Week 6 Blog Post

Should all teachers be encouraged to create online activities for students within traditional classrooms?

Yes, absolutely, though it may be too soon to require teachers to include online activities in their classrooms. Let’s face it, as Alan November lays it out in his text Empowering Students with Technology, not all teachers have the qualities to make them effective at online instruction (November, p. 94). Anyone who has been in a school recently has only to look around and see that the teaching staff is still comprised of a mix of new, tech-savvy types and older, tech-newbies. I fall somewhere in between these two groups, and I’m sure I’d be considered a newby by anybody’s standards. But November asks a great question at the outset of his 5th Chapter, “Do schools have an obligation to prepare students for a world where those who can access learning 24-7 potentially have an enormous advantage?” (November, p. 85) I think the answer to that question is yes. Our students, today, will face a very different world upon graduation, and their children will likely face a very different learning environment based on the technologies that are emerging today. Computer literacy has become a critical literacy for preparing the next generation of students. It could be as important to their self sufficiency as reading literacy is today.

In the meantime, Mr. November shares an anecdote in his text that sums up what all good teachers know – when you find that you’ve become little more than a “talking head” in the classroom (November, p.98), you know you are no longer operating optimally. Including varied, student-centered, inquiry-based methods allows students to take an active role in the learning process. Incorporating online learning today is the first step to helping our learners master that process. Learn is a verb. It is an action word. Learners should be the ones taking the action.


At what grade level should educators begin teaching students how to use social networks? Find documentation to support your answer.

This remains a hot topic among educators I know. Some argue that we should not be teaching students how to use social networks at all. I, personally, know educators that would rather pretend social networks don’t exist, or at least treat them as a phenomenon far isolated from their role as educators.

I’m not so big on living in denial though. There are valuable lessons to be learned in how to use social networks without getting oneself into trouble. Will Richardson cited an important study in his text, however, that showed that students don’t just use the social networks for “friendship-based” activities (Richardson, p. 131). They also use them for “interest-based” activities (Richardson, p. 131), and this is a benefit that should not be ignored. The benefits of wikipages, social bookmarking, and Twitter are too great.

So the question is only one of when. Its important to know when they CAN start using sites likes Facebook. The internet watchdog site Netmums.com cited some interesting statistics. First, social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have stated age limits. Users must be at least 13 and 14 years old respectively to use their site. If we assume that only children 13 and over actually use these sites, then we should definitely start instructing in their use in middle school. However, there are other social networking sites that students as young as 6 can use like ClubPenguin and Neopets. It couldn’t be a bad idea to start the learning process there. Students need to know how to interact appropriately on these sites and how to handle issues that arise from those that don’t act appropriately. They also need to learn basic safety precautions like protecting their privacy. Perhaps its not a firm starting point we should agree on, but a continuum of instruction that starts with safety and internet etiquette early on, followed by increasingly complex skills involving how to be a strong member of the global, connected community.



How can teachers use social networking sites as teaching and learning tools?

The possibilities are endless, limited only by our own willingness and imagination. Some ideas from Will Richardson’s text Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms….

Social Bookmarking sites like Diigo have some interesting potential. Starting next year, in my own Research Skills class, individual students will create and use Diigo accounts for research projects. They will be able to bookmark good resource sites they find, not only to track them, but to prevent them from losing their citation information. I can’t even estimate how many times I’ve had a student lose points for an incomplete bibliography. One very cool feature is the ability to highlight and annotate the resources once bookmarked. In my classroom, this is a key component of comprehension.

Twitter offers some tools I am only just learning about as well. I’m already thinking of incorporating it for bookclub / literature circle activities. Many of my students are already competent in its use. I envision assigning evening text reading, followed by the requirement that students use Twitter to post questions or short reactions (140 words or less of course).

Podcasts – Richardson has some great ideas for posting parent / school community messages and having students record oral histories and interviews (Richardson, p. 117). I’ve, personally, always dreamed of having my students write a class song to detail a historical event or period. It would be a neat thing to record to a podcast for sharing.

I also liked some of the ideas from Richardson’s text for using social networking sites like Kiva.com and TakingItGlobal.org for connecting kids to real-life social issues. As a social studies teacher and the facilitator of my schools Student Council, I am always looking for new ways to incorporate service learning. Students could raise funds in the community and use Kiva.com to choose their own recipient, or they could use the TakingItGlobal site to connect with others to impact a social issue of their choosing.



Envision the role of social networking in 21st century learning environments. Write a brief description of this vision.
I think, realistically and perhaps ideally, 21st Century classrooms will be a mix of traditional and online learning. I hope that early learning (K-5 anyway), will remain more traditional in style. I think there’s been ample research on the importance of social interaction / training for the youngest students. Even Mr. November’s accounts from dedicated online learning sites like The Electronic High School acknowledge the benefits of face-to-face learning. (November, p. 87)

As a special education teacher, I suspect another important function of the traditional elementary school is the identification of disabilities and disorders. The benefits of early intervention have been carefully documented for student with learning disabilities and for students faced with social / emotional disorders. Many of my students are identified in grades K-3, much could be missed without regular classroom attendance to see students in action. Having some experience in the delivery of remedial services, its hard for me to envision an online environment or program that would take the place of the interface my students need to succeed even beyond the initial identification. One key component of my teaching is the ability to recognize when as student has not grasped a new concept (or perhaps even part of it) and loop back to repeat until each of them has it. These types of interactions are key to their successes. Special Education is one area that would seem better served by the traditional approach both in identifying and serving the needs of its clientele.

K-5 years would be a great time to instruct students in the skills they will need for online learning, however. Teachers could use the benefits of face time to teach students about the varied technological tools AND strategies that can aid them in developing the independent work ethic they will need in an online environment. Middle school might then become the transition not just between elementary years and high school, but between the traditional environment and the more independent, online one.

Given the varied independence and cognitive abilities among age groups, I believe (until someone proves otherwise) that high school is where students might best benefit from online learning. November included some great benefits in his text, such as the ability for the needs of varied ability groups to get appropriate instruction. Having a son in high school with limited access to AP coursework, I love the idea of having an online system to provide more choices. With just a few exceptions, I suspect juniors and seniors could take the majority of their credits on line, at their own pace and timing. Personally, I’d like to see them meet weekly, however, with cohorts for discussions and debates – teacher led. And, of course, certain courses, such as science, would still require hands-on lab work for investigation.

I remain very skeptical about both the timeline (half of all curriculum by 2019) (November, p. 84) and some of the benefits suggested by Mr. November. November suggests in Chapter 5 (albeit without much direct evidence as to how) that school districts would benefit from the increased flexibility and the expanded audiences provided via online learning. He seems to suggest a reduction in costs. But…..

• We will still need qualified teachers, not to mention low student/faculty ratios to ensure success (November, p. 88).

• The initial costs of providing technology for all learners is likely to be prohibitive. This is an issue not only for students receiving special education services (IDEA, ADA, Section 504 all require access to necessary accommodations through college), but also for students in low-income communities that may have access to something, but not the quality technology that will allow use of online learning as we know it today. Despite the potential for online instruction to shift the responsibility for learning to the learner, our current environment of educational entitlement will not easily shift with it, and these issues will slow change.

• Childcare issues will arise for younger students. Public schools not only serve a valuable socializing role, but they provide a safe and productive (ideally) place for the children of working families. A shift to online education will require some accompanying poverty mitigation to ensure families will be able to make use of the new changes and provide adequate supervision for students.

And these are just a few questions that I have. I can only imagine the ones that will arise as we begin to see real change. Knowing how notoriously resistant to change our public schools are, its really difficult for me to imagine the rapid shift Alan November cites in his text. I’m thinking that maybe, just maybe, my grandchildren will begin to see the benefits. Maybe.