Mauro's WR#8

What have you done to protect your students? What have you done to protect yourself? When was the last time you googled yourself? Do you know what to do if you become a “cyber victim”? What do you know about your rights?

First off, though I'm not sure it's the kind of thing one should mention in public, I just Googled myself and found nothing surprising. Whew!

More seriously, this is a conversation I have with my students often. As we bolt headlong into this web 2.0 stuff, we must talk about where we're going and the trouble we could get ourselves into. The truth is that what we are doing right now by participating in ATI is probably the best thing we can do. Whether our less-aware colleagues know it or not, these new technologies are here and they are not going away. Burying our heads in the sand not only keeps us from helping our students, but puts us at risk as well. My Space is an excellent example. I do not have a My Space, but I am aware enough to know that students often make them--for positive and negative reasons--for their teachers. Teachers need to know that My Space has a system in place to have those pages pulled, and students need to know that publishing such pages is against the law and they can be prosecuted if a teacher should choose to press charges (usually students are stunned and frighted by this fact, as they should be).

There is also the reality of teacher rating sites and other unregulated opinion-based media like blogs, etc. Dwelling on these things does us no good (I can see no reason to subject myself to the random opinions given by students in cyber-anonymity), but we should at least know they are out there.

Finally, the ubiquity of cell phone cameras and other digital recording devices means that we, teachers and students, must live as if we are always on camera, at least in public, and we must carefully consider our words before we push send, post, etc. Not good news perhaps, but the truth none-the-less.

Good points, Mauro. We'll just use technology for good, not evil--while acknowledging that others may not do the same. Sounds reasonable to me, and all we can hope for anyway. Students (and grads) of my school post many details on their My Space pages--who is drinking where and when--not stuff you want pedofiles, parents, or employers to read. They need some tips.

On a related note, HCOE has blocked all blogs, so I couldn't access any RWP stuff until each one was unblocked per request from me to my admin to them. I think they are clear now, but usually do this stuff from home anyway.

--Harriet

Our blogs were blocked as well, but the ECS tech folks have graciously unblocked them. They are somewhat hamstrung by laws that are political in nature and were written for the internet of many years ago. Law and the schools' efforts to protect our children via filtering will always be behind where the technology, and our students, are. That, and the things you mention above, are one reason why, at least in the context of high school, I feel like filters are utter foolishness. We need to be aware of where are students are surfing (because they can avoid the filter at will anyway) and we need to teach them HOW to use the internet safely and for good. As you point out, they don't often understand how public it is and how permanent. ~Mauro

Two things come to mind for me, Mauro and Harriet. The first is the old adage: "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't." How can we combat that which we ignore? How can we deal with hate speech and sexism and whateverism if we don't know what the racists/sexists/whateverists are saying? We can't. And this is the most compelling argument against censorship I can conjure.

The second thing that comes to mind is this: while I do not often agree with the perceptions the students with whom I get to work voice, I absolutely need to know those perceptions. At the very least, their "reviews," as uncritical and unsupported as they appear, teach me how to scaffold and deliver new content--once I get past my knee-jerk kids-these-days response. Suddenly I am channeling my grandfather. And I don't like it. Tracy

Don't get me wrong, I want to know what my students think, but I prefer meaningful evaluations given to all students, not the online rantings of the students who choose to go online and vent (a very small and biased group), thus I choose not to read or give any validity to the rating sites. ~Mauro

Woah! Guess who was up on her high horse! Sorry, Mauro. I guess I've just been grappling with this disconnect I've been feeling especially strongly this semester--this feeling that I and the students with whom I work are speaking a different language. I feel both frustrated and embarrassed about that disconnect, and I'm afraid my turmoil devolved into something that sounds like a lecture. My apologies. Tracy

No need to apologize. I see exactly where you are coming from. You should spend more time at the high school. You'd know their language then, but you'd have to fight to maintain the integrity of your own "adult" voice. ;-) ~Mauro

For all my worrying about being misrepresented on YouTube or MySpace, I hate censorship. I have an immature view of life anyway--I still want everything to be fair. Subsequently I am also a big fan of retribution and vindication. I know, scary, huh? Anyway, being attacked by someone makes me want to fight back--so I hate it when I am powerless and my enemy is faceless. I guess that's my concern. As far as the blocks put on our school computers--I think we need to allow students to make decisions and we need to help them make the right ones. We are fighting hate speech, sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. everyday. It is our job to enlighten and treat bigotry at its root--ignorance. Vicki

This is my last intrusion. I promise.

Have you all seen Professors Strike Back? Here's the link: http://www.mtvu.com/professors_strike_back/. Tracy

It'd be funnier if the REALLY went after them. Darn professors are too mature for cyberbashing!