Appropriate Use Policy

I was reading an online article about whether we should still have parents sign an agreement giving their students permission to use the Internet and agreeing that their student will use it appropriately.

He argues that in many classrooms the Internet is now an integral part of the curriculum and no longer a supplemental resource. (http://www.edjurist.com/blog/acceptable-use-policies-becoming-a-relic.html)

He thinks that correct usage of the internet should be assumed (maybe placed in the student handbook) and we should punish students retroactively for bad behavior rather than having them sign before hand.

I think this is a pretty fair article and I agreed with most of it.

I was wondering how much teachers use the Internet for the bulk of their curriculum. I think that quite a few teachers still use it as a supplement. Any opinions?

Myths and Legends

I spent some time on the myths and legends story maker page tonight.

http://myths.e2bn.org/story_creator/

I love it.  I can think of lots of educational uses for it.  Foreign language classes could write simple stories using their 2nd language skills.

It could be good for summarizing, because you can only use so many words per picture.

I think students would really enjoy making a project on here.

 Personally, I think it would be fun with my younger nieces and nephews.  They love to have stories read to them.  I'm wondering if they would like to listen to the stories on this site.

I didn't get very far in the story I was making.  It definitely helps to have a somewhat thought out story before you start creating.

Technology and students

I taught a class on Friday about Google Docs. I showed the students some of the things they could do, gave them a handout with login directions and let them give it a try. More than half had never heard about it. It was fun.

While students were creating documents and sharing them with their peers, one of the students told me about Google Groups. He and some friends had created a group for some school club they belonged to.

One of the things that is exciting about technology is that it often allows a student to demonstrate knowledge that the teacher doesn't have. It is one of the subject areas where teachers and students can often be on a voyage of discovery together. The learning and sharing is real and not artificially created.

Lifelong technology learning

The continuously changing technologies of literacy mean that we must help children learn how to learn new technologies of literacy. In fact, the ability to learn continuously changing technologies for literacy may be a more critical target than learning any particular technology of literacy itself.
Donald J. Leu, Jr., The New Literacies

I found this quote when I was reading the Web 2.0 blog and I was struck by the phrase "In fact, the abilty to learn continuously changing technolgies" I sometimes point out to students that when I get confused about showing them a program that since I have started using computers, I have had to learn to use around 8 different operating systems (Mac and PC), I can't remember how many different word processors I have learned, plus their upgrades. Then add on that all the different software programs I have worked with. The most important technology skill I have is the ability to sit down at a new piece of technolgy and figure out how to use it. (Still haven't quite figured out Dreamweaver yet)

I have been a big fan of Mac computers for years, and I think the reason is that most of their programs are intuitive and fairly easy to figure out. (The latest iMovie being an exception).

I agree with Mr. Leu. It is imperative that we teach our students how to learn new technologies.
Probably the best way to do this is to expose them to a number of different programs. So teaching them programs like "voice thread" Power point, google docs, comic life, iphoto, garage band, blogs, wikis and whatever other programs lend themselves to our subject matters are never a waste. They are more training in being able to adapt to different technology tools.