What are the educational implications of a filtered internet?

I’m leaving this open-ended and broad purposely, interpret it as you’d like.

UPDATE: My blog has moved! I’m now over at Kate Says and you can comment on this post there!

One of the things that has been both a blessing and a curse is the fact that I have no overall project that this is fitting into – it’s not part of a history project or a literature circle or anything of that sort. As this is a technology (ok fine, it’s a keyboarding class) class, the objectives are the actual skills involved in editing a wiki (which translate to other web applications) which will then be used in other (core) classes (in an ideal world). The fact that there’s no overall project is nice because the kids get to choose their topic, but they’re having a hard time understanding that they get to choose what their pages are about (wonder why?).
Here are the steps of the project:

1. Learn basic Apple keyboard shortcuts (this makes copying and pasting much easier later on)
2. Learn how to create hyperlinks in Microsoft Word (get to learn this skill before entering the wiki-world)
3. Learn how to open a new tab and navigate between tabs in Safari
4. Learn how to CTRL+click to open links in new tabs or windows
5. Learn how to log in to our wiki on wikispaces
6. Explore the editing features in wikispaces
7. Learn how to create a hyperlink in the wiki
8. Insert pictures on a wiki page
9. Embed video on a wiki page

Again, all of these skills translate to other web content creation and are key digital skills for efficient work online.
We have only made it through step 5 and since we only have one day left, we won’t get to the videos this time around. I plan to start the project earlier with the next group so we can make it through the entire project.

Here are the steps I took to get everything set up:

1. Created an ad-free education wiki on wikispaces
2. Had wikispaces create 30 student accounts (they had it done in less than 24 hours)
3. Created 30 student pages

*Note – the pages and accounts all have corresponding numbers from 1-30. Student 1 has a login that includes “student1″ and will then work on Student Page 1. Much easier for being able to re-use the logins and pages.
Actually teaching the lesson was a lot of fun and although the usual craziness occurred (30 kids on a mishmosh of machines, some craziness guaranteed) the students did a great job and had fun (wait, does that mean they didn’t learn?)

The lessons I learned from this:

1. Wikispaces looks and acts VERY different on a Mac running an ancient version of Safari compared to a PC running Firefox – my school has a Mac lab (only school that has Macs in whole district) and I work on a PC and teach on PCs in the rest of my schools. The main thing was that the color and other editing options didn’t work for the kids on their pages and when they were inserting links, they couldn’t see what it would look like until they saved and went back to the “pretty page”. Say what? Pretty page? Hate to admit it, but that’s what we call the wiki pages that everyone actually sees – it’s the pretty page and the behind-the-scenes page (in edit mode). It works for us!
2. I desperately need a projector in my classroom. I’m getting better and better about giving great descriptive instructions, but I NEED a projector. Need one.
3. None of the tasks in this project were easy for the students. They caught on, but not one of the skills was already known. For all of the talk (not mine) of digital ***** (can’t say the word), online productivity is NOT an inherent skill.
4. No matter how many times I say “Only edit YOUR page”, they’ll still forget and just start working on the home page. 5 kids at once were all working on the home page! 5!
5. I might need to create another wiki for the next group rather than just reusing this one, because the students were disappointed that someone else would be working on their pages that they’d started. No big deal, I’ll probably do that. I will re-use the usernames and logins, though, since they’re generic – even if the kids want to work on their pages outside of my class when they’re out of my rotation, the chance of them being on at the same time as the other student with their login is very slim.

I’m absolutely loving teaching these skills and the very best part? 1/2 of the class was begging to be allowed to work on it over the weekend. ‘Nuff said.

If you have helpful tips for me, I’d welcome them with open arms!

My Related Posts

Blog + Wiki Class Project
Wiki + Blog Project #2
Wiki + Blog Class Project #3
Updates Galore

Resources to help you get started

Apple Keyboard Shortcuts – very simple handout I created for class
Getting Started with Wikispaces – I just found this today after figuring out a lot of this stuff through trial and error – great guide by Liz Davis
Mobile Technology in TAFE Guide to Wikis – Sue Waters’ resource list for teaching with wikis (again, just found this today!)
Wikispaces for Teachers – site for creating your own education wiki
Wikispaces Help for Teachers – FAQ on education wikis
Batch Account Creation on Wikispaces

Note: My blog has now moved to Kate Says – please visit this post there if you’d like to comment or read responses from others!

In the last few months I wrote 3 posts relating to the quality of education in Finland. I was pleasantly surprised last week when I was listening to Wisconsin Public Radio’s Here on Earth (with Jean Feraca) and heard the tail end of a program about this very topic. I was even more excited to find the podcast is now posted so I can listen to the entire program! The podcast and related resources are all posted on the Here on Earth archives – “What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart“.

Here on Earth describes the show:

“High school students in Finland rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night, and yet Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world, earning some of the top scores of students tested in 57 countries. American educators are trying to figure out what makes Finnish kids so smart.

Guests

• Tapio Erma, principal of the Olari School in Finland
• Heidi Toivonen, Fulbright teaching assistant from Finland. She teaches at Columbia University“

My Related Posts

I Should Teach in Finland or Singapore
Singapore Revisited
Must Read Posts 3/2/08

In another infamous “Twitter learning moment”, we were directed by @durff to an engaging Ustream presentation broadcasting live from the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives (unfortunately, this hasn’t been archived, but we’ll post it when it becomes available). The focus of the panel discussion was on the use of Social Networks in the business world, and the discussion generally addressed the idea that professionals should be “fluent” in the use of social networks (like Facebook and Linkedin, Twitter (increasingly important), Ning — but not MySpace) for professional networking. The term “purposeful networking” was brought up in the Ustream presentation, and tweeted by @durff and replied to by Stephanie (@ssandifer):

Durff @ssandifer purposeful networking – things that make me think
ssandifer @durff So much content here for a high school level 1/2 credit course in “purposeful & professional online networking”
Durff @ssandifer yet those who graduate will need skills to communicate, connect, and collaborate in these online networks
ssandifer “purposeful networking” could/should be considered a 21st Century literacy.
ssandifer @durff @kolson29 And we continue with malpractice by NOT prepping kids for this…

The idea of purposeful networking has been discussed many times in the world of business, but somehow hasn’t become a matter of importance in mainstream education. In my post This is IT – Why Web 2.0, Aaron Strout of Mzinga was mentioned for posting a job and requiring applicants to apply through social media rather than the traditional resume. Wesley Fryer wrote a post this week titled Web 2.0 in the Enterprise which details the webinar “Web 2.0 for your Business” from Irwin Lazar, Principal Analyst and Program Director for Nemertes Research. The post is excellent and a must-read for educators. Some of the notes in the post include this:

“We are living in an information society now, and we have to react quickly to news and trends
– brokers, real estate agents have certainly seen this in the past few weeks
– need to be able to process information, share it, aggregate it
– agility: the ability to react quickly to change
– agility is key in the 21st century business environment“

This increasing use of networking in the business world leads us to believe that purposeful networking is an essential skill for students today. The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S) states standards for technology in education today, but doesn’t actually mention networking as a skill. The closest standard is under Communication and Collaboration where it states “interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.”

As this post was being written, I asked Aaron Strout (via twitter) about essential skills in business and social media today. He responded in less than 5 minutes and we were able to have a phone conversation about this. (note: Aaron and I have never met, he works in Boston, I in rural Wisconsin – this networking would NOT have happened without Twitter.) Aaron is the Vice President of New Media at Mzinga, a company which believes, “that companies can use their existing communities of people – their employees, their customers, their partners, and their shareholders – to solve their business needs and provide real value to the business.” While this company is obviously on the cutting edge of social media, adoption of Web 2.0 technologies and online interactions, it’s a clear indicator of the future skills that our students will need in future professions.

Aaron and I spoke about how networking and Web 2.0 skills are essential for anyone entering (or already in) customer service, marketing, product design and recruiting, to name just a few fields (I would argue that education should be included). For those in public relations, things have changed – rather than releasing information directly to the mainstream media, now the mainstream media often looks to bloggers for the most current trends and information. Isn’t blogging a skill that professionals should have? As Mzinga itself is recruiting through social media (as are various other companies, several tweets/day roll across my screen with the words “we’re hiring”) and LinkedIn and Facebook are becoming more and more popular as a professional networking platforms, wouldn’t “purposeful networking” be a valued skill in our students?

While it’s more common to find younger candidates with the necessary skill set for social media, Aaron was telling me about a meeting he was in recently in which they were discussing the need for more younger people in nonprofits. He mentioned that someone brought up the point that it isn’t necessarily a distinction between young and old, it’s a distinction between connected and unconnected. This is really interesting as the terms “digital natives” and “net generation” are being thrown about with abandon in education and the media. I did an unscientific poll recently of my twitter network and found that the average age of the people who follow me on twitter (226 of the 370 or so) is 39.6 – while this was a very casual survey, this is a pretty clear indicator of the fact that social networking is not only for the under 25 demographic.

One distinction is how the different age groups use networking. As Aaron pointed out, most younger professionals are coming into the workplace very comfortable with the concept of social media because they’re already using it informally – for interaction with social groups. In my experience, and evidenced below, the older demographic uses networking more for professional purposes. There are obvious reasons for this, but the implication is that “purposeful networking” is a skill not gained strictly through the use of social networking sites. There are levels of interaction in networking, and although transparency is becoming more accepted and valued, there is still a line between the strictly social use of networking and professional. Aaron describes how he’s fine with seeing the real side of prospective employees on Facebook profiles and twitterstreams because it gives him a better picture of who people are, but in our opinion and experience, networking is much more than simply posting information about yourself on various sites.

There are several great pieces about the topic of different generational uses of networking on the Wikinomics blog – “A Digital Generation” and “GenX and the Real Talent Crunch“. The bit that was most intriguing was this, from “GenX and the Real Talent Crunch“:

“What’s more, as Dan points out in his recent post “A digital generation?,” Gen Xers have mastered productive uses of the Internet to a much higher degree than the entertainment-focused Net Gen, and are the true drivers of technology innovation.“

This is where purposeful networking as a 21st century skill comes in. When I “asked Twitter” for the skills necessary for success in social media and business today, here’s what came back:

skydaddy @kolson29 Same as always: Be professional. Follow through. Take less and give more than is expected of you.
dpenrose @kolson29 Of course, being able to communicate effectively, time management, flexibilty, a generalist, a minimalist, innovative, workaholic
krusk @kolson29 How about authenticity? It’s becoming more important online, and I think that translates to the offline world as well.
andykatz22 @kolson29 relationship builder, finger on the pulse, multitasker
LaurieShuls @kolson29 I’d say that you need to find creative ways to comm with this niche media – no phone calls – converse via tweets, FB, etc.
LaurieShuls @kolson29 I’d also note that you should read EVERYTHING, I track all of my contacts, their personal blogs, etc. so we’re in constant contact
smheadhunter Networking doesn’t just get you a job – it gives you a network to make your next job successful

As shown in these answers, networking IS a skill and needs to be taught as such. Other terms that are thrown about in education are netiquette and digital citizenship, but too often these are focused on online safety, which although a concern, isn’t the same as purposeful networking.

One of the issues facing educators who are trying to bring about the use of these tools and tackle the issue of purposeful networking in the classroom, is that most educators are not in a field that is making use of these tools. Many educators have not had careers outside of the classroom. Those educators who have had other careers are most likely unaware of these changes that have been occurring in the use of technology in the business world if they haven’t worked outside of the classroom in the past five years or made a concerted effort to stay connected. Additionally, the education profession historically has been a profession of “isolationism” despite recent efforts to establish Professional Learning Communities within schools. Developing a system-wide understanding of the need for the use of these tools is challenging, but essential if we hope to prepare our students with the skills they need to communicate, connect, and collaborate effectively and professionally in this increasingly connected world. Networking is extremely powerful for connecting educators and students to professionals outside of education – the challenge in education today is breaking down barriers and allowing students and teachers access to the sites and time in the school day and curriculum.

Potential solutions for overcoming these barriers include everything from teacher externships in fields related to their content areas, systemic change in practice at all levels of the system to include the use of Web 2.0 and social networking tools, and integration of 21st Century literacies/tools across the curriculum. At this time, educators should make efforts to connect with fields related to content areas, whether in their own communities or globally. Networking tools give great opportunities for this. Just one example of this is the ability to connect with professionals in various fields through twitter, which has been an invaluable tool for seeing new trends in the business field. It would be equally beneficial for educators in all content areas. Networking, whether physically or online, is essential for staying current in the world for which we are preparing our students.

How do you reach beyond your profession to stay connected?

What are your solutions for breaking down the barriers to allow purposeful networking to become a part of mainstream education?

Edited with more input:

lisarokusek @kolson29 great post on networking – along with purposeful I would add mindful….it implies a plan, respect, and presence in the present (added 8:45 a.m. 3/28/08)

Edited to include additional resources:

“Google Generation is a myth, says new research” – JISC (added 9:00 pm 3/28/08)
“Fact or Fiction? You Tell Me!” – Sue Waters (added 9:00 pm 3/28/08)
“Digital Natives or simply Digital Dilettantes” -  John Larkin (added 9:00 pm 3/28/08)

If Facebook can make Scrabble (Scrabulous) cool, why not keyboarding? I’ve discovered that 2 of my favorite keyboarding activities can be added as Facebook apps……………one step forward for the cool factor of business ed, right? Well, probably not, but this geeky teacher can dream, right?

Check out Fingerjig and Typing Master for some touch-typing practice or for use with your students – my students love Fingerjig (and make fun of me for being excited that I can add it to Facebook). They don’t love the Typing Master test as much, but that’s because it’s “too hard”. A great endorsement in my book!

Ken wrote:

“…….if you’re looking for a raw take on our tech-infused adolescents, grab yourself a copy of M.T. Anderson’s ‘Feed’. It’s YA, but it’s worth noting that it has a lot of vulgarity. Makes a nice companion piece for a unit on dystopian fiction…or with any Paco Underhill tome.”

Publishers Weekly on Amazon says:

“In this chilling novel, Anderson (Burger Wuss; Thirsty) imagines a society dominated by the feed a next-generation Internet/television hybrid that is directly hardwired into the brain. Teen narrator Titus never questions his world, in which parents select their babies’ attributes in the conceptionarium, corporations dominate the information stream, and kids learn to employ the feed more efficiently in School. But everything changes when he and his pals travel to the moon for spring break. There Titus meets home-schooled Violet, who thinks for herself, searches out news and asserts that “Everything we’ve grown up with the stories on the feed, the games, all of that it’s all streamlining our personalities so we’re easier to sell to.” Without exposition, Anderson deftly combines elements of today’s teen scene, including parties and shopping malls, with imaginative and disturbing fantasy twists. “Chats” flow privately from mind to mind; Titus flies an “upcar”; people go “mal” (short for “malfunctioning”) in contraband sites that intoxicate by scrambling the feed; and, after Titus and his friends develop lesions, banner ads and sit-coms dub the lesions the newest hot trend, causing one friend to commission a fake one and another to outdo her by getting cuts all over her body. Excerpts from the feed at the close of each chapter demonstrate the blinding barrage of entertainment and temptations for conspicuous consumption. Titus proves a believably flawed hero, and ultimately the novel’s greatest strength lies in his denial of and uncomfortable awakening to the truth. This satire offers a thought-provoking and scathing indictment that may prod readers to examine the more sinister possibilities of corporate- and media-dominated culture. Ages 14-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.”

I just ordered a copy from Amazon (have I mentioned how much I LOVE their used book prices and 1-click ordering? Love, love, love it) and am slightly nervous about venturing outside of my light, chick-lit YA world. All in the name of research, though! Any insight from others who have read this book?

I’m interested in public opinion on this topic: Is it appropriate to have email contact with students? Please weigh in!

After class I created 10 group pages that I will now be using for individual group research. I’m actually glad that this happened because I realized that it will be great to have the group pages – now I can have each group draft their blog posts on the wiki rather than in Word. This will make it much easier if a group member is gone or if one group doesn’t finish before the 10 day rotation is over. A group in the next rotation could just pick up where the other group left off.

This situation is one of many that needs to be addressed before embarking on new technology projects, but what is interesting is that I couldn’t have actually tested this out on my own at home. You can only be logged into one wikispaces account at a time on any computer. What I should have done is send out a tweet to make sure that my idea would work. After class today, I even found a discussion on Classroom 2.0 about this very issue.

Lesson learned – I will make sure to do MUCH more research before trying another new tool in my classroom!

“Hi Kate

I once taught part time at Singapore’s National Institute of Education after work at Nanyang Technological University. I also had the good fortune to consult on a number of IT projects with the Singapore Ministry of Education.

Singaporean teachers are easily among the hardest working teachers in the world. The pressure upon Singaporean teachers for their students to succeed is enormous. The pressure comes from the parents and the system. The teachers work incredibly hard, even conducting additional classes during the school holidays.

Singapore is a city-state. It does not possess natural resources and land like countries such as the USA and Australia. Singapore’s resource is its children. The pressure placed upon students is significant as well.

Cheers, John”

I replied

John -

Thank you so much for offering a different perspective on the teaching situation in Singapore. The article covered it in a very utopic view and I appreciate the information you provided. With the benefits come much more pressure, which must be considered. Many teachers in the US might not appreciate this……….

and John replied!

“Hi Kate,

Thank you for the reply. Singaporean teachers do work very hard. The trainees deserve the income and the teachers deserve their pay.

I conducted workshops in neighbourhood schools and the most influential schools. Teachers at both ends of the spectrum worked just as hard as the other.

I also had the good chance to meet teachers from across Asia while I was in Singapore. If you ever have the chance to work in an International School in a city such as Seoul, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or elsewhere then take the opportunity. While you are there make an effort to get to know the local teachers.

My wife and I buried ourselves in the Singaporean culture while we were there. I became involved with local environmentalists, bike-riders and teachers. I also conducted free IT workshops for parents and children on weekends from time to time with other Singaporean friends. That enriched the entire experience. Our photographs can be found here:

http://www.larkin.net.au/040_gallery.html

Working with Singaporean teachers was a real eye opener. Class sizes are much larger than here in Australia and students sit for a significant series of exams from the very earliest years through to matriculation year.

Interestingly enough Singaporean students picked up blogging much more quicker than their counterparts in other parts of the world. Singaporeans are tech savvy. Three of my favourite blogs are by Singaporeans:

Siva ~ lecturer, environmentalist, blogging for many, many years
http://staff.science.nus.edu.sg/%7Esivasothi/blog/index.php

Kevin ~ social networking researcher and lifestreamer
http://theory.isthereason.com/

Marcus ~ biologist and nature photographer par excellence
http://budak.blogs.com/the_annotated_budak/

Cheers,
John

PS. I am off to Singapore to work with Singaporean teachers next week! ^_^”

John is currently in Singapore and has been blogging about his trip – he just posted some great photographs and information on Singapore’s Chinatown today. You can check out his blog here: TeachTech – Technology Tips for Teachers.

Exchanges like these are what make blogging such a valuable experience!

We were yet again unable to get through the filters to visit some of the sites I planned to, but that didn’t stop us from having an excellent discussion about the technologies that are popular with students today. The parents in attendance were unfamiliar with web-based email, so I gave a demonstration of how to set up a gmail account. This was actually an excellent introduction to a discussion on how easy it is for anyone to create a new identity online, as well as how easy it is for students to create their own email accounts at home. The gmail demonstration led to a demonstration of instant messaging, which the parents were also unfamiliar with. I just used the chat feature available in gmail and sent out a cry for help to three members of my PLN asking for some sort of response to help with the demonstration. I was lucky enough to get a response from @brunsell - thanks Eric! It was very interesting to describe something that has become so much a part of my online life – the parents kept asking “why do you do this?” and “why would my child want to do this?”. These were excellent questions and led to a great discussion on setting limits on time online and the distraction factor of instant messaging.

In an attempt to demonstrate social networking without being able to access MySpace and Facebook, I showed the parents Classroom 2.0 and my page there. I think everyone in attendance was a bit shocked at how much information I put out online, as well as the fact that my picture is plastered everywhere. This led into a discussion on how I use social networking for my profession, and giving more information is necessary to gain credibility. I, as an adult, have the choice to offer this information as I see fit. Our students and children should not be given the choice – it’s the same as all of the other rights that come with adulthood. We also discussed parents putting pictures of their children online and whether that is appropriate or not – the parents in attendance were of the opinion that it’s not ok, and I explained that although I don’t put pictures of my children anywhere other than my invite-only online photo albums in Snapfish, many other parents DO make their photos public, and it’s a personal choice.

I look forward to working with parents more in the future, and it would be interesting to see how it would be different if there were more tech-savvy parents in attendance. It would definitely change the tone and level of the discussions, but I worry that the parents with less experience would be apprehensive about asking questions in that environment.

You can see the resources from the workshop on the Parent Workshop wiki.