I wonder what we ever did before we had them....
How did we find each other in the mall? Grocery store? Keep up with our families and friends?
Teenagers don't remember a world without them. If you study cell phone use by teenagers, it doesn't take long to realize they don't talk on them as much as they text with them. Why do you think that is?
How can teachers harness all that energy and enthusiam for texting and use it for learning?
Filtering - Whose Job is it?
Lots of time, legislation, and discussion has been put toward keeping children safe on the Internet. The Child Internet Protection Act of 2000 is probably the best known example of effort to control what America's children are exposed to on the Internet. Recently, Texas Senate Bill 136 required the Texas School Safety Center, in cooperation with the attorney general, to develop a program that provides instruction concerning Internet safety, including potential dangers of disclosing personal information online, inappropriate online solicitation, and online bullying or threats occurring over the Internet.
While these initiatives are important, I don't think they are comprehensive. Anyone who is around teenagers for longer than 10 minutes today realizes that children often rely on cell phones as their primary communication device. Children also use gaming devices, digital cameras, PDA's, calculators, etc. All of these devices require supervision, constraints, and limits. Students have got to learn to deal with barrage of digital information and remarkable amount of digital freedom that we enjoy. We need to continue to urge the government to regulate appropriately.
TISD spends approximately $20,000 annually for filtering software. Why should schools have to keep the "bad guys" out? Isn't that the responsibility of the government? I know of no other place where children can readily access inappropriate information - magazines, books, substances, etc. are regulated to protect our young. We also need to make sure that we prepare our students well to be able to responsibly manage their digital use. I applaud the state of Texas for recognizing the need for education. I hope that we can develop a comprehensive, meaningful curriculum to prepare our students for the world they live in now and will work in in the future.
While these initiatives are important, I don't think they are comprehensive. Anyone who is around teenagers for longer than 10 minutes today realizes that children often rely on cell phones as their primary communication device. Children also use gaming devices, digital cameras, PDA's, calculators, etc. All of these devices require supervision, constraints, and limits. Students have got to learn to deal with barrage of digital information and remarkable amount of digital freedom that we enjoy. We need to continue to urge the government to regulate appropriately.
TISD spends approximately $20,000 annually for filtering software. Why should schools have to keep the "bad guys" out? Isn't that the responsibility of the government? I know of no other place where children can readily access inappropriate information - magazines, books, substances, etc. are regulated to protect our young. We also need to make sure that we prepare our students well to be able to responsibly manage their digital use. I applaud the state of Texas for recognizing the need for education. I hope that we can develop a comprehensive, meaningful curriculum to prepare our students for the world they live in now and will work in in the future.
What about Webkinz?
Anyone who is around little kids these days has probably heard of webkinz (http://www.webkinz.com/us_en/). There is a tour on the site that will help you understand how it works if you aren't familiar with these fuzzy creatures.
ABC News posted a blog (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3033380&page=1) in April of 2007 titled "Is the Webkinz Craze Bad for Kids?"
Read over the blog and then comment on the educational value (or lack thereof) of Webkinz.
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