunity for my students, but it's funny I don't remember thinking it was any more of a big deal than using any other tools at my disposal for enhancing my students' learning. It was exciting, though, to realize that we were communicating with another classroom half-way across Texas (Texas is a big state!) via a computer and phone line rather than through postal mail.

Over time, I tried to find ways to integrate technology in my teaching here and there. Students took computer classes in our one computer lab most of the day, so squeezing my kids in for computer time was always a challenge! Each time I used technology, I did it because it made sense; because it extended opportunities for learning. Because it was natural to me. The day we got an Internet connected computer in our classroom was exciting beyond belief for me; I plopped kids in front of that thing every chance I got! Although it's obvious now that we owe our students educations rich in quality technology experiences because that is the way of the world, when I think back to my motivations for using computers in the classroom in the 1990s, I used them because they were THERE. They were a tool to enhance learning. Anything that enhanced learning made sense to me.

I am still amazed in 2010 to run across examples where educators do not think using technology in their teaching makes sense. It really, really should not be that hard. I'm encouraged by the themes of collaborative and project based instructional design with technology emphasized as a TOOL that I am seeing on my networks and in the literature, including readings for my masters degree. Hopefully the instructional design approach, rather than the technology integration approach, will bring technology tools back to being used because they make sense and they are there, and not because we "have to integrate them".

This was supposed to be a short post to preserve a video I didn't want to lose track of again! Obviously, the video stirred up quite a bit more thought and reflection. Take six minutes to walk down memory lane (or history lane depending on your age) with the video below. I invite you to leave a comment on what memories it brings back for you, education related or not!

(As an aside, I wish the Internet were still as clean as it is described in the video!)



First Report On The Internet - CBC Prime Time News - Amazing videos are here

Student Cell Phone Etiquette

Recently one of the K-5 campus technology facilitators in my district contacted me to see if I had any resources regarding cell phone etiquette for elementary students. It seems that some students from her campus were passing along spam text messages along the lines of "forward this or something bad will happen to you".

I looked through my digital citizenship and cell phone bookmarks and didn't see anything specific to "spam texting". Googling "spam texting" brought back tons of results, if what I wanted were suggested lists of spam texts to send. Nice.

So, I brainstormed some ideas and sent them back to my colleague. She added some other ideas of her own. Between the two of us, we came up with the list of cell phone etiquette ideas for students that you see below. I share them with permission of my colleague, who did not ask for name attribution, but I must say I enjoyed working with ML on this. :-) The campus also sent this list out to parents via their parent E-News listserv.

Hopefully this will help the next person looking for student cell phone etiquette ideas. Really some of these ideas would be helpful with some adults I know! Please feel free to use and adapt. I would appreciate a citation of this blog if you do so.

Does your student have a cell phone?


Many students have or have access to cell phones. Please review the suggestions below, and take this opportunity to discuss responsible cell phone usage with your child.

• Phones should remain off and in backpacks while at school.

• Avoid musical ringtones and turn your phone to vibrate in public settings.

• Phone conversations should be conducted quietly and in private, not in front of friends or during interaction with others.

• Students should understand that it is inappropriate to take or forward embarrassing pictures of others.

• Compulsive checking for text messages is disruptive to your child’s focus, as well as their friends and family.

• Any messages that are threatening, scary, or contain inappropriate language or pictures should be discussed with a trusted adult or parent.

• If your child is receiving inappropriate texts or pictures from another child, it might be helpful to contact the sender’s parents.

• Chain texts, like chain emails, are considered spam, and generally bad manners to forward.

• Children should understand that not everyone has unlimited texting plans. When sending an unnecessary text, such as a chain message, it might be costing your family or friend’s family extra money…even if they are not read.

Parents, you are in charge. Monitor what your child is sending and receiving. This is your phone, your money, and most importantly your child. Letting your child know what your expectations are will help them avoid pitfalls.

Do you have any similar lists that you have shared with students of any age? If so, please share a link to them in the comments.

Common Sense Tech

Ken Royal of Scholastic Administrator Magazine recently wrote a blog post which resonated with me. As much as I love the world of social media and all of the benefits it has to offer education, I, too, worry about educators who run headlong into using free web resources with K-12 students. Are they really thinking about all of the possible implications of what they are doing?

We really do need to look at consistent solutions, as Ken points out, for multiple reasons including providing quality professional development for teachers as well as student safety and liability protection for districts and teachers.

Below are some of the points that stood out to me in Ken's blog post. I encourage you to click the link and read all of his thoughts for yourself.

• The Royal Treatment: Common Sense Tech
  Remember to be selective, safe and smart in the technology you incorporate in K-12.
  tags: edtech, edtech_leadership, EdTech-Professional, socialmedia
  • 
    
    Use of Twitter or Facebook by educators is one thing, but when I see articles and posts about using social media in classrooms, other than higher ed—it makes me cringe. Any adult using these online options knows how difficult they are to control. Hacking, porn, language, and just the constant updates—by the nanosecond—from all over the world are too uncontrollable for most classrooms—and from what I see, many adults, too.
  • 
    
    Sometimes administrators and educators get so caught up with the cool, that they forget the bigger picture
  • 
    
    At their best, they are the few in each school, or district, pushing the tech envelope. Some do that envelope pushing while working closely within the district, but others work outside that safety net. Today, the latter scares me. Relying on free downloads, cool online sites—with most of those requiring logins—can be unsafe. We need to move beyond the rogue-educator, and support consistent school or district solutions.
  • 
    
    Experimenting with new online tech ideas is one thing, but forcing all into the classroom is not using common sense.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.