I've had some success using the computer with a couple of my students who are only in school part time. Google Notebook is working well with one girl and with another student we are using e-mail and MSN. It has enabled the kids to address personal issues in a less threatening environment and some good progress has been made with each student.
I started an AbbyNet webpage, but have gone to Piczo.com which is sooooo easy and familiar to my students. I can set the privacy settings so that only my students can access it or I can make it password protected. (I've made it open to the world for now if you want to have a look at it here.) For a divergent thinker like me (some would say ADD) the Internet is a major time sucker and if it takes as long to make the website as it has for me to figure out its use and format, it'll be up and running 4 years from now.
I feel quite apprehensive about using MSN and teen social networking sites. Talking on MSN seems to go so fast and feels so not like being a teacher and, while I've not said anything inappropriate (yet), I wonder:
- are there ethical and liability issues of which I should be aware?
- should I have parent consent to use MSN?
- do I have to allow parents access to the site?
- what about providing links to teen health sites that may link to information others may not think appropriate for Middle School students?
- am I being paranoid, or is this a common reaction for a digital immigrant?
1 comment:
Hi, I'm glad you posted your questions on the blog, they are excellent concerns! First off, you're not paranoid! Piczo.com is blocked by the district firewall, as are many other social networking sites. There are concerns regarding social networking sites in schools as it is so easy to link to inappropriate content and child predators sometimes use them. More often, it's just a recipe for students to find inappropriate materials.
Also, note the advertising on Piczo.com is sometimes inappropriate (I just went there and saw an add for "What's your kissing style", not something a teacher would want on their webite!
In short, I wouldn't use social networking sites to communicate with students. Abbynet provides a safe sandbox where we don't have to worry about external ads, etc. We can also control your abbynet site so that it is only available to your students.
I would strongly advise you to move your site over to Abbynet. I would be happy to spend some time with you setting it up, it is a very easy process to get a professional looking site, much easier than it used to be.
Hope this helps.
Post a Comment