Education in the New Millennium: Careful - Tech Tools Are Sharp

The Eschoolnews article on sexting is quite alarming, and raises the dilemma we have as educators and planners.  We have to get our kids up to speed on technology so they can expand their world view and through their assessment of needs, spurn new farther reaching cyber tools. As we see in the article on sexting, there has to be some kind of control. All the Acceptable Use Policies I have ever read cover all the bases as far as unethical conduct is concerned, and forbids use of electronic gadgets during class. The school rules however allow students to carry the technology on their person throughout the day; it is going to be used!  The main culprit, of course, is the camera/video cell phone.  I feel that these are pretty well controlled in most classrooms, but no doubt, most of the sexting or other illegal and damaging items are set in motion outside of school and the classrooms, hallways and web postings are the exhibit and discussion rooms. These blatant threats are occurring while planning groups across the country are trying to remove some of the filters to allow students to access sites that can help provide a constructive educational process (You Tube etc.). The 2009 Michigan Educational Technology Plan is the kind of ambitious, progressive outlook we need to address the students’ dilemma as illustrated in the Joe’s Non-Net Book video. The young man’s reference to the book as a foreign tool speaks to the problem we have when school systems are mired in traditional book-based, non-exploratory teaching methods. This is the reality we must stay focused on, and the planners must stay their course. If the information technology gurus are doing their jobs correctly, students can have a cyber-based, safe, clean interactive learning experience. This will defeat some of the boredom that leads to unsanctioned use of technology.  Good supervision, proximity techniques and old-fashioned diligence are also priceless. It is not unusual for a secondary student to multi-task as in the photo above, without information overload. We must capture the energy and redistribute it in new, intellectually stimulating directions. At the same time we must add more character development to our programs to help counter the harassment, low-esteem and blatant misuse of technology that seems to be getting the greatest amount of publicity.

Comparison of the National, Michigan and Local Technology Education Plans

To compare the three plans I used two models from the National Technology Education Plan as the tool to gauge the main points of emphasis at the two levels of implementation.  Sorry I could not make a direct link to the pages by number.  The student model is found on pages 10-11; the Teacher model on page 40 (using the Acrobat page window). Ctrl/Click on the link above, sentence one.  Each plan lists and projects fulfillment of the Student and Teacher models, accenting the need for a community of learning.  The second focus was the continuing development of teachers in the technology arena so that they can facilitate a cyber learning environment.  The underlying premise seems to be the fact that if you are resistant to the new wave of technological instruction, you have no place.  Graphic illustrations like the two in the National plan would have aided my cursory understanding of the Michigan and PGCS documents, though I found the table format for Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) to be easy to follow.  The objectives begin on page 7 of the Google Docs link PGCPS Technology Plan 2008-2012.  PGCPS projected a plan from 2008-2012; a long term commitment to growth of the technology with reviews each year.  My last full-time teaching was in the PGCPS system and I can attest to the long strides the district made in the four years I was there; from a much simpler web grading and attendance system to online assessment data, for both in-school year and previous mandated assessment scores. It's probably just me, but I thought the National plan was more reflective of technology used to sell a technology plan.  The Michigan and PGCPS plans could have used some technological sharpening to make their dcocument reflect the shine of the future technological aspirations.  Each planning group seems to know its own goals, but these objectives have to be measured against dollars, meaning that each tier, national, state and local school will have to be ready to move at the same pace; or some child's computer will be left behind.  

Identifying Similarities and Differences Strategy

I chose the category of Identifying Similarities and Differences for my lesson experiment because that is the most effective teaching tool I have used in my short teaching career. That is also the method by which I have been piloted through life.  Most researchers support this strategy as the most rewarding in outcomes for learners. The components of the strategy; comparison, classification, metaphor and analogy can be applied to any subject area.  This flexibility of application and the compatibility with the eight other major strategies in support give the similarities/differences strategy the top position, and it is no wonder that it produces the best results. Scanning the web led to a number of education sites that echoed the praises of the strategy.  The Ohio department of Education (http://ims.ode.state.oh.us/ode/ims/rrt/research/Content/similarities_and_differences_what_we_know.asp), as in most learning institution cites referenced Marzano along with a varied entourage of his partner researchers who proved that identifying similarities and differences are the meat and potatoes of our learning processes. One interesting article from, written by a grad professor expound on the importance of note-taking in our technological age.  His technique for teaching effective note-taking skills came around full circle to the four components of the Similarities/Differences strategy; http://sites.google.com/site/mrsdavisprofessionalportfolio/grad-school-writing/summarizing-and-note-taking. So the number one and two percentile gain strategies are very close bed-fellows. Chapter 9 of our text, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that works, shows how modern technology is very compatible with implementing this strategy, from both the instructor's and students' abilities to generate tools for this learning method.

Theory of Action

Wikiality and the Cost of Books

When the Media Center director for my previous middle school opened her presentation on internet research she prefaced the Power point presentation with a note "No Wikipedia - You Cannot Trust the Information" I had heard o Wikipedia, but never used it and assumed that it was like Encarta or Britannica online.  I did not realize that anyone could contribute and edit information in Wikipedia.  It would seem that a formal process of submission including references should be required before any information is changed. 

Young students assume that the first reference sources that are listed when a search is performed will yield the most trustworthy information.  Wikipedia pops out at you usually within the first three search results on Google, Yahoo, Ask and so on.  The caption "Wikipedia - the Free Encyclopedia" suggests that this is a totally legitimate source of information.

I understand the appeal of wikipedia as an open source of information, but I see danger in lack of safeguards against tampering with information.  There is an overview that explains how the site works, but no eye-catching warning as one enters the site.  A young student is not going to take the time to wade the process information and disclaimers. As one test for my EDU 590 class, I modified information on the article on Blood Diamonds, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood%20diamond, changing the first line of the paragraph under Angola; making it a colony of Spain vice Portugal.  The change was effected at 11:16 and the correction back to Portugal and the message to me stating that I had entered erroneous information came at 11:21.  I was impressed by the speed in which the system had recognized the error and felt there was more of a fail-safe system than I thought. 

On a second try, I changed information on my favorite football team, the Oakland Raiders. I changed the first line under the heading  1963-1966 to read: "After the 1968 season, F. Wayne Valley hired Al Davis, a former assistant coach for the Denver Broncos, as head coach and general manager.  The original read: "After the 1962 season...a former assistant coach for the San Diego Chargers... "As I type this post, it has been almost four hours and the information is still false.  I guess certain types of information may trigger suspicion faster than others.  Even though the error recognition and correction were fast on the Blood Diamond article, there was no doubt a space of time, a minute or so, when someone could have gathered the wrong information. Colbert's video on Wikiality speaks comically of the consensus that essentially makes a lie come true. This is dangerous in that persons with similar agendas may agree on a falsehood to give it the appearance of truth.

 The New York Times article "$200 Textbook vs. Free. You Do the Math" touches upon a very important issue that affects students across the spectrum; the cost of  textbooks and questions regarding the need for them.   I agree with the premise that modern students do not need all the textbooks that they buy or that are bought for them.  I am a very large athletic guy, with very strong arms and back. I picked my daughter up from school during her first week and she had all her books in her bag.  I reached to take the bag to the car for her and lost my balance trying to pick the books up.  I later found that the condensed workbooks for her science and social studies books were a tenth the size and weight and contained all the important testable information.  I found further that the book websites had online versions of the book that only required the access code from the teacher's edition.  I have found that a class set for books suffices for the entire year as long as a versatile resource kit is provided in hard copy or online.  The average book for my classes cost $60 dollars and they stayed in lockers or at home most of the time.  If you search any school in America, you will probably find a book locker with a series of editions of the same subject books that date back for at least five years.  There is very little change or update in the newer editions and the publishers change almost every year. In the budget crunch of today, someone must rethink allowing the publishing company lobbyists to keep selling books we don't need at prices that are ridiculous.

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The "$200 Textbook..." article and the free access to books proposed therein is also closely linked to Wikipedia since that site has added free literature access through its Wikibooks and Wikisource projects.  Though the encyclopedia portion of Wikipedia is flawed in it's vulnerability to altered information, it remains popular and has support from studies with results that fall in its favor. For instance a CNET News article http://news.cnet.com/2100-1038_3-5997332.html  titled "Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica" has a header which reads: "Wikipedia is about as good a source of accurate information as Britannica, the venerable standard-bearer of facts about the world around us, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature." 

The ease by which I altered information will keep me from using the Wikipedia as a trusted reference, but I will measure its literature offerings against my Anthology of American Authors and form my own verdict on it Wikibooks and Wikisource extensions. A site like Wikipedia is too viable a source as a community sharing tool to be totally disregarded. The site is here to stay and the safeguards will probably improve. Besides, what serious researcher accepts facts without cross-referencing information and statistics?

The Increased Need for Academic Integrity in the Digital Age

The Information age has brought access to tools that have expanded plagiarism, falsification of documents through electronic means, and conveyance of false information through electronic media to an unbelievable scale.  For years officials have been pleading both the moral and legal implications of stealing and modifying information.  It is obvious however, that this approach in itself has not been very successful.  Most people can recite the FBI warning on movie DVD's and television movies, but pay very little heed. They simply fast forward to the movie that they are copying to another DVD or flash drive.  The feeling there is that I have paid for it once, therefore copying it and passing it to friends is part of the package.  The subtle implications are apparent in popular music, particularly hip-hop.  When a DJ hears the samples of old soul or other contemporary artists in the background of their favorite musical renditions, they feel they can do the same.  They never realize that the rights to use the samples have been bought by the artists; so when he or she is distributing sample CD's with ten artists' music mixed in, there is no apparent problem.

       As educators at all levels, most of us face plagiarism on an astounding scale. The growing lack of this particular integrity in speaks to the national emergency with reading and writing.  Teachers do not always have the time to run all of their students' papers through plagiarism detectors, so they are more or less stuck with local safeguards.  A student is not going to worry about the FBI or other federal agents kicking their door in because they squeezed in a quote from Henry Adams' "Education of Henry Adams" as their personal assessment of religion versus industry, without a reference citation. 

Many students feel they have no alternative but to copy for research reports and other written assignments, since translating and paraphrasing most of the finished product seems beyond their means. 

      The future success against word theft and other forms of copyrighted thievery begins with education.  Students that are taught creative writing skills and drilled in vocabulary and contextual reading in the early stages of school will not be prone to plagiarize.  The flexible and creative educator can Instead of preaching the legal ramifications of the impropriety, educators should tout its depreciation of the individual mind by taking shortcuts and use the topic of plagiarism as a viable teaching tool.  If employed in the early years of education, anti-plagiarism lessons are a way to address the basic skills that are measured by the No Child Left Behind curriculum standards.  The teaching should be  a  year-long "Building Skills for Honest Research and Writing" agenda with anti-plagiarism checks and safeguards built into lesson plans. The other general academic integrity issues beside plagiarism can only be helped by education to good citizenship and civic duty; the hardest task of all the near-impossible integrity challenges we face.