T21-8 Stimulus

New technologies have brought us significant benefits but unfortunately, we often find negative consequences lurking behind them. Two hundred years ago the Luddites, fearing loss of employment, responded to the threat of these negative consequences by smashing the new mechanized looms in nocturnal attacks. Today the fear of job losses still exists in some sectors, but the greatest concerns relate to the negative consequences that threaten the physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being of the children in our care. Some also threaten the well being of adults.

Balancing Opposing Issues

For our final topic, we will examine some of these issues that come with the possibility of negative consequences. We will also look at some other areas which involve opposing forces that create tensions and which require us to find an acceptable balance.

We have already read about the benefits of using social media and publishing student work online, but these benefits come with potential threats for both children and adults. We all need to take precautions to guard against predators who seek to harm our children and other criminals who seek to empty our bank accounts or even steal our identity. What are the necessary precautions? How do we balance active online participation with personal safety?

We do not have time to examine all such issues in depth so we will have to focus on a selection of these issues. This week's blog will require you to choose one of these issues, so you may wish to choose your Stimulus links with that in mind.

Online Safety: Sharing vs Privacy

Online safety is receiving a lot attention in most schools, so it is likely that you will have already seen resources similar to those listed here.

• Prabhu, M. (2009) Task force tells how to keep kids safe online, eSchool News. This is a report about the July 2009 release of PointSmart ClickSafe: Task Force Recommendations for best practices for child online safety.
• Cashmore, Peter (2010) Facebook Founder on Privacy: Public is the New “Social Norm” Mashable 10 Jan 2010.
• Cybersmart. Safety and Security Online: Lesson Plans and Student Activity Sheets.
• Federal Trade Commission (2006), Social Networking Sites: Safety Tips for Tweens and Teens.
• Internet Safety. This is a story to read to children as an introduction to online safety. The story has been around for about 12 years and is probably fictitious but it should get students thinking.

Cyber bullying a closely related issue and is a big issue today and there are many web resources about it. More links are provided in this week's Management section.

Real vs Virtual Experiences

"Children’s play throughout history has been free, spontaneous, and intertwined with work, set in the playgrounds of the fields, streams, and barnyards. Children in cities enjoyed similar forms of play but their playgrounds were the vacant lands and parks. Today, children have become increasingly inactive, abandoning traditional outdoor play for sedentary, indoor cyber play and poor diets. The consequences of play deprivation, the elimination and diminution of recess, and the abandonment of outdoor play are fundamental issues in a growing crisis that threatens the health, development, and welfare of children." Frost, J. (2009) A History of Children's Play and Play Environments.

• McKenzie, J. (2007) Digital Nativism, Digital Delusions and Digital Deprivation. "Childhood is shifting inside. Some fear the consequences of sensory deprivation over the long haul with excessive exposure to things digital." Some parts of McKenzie's article could lead you to conclude that he opposes the use of computers in education but that is certainly not the case. See more articles from his online journal, From Now On.
• ACES Newsline, Solving Childhood Obesity Won’t Be Easy, Expert Says. This article quotes Dr Bob Keith who is concerned with what is happening to a "generation of children who are turning to visual media for the stimulation that earlier generations derived from physical activities such as touch football or basketball."
• Scheeres, J. (2001) The Quest to End Game Addiction. Wired.
• Becker , D. (2002) When games stop being fun. CNET News.
• Stansbury, M. (2009) Can gaming change education? eSchool News.
• Spencer, J. (2012) It's Not a Game (Thoughts on Gamification). Education Rethink.

The Budget vs the Law

The tension between budget restraints and copyright issues is not confined to schools, but of course schools have a responsibility to set the right example to students as well as a responsibility to act within the law. Fortunately, the law in most countries makes special provisions for educational use of copyright materials but there are limits that teachers need to very careful with. In recent years there has been an increasing amount of material made available under the Creative Commons licensing model. This is good news for teachers!

• Dean, K. (2004) Copyright Crusaders Hit Schools. (USA)
• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Copyright Resources for Schools and Libraries. (USA). This is an archived version of the site.
• Council of Ministers of Education, (2005) Copyright Matters 2nd Edn. (Canada)
• Smartcopying: The Official Guide to Copyright Issues for Australian Schools and TAFE. (Australia)
• Creative Commons, What is CC? A good place to start. It includes two video clips.
• Edtech Crew, (2009) Creative Commons Explored. (Podcast episode, interview with Ahrash Bissell from the San Francisco office of the Creative Commons Organization.) The show notes for this episode also include links about Creative Commons licensing.
• E-learning Insights, (2009) Copyright and Creative Commons. (Podcast episode, interview with Delia Browne, National Copyright Director for MCEETYA and Jessica Coates, Project Manager, Creative Commons Clinic, Queensland University of Technology.)
• Converge (2010) California Moves Forward with Free Digital Textbook Initiative. Some people were predicting that this initiative would fail. It will be interesting to see how it proceeds.

Keeping Up vs Keeping Sane

Teachers are being encouraged to be lifelong learners are keep up with changes in technology that are relevant to education, but this can be very time consuming and for some teachers it is an exhausting process. How can we manage? Where do we draw the line between keeping up and keeping sane"

• Amichai-Hamburger, Y. (2009) Free yourself from oppression by technology. New Scientist.
• Fingal, D. (2009) Finding Balance Leading and Learning with Technology.
• Philly Teacher (2009) The Importance of Silence. This blog post is referred to in the previous article by Diana Fingal. The author gives no indication of any Christian philosophy in her post but as Christians we can identify with the need she proposes. See Desire of Ages Ch 38, especially the very last paragraph.
• The Management section for Week 3 provided some practical suggestions relevant to this topic. It might be worth looking at these ideas again if this issue poses a significant challenge to you.