Comments on: Yes, but I how do I CONTROL it? http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/09/19/yes-but-i-how-do-i-control-it/ Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:07:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: jt http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/09/19/yes-but-i-how-do-i-control-it/#comment-17726 jt Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:20:13 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/09/19/yes-but-i-how-do-i-control-it/#comment-17726 u no wut, i dont like dat wen im in skoo i cant even check my space. dat is against our rites as humans. we gots a right of speech, press, and they is protected by da constitution of da united st8s. wurd u no wut, i dont like dat wen im in skoo i cant even check my space. dat is against our rites as humans. we gots a right of speech, press, and they is protected by da constitution of da united st8s. wurd

]]> By: Mark Ahlness http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/09/19/yes-but-i-how-do-i-control-it/#comment-16866 Mark Ahlness Thu, 21 Sep 2006 02:00:08 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/09/19/yes-but-i-how-do-i-control-it/#comment-16866 Wesley, I find it interesting and very sad that the word "teacher" is used but once in this post (and then only hyphenated). Who is in charge of what the kids do in class? Who is ultimately responsible for every action in every classroom? Gosh, I always thought it was the teacher. Administrators have now decided that THEY must be responsible ones setting limits. Hmmm. I think this speaks volumes about respect, trust, and power in our educational system. Wesley, I find it interesting and very sad that the word “teacher” is used but once in this post (and then only hyphenated). Who is in charge of what the kids do in class? Who is ultimately responsible for every action in every classroom? Gosh, I always thought it was the teacher.

Administrators have now decided that THEY must be responsible ones setting limits. Hmmm.

I think this speaks volumes about respect, trust, and power in our educational system.

]]> By: Sharon Peters http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/09/19/yes-but-i-how-do-i-control-it/#comment-16837 Sharon Peters Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:44:00 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/09/19/yes-but-i-how-do-i-control-it/#comment-16837 Great post with some issues I have been wrestling with in my own school as we have moved to a wireless laptop program. My oldest daughter is in an alternative gr. 12 program here in the same school in Québec and is able to using instant messaging in her classrooms (not sure if condoned, she may be doing it "under the radar"). She has described to me how she IMs her friends about the lesson or lecture so that there is an unobtrusive "background" discussion going on at the same time. This is happening in college and universities as well as in IT businesses (my husband uses yahoo and google talk) and they refer to it as "backchanneling". Personally I think it is a great idea and have used this myself in my grad courses in EdTech. So what did I do today? I invited all of my middle school students to Gmail (not yet blocked in our school) so that my students can store their files and I told them about Google Talk and gave them permission to use it during my class. However, I told them that I reserved the right to check their chats at any time and if it didn't have to do with classroom matters, I would pull the plug. Then I told them that if we could be responsible users and show the other teachers that this contributed to their learning, maybe they would see the benefits too. They were on board with that! The benefit too of inviting the students is now I have them on my contact list and will be able to see anytime that their "online" and chatting. So there is a little bit of control there.... Thanks for your thoughts on this! Too much control and blocking is putting up more barriers to the learning process. Let's not forget that "learning is a messy affair". Great post with some issues I have been wrestling with in my own school as we have moved to a wireless laptop program. My oldest daughter is in an alternative gr. 12 program here in the same school in Québec and is able to using instant messaging in her classrooms (not sure if condoned, she may be doing it “under the radar”). She has described to me how she IMs her friends about the lesson or lecture so that there is an unobtrusive “background” discussion going on at the same time. This is happening in college and universities as well as in IT businesses (my husband uses yahoo and google talk) and they refer to it as “backchanneling”.

Personally I think it is a great idea and have used this myself in my grad courses in EdTech.

So what did I do today? I invited all of my middle school students to Gmail (not yet blocked in our school) so that my students can store their files and I told them about Google Talk and gave them permission to use it during my class. However, I told them that I reserved the right to check their chats at any time and if it didn’t have to do with classroom matters, I would pull the plug. Then I told them that if we could be responsible users and show the other teachers that this contributed to their learning, maybe they would see the benefits too. They were on board with that! The benefit too of inviting the students is now I have them on my contact list and will be able to see anytime that their “online” and chatting. So there is a little bit of control there….

Thanks for your thoughts on this! Too much control and blocking is putting up more barriers to the learning process. Let’s not forget that “learning is a messy affair”.

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