Thinking Like Philosophers

We don’t often think of middle schoolers as philosophers, but sixth graders at the JFK Middle School in Northhampton, Massachusetts are learning philosophy from the “What’s the Big Idea” site. Site content, created by a faculty member at the school, teaches students to listen to others and to think before speaking and acting. Included on the site are film clips, discussion questions, and handouts related to topics such as bullying, lying, peer pressure, friendship, and environmental ethics.

Are You in Information Overload?

The leaders of the Texas Computer Educators Association (TCEA) know about information overload, and in their technotes, they offer suggestions for keeping current without being overwhelmed. To help you “relax and recharge” after a busy school year, you might want to take time to try Spigot, Zite, and Flipboard. Spigot is a free site that offers snippets of current information for teachers and media specialists. Zite, called a personalized magazine, finds out what you are interested in and brings stories you want to your mobile device (Android, iOS, Windows). With Flipboard, an iOS and Android app, you create your own publications filled with what you want to know. Both Zite and Flipboard can gather content from Websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Sketchlot: A Free Whiteboard Website

With the free Web tool Sketchlot, you can create your “sketch” and share it with your students. They can then mark it up and send it back to you.  Suggested for teachers and students ages 8-18, Sketchlot is a Web application, not an app, and requires no installation or plugins. It works on computers, smart phones, and tablets. You can sign up your students with class codes. Examples of use include creating math questions, science diagrams, and text through Sketchlot.

Website Madness

It used to be that a teacher, administrator, or tech person created the school website. Few schools continue that tradition today, because school websites have simply become too large and too complicated. Although, I know of schools with dynamic Websites created by students under the direction of talented and dedicated Webmasters who work in the summers and after school, most often sites are created by district Webmasters or outside companies. Even when the sites are created by others, those in local schools have to take on part of the Web duties themselves. Someone has to keep up the calendars, provide parents with forms, post photos, oversee programs such as Moodle, etc. As parent expectations for school Websites grow, who is going to keep up with supplying and editing the information that must go online?

School Websites—Are They Impossible to Manage?

As Websites become essential to schools, it’s difficult to know what should be placed on them, who should have access to what, and how to keep up with supervision and maintenance of content. If you search online for ideas, you’ll find the usual: include your AUP, stress what’s considered private information with students, provide a school calendar and contact information, set up firewalls and filters, etc. But you won’t find everything you need. For example:

1. While many school sites provide different levels of access for parents, students, and faculty, it’s not easy to decide what should go into which areas and how much of the site should be public.
   
   
2. Schools have tended not to put student names on sites, but releases sent by schools to the media often end up on media sites. Such releases may broadcast student names, pictures, and towns, and highlight involvement in specific activities. What does this mean for school Websites?
   
   
3. Although schools may not list sporting events, schedules, and their locations except for student or parent access; coaches from other schools, news reporters, and community members interested in following teams may appreciate this information. Should sports and perhaps other activity notices be public even though they detail where which students are when?
   
   
4. The whole realm of interactivity and supervision/monitoring can be overwhelming. Does your site link to social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, or Pinterest? How about student blogs? Is it intertwined with a course management system such as Moodle? How do you handle comments on your site or the social networks? The list goes on.
   
   
5. And then, there’s site maintenance of content. Are teachers keeping their Moodle pages current, is the information about your courses correct, are your staff lists and content information up-to-date, have you changed your AUP to keep up with new technologies, are the latest sports rosters posted, were the changes in the school activities schedule put online, if a correction is needed, who makes it? . . .

 Most schools can’t afford full-time Internet managers, but as parents begin to expect more and more from schools—up-to-the-minute information, photos from field trips, info on programs, videos of activities, and interactivity and resources for themselves and their children, how can schools keep up?