Looking for Ways for Your Students to Collaborate?

Ozge Karaoglu on the Tech & Learning site offers a list of “100 Web Tools for Collaboration”. Part I features the first 20 of the 100 and includes links to Dabbleboard and 10 reasons for use of this whiteboard; CoSketch, the whiteboard that needs no installation and works with all browsers; Stixy for creating online bulletin board interaction; Ning and Grou.ps to help you establish your own social network; ImaginationCubed, a “cool” multiuser drawing tool according to Karaoglu; and other tools such as GroupTweet; Wallwisher; PageFlakes; Whiteboard; Wiggio; WeToku; WebNote; MeBeam; SpringNote; DoingText; Creately; WikiDot; Phuser; and PalBee. With these tools, you can create chat rooms, start online notebooks, work with others to create professional designs, share content, track discussions, set up online video meetings, record interviews, send email, track changes—you name it. Wow. Nice list. Look for more by checking Karaoglu’s blog.

Homework As An Excuse

Most kids like to spend time online, and many parents and teachers worry about the time students spend at the keyboard. As teachers move to assigning homework that may require use of the Internet to access and complete assignments, kids have a perfect excuse for staying online.  All they have to do is to tell parents, “I’m doing my homework,” when perhaps they’ve finished what was required an hour or so ago.  This is just another way kids are finding to circumvent what we want them to do. The answer is parent and teacher communication so parents will be aware of assignments and teachers will be aware of how long students are taking to “do assignments” at home. We need to help parents learn how to monitor their children’s online activities and how to find out what’s actually assigned.

Are Your Students in the Here & Now Only?

At the Annual Conference for the Association of Independent Maryland Schools, several of the sessions focused on students and their use of technologies.  Discussion during the sessions addressed problems students face and/or students cause when using the Internet, computers, and digital devices. The consensus was that students are so focused upon “the here and now” that they don’t take time to consider how their actions online may cause problems in the future. For example, why do many post inappropriate photos online, when they’ve certainly been told that these photos can damage their reputation, attract those they don’t want to attract, and stand in the way of their college admissions or job opportunities? Why do some students continue to bully others when they have to know that this behavior is unacceptable? Is it about looking good in front of peers? Is it about social acceptance and wanting to make oneself look better than others? Is it about students asserting their independence from the adults in their lives—students trying to grow up and be noticed and accepted? As educational professionals we know that kids’ problems, which sound silly to us often seem like “life and death” dilemmas to them. How do we find ways to give kids what they need so that they will feel safe enough with their “here and now” to do what’s right for their future?

Online Harassment - How Much Is There?

An Associated Press piece in the Baltimore Sun, Studies Spotlight Effect of Online Harassment, notes that finding statistics on cyberbullying is difficult. One problem is the way the questions about online communication are asked. Another problem is that what upsets some children may not upset others. A study on cyberbullying found that 1 in 3 children experienced bullying online, while another more recent study said that the percentage was 1 in every 10 children. No matter what the percentage is, cyberbullying, like bullying in person, continues to be a problem in schools and neighborhoods. It is interesting that one of these studies found that most (64%) children who are bullied online aren't also bullied in person and that most online bullying consists of brief encounters. Encounters that continue, according to the article, might better be termed harassment rather than cyberbullyig. With all this in mind, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention is attempting to study how electronic communication (email, text messaging, blogging, social networking, instant messaging etc.) affects children.