Great presentations Mike and Ben. There were several points that I wanted to talk about in class, but wanted to save something for my blog entry. First, there was something really small that Denis mentioned from the You Are Not a Gadget book. Video mash-ups, blogs, youtube, and other so called personal means of communication have demeaned personal interaction (I believe this was the essence of the quote from the book).
In the past I have not been real big on reading the comments left by people on sites, but with the Olympics I would click on links to news stories and often there was a running commentary beside the article where people would comment on the story. Watching how these progressed would often see them degenerate into a stream of patriotic bashing of others. There were racist, sexist, nationalistic, homophobic, comments made that bordered on hate crimes, yet the people posting them did not seem to have any issues putting them on the net. I have tried some experiments with students and blogs or discussion posts and have always had someone start making some mildly inappropriate comments. We do seem to lose a sense that there is a real person on the other end of an entry that we make, and that our words, while anonymous, can still be hurtful. I think that the quote from the book encapsulates this idea nicely. I will be making an effort to find a copy.
Below is a link to a youtube video on digital practices that I have let my students see. Being all girls the rating aspect of the video hits home for more of them.
Hot or Not video
When the subject of cheating came up in Mike`s presentation I really liked how the author suggested that this requires teachers to come up with higher level questions for assessments that are more difficult to copy or cheat on. With the general trend towards more meaningful assessment, moving beyond simple recall, there seems to be a natural push towards deeper questioning that many teachers (at least in my experience) are trying to fight against. I myself prefer the easy questions; they are easier to mark, explain, and justify the grading of. But this is not what is best for the students, so I have to make an effort to be less lazy. Teachers that may be less inclined to change their assessment style are getting a further push from technology.
I remember when corporate sponsorship came to my school. I was in grade 10 in 1995, and we got a new school sign board at the front of the school. 25% of the sign was the Coke logo. We also had several drink machines placed in the school at that time in the hallways. I remember it because it seemed so odd to me to have a big corporation invading my school. It felt weird, very out of place. I had never really considered school as a place of business (the quality of the cafeteria food certainly led you to believe that they were not out to make us happy as customers!), but $600 billion a year is no small chunk of change. I wonder if this move towards big business education is such a recent phenomenon, or if it was just not as blatant in the past.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good point about the deeper questions, James. You are right that finding deeper questions require teachers to do more work, and it's going to make me look at the questions I am asking students. I wonder though...the students also recongnize that those types of questions are more difficult to answer and require more thought, and are reluctant to answer them, so therefore do teachers just ask easier questions to get the students to participate? For example, in my grade 12 English class, I try to give them stories and articles that will open their brain and challenge them. They ALWAYS say to me, "just tell us what the message is". So I start to give them hints, almost to the point where I am giving them the answer. The other day I asked this same class if they have leanrned anything this semseter so far or have I challenged them to think and they told me not really. So, they don't want to think, but they want to be challenged???? I'll have to come up with better questions!
ReplyDeleteJames, interesting post. I wish I had corporate sponsorship come to the school I went to in the way they did yours. It would have made a whole lot of difference. Perhaps I would have been invaded with a lot of technology back then like it is now. But all "corporate sponsorship" did was to reap where they did not sow. They would rather line up at graduation and head hunt clever students for their entry level positions. I guess, we did not see what was ethically wrong with this at the time. Because we were assured of a place to go to after graduation. It made no logical sense now that they have completely oriented the setting to suit their purpose. It was more subtle in the past but there is now no reason to conceal it.
ReplyDeleteYou touch on a lot in this post,James. I will echo your concerns over comments on YouTube, news sites and so on. It seems that people do not think about others when they can post anonymously. I sometimes look at the comments on news stories, usually CBC, and can't believe the rude, thoughtless things put up. It is fine to disagree, but I guess some people can't do so respectfully. This is just another example why media literacy, and online etiquette, are necessary topics to teach. The video you put up is great, I will be using it. Here is another very good one: http://www.youtube.com/oceanking97
ReplyDeleteHey James,
ReplyDeleteI liked the video. Sensitivity to others; do to others as you would have them do to you. The Golden Rule is as relevant today as it ever was.
It seems a little paradoxical that some in education worry about the influence of corporations but accept sponsorship because money is needed. Consider the free movement. There are good education sites out there that can be used at no cost, but some are riddled with ads. I remember sending an e-mail to Pearson Education complaining about a Labatt's Blue banner atop the page of what I considered to be a good site. Pearson and Blue. What a combination. Hey kid, you can do your science and have a beer at the same time - life is good!
I like what Alec Couros form U of Regina said - that free applications and services are not really free (meaning that you give up some personal info and, of course, there is the presence of ads) and kids (well everyone) needs to be aware & understand that, even if they do end up using them.
ReplyDelete