If this post by Chris Lehmann isn’t one of the best edublog posts of 2006, I don’t know what is. This is what I was talking about yesterday about the power of blogging (the verb.) About being willing to reflect and share and learn through the writing. Not only is he writing about real experiences, he puts them in the context of the larger struggles and issues that so many of us are dealing with. Chris is walking the fine line of the Read/Write Web in his school and he’s gracious enough to take us all along for the ride.
In this post, he talks about some serious issues that have arisen with his students use of wide open laptops. Some have been using iChat irresponsibly, and Chris and his staff have been trying hard not to take the easy route and switch it off. Instead, they have encouraged the school community to work through it, and the results have been pretty impressive so far.
So we are also leaving iChat on the computers, and we’re still encouraging students to find ways to use IM in ways that are useful, and we’re still not naive enough to think that every iChat message is on-point and relevant, but it’s a tool, and the kids and need to learn how to use it safely and effectively. And we’ll be there to help, navigate, and — when we have to — punish for when they clearly violate the rules.
But, as the rest of the story shows, this has not been an easy decision. None of this is. But posts like this force us to think in ways that push our own comfort zones and see the possibilities.
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And as we have been saying for a long time – they all have cell phones and they all use those responsibly 24/7 right???? Like you mentioned this forces the ethics and responsible use conversation – but that conversation won’t just be focused on iChat – it will also pertain by default to all read/write web and communication use.
I agree with Brian — it is about all the devices. We may not like it, but the walls of the school are breaking down — with or without our permission. We can put our heads in the sand and pretend it’s not happening, pretend we can just stop it from happening, or we can engage our communities to find healthy and safe ways for it to happen.
an age old problem…
isn’t this just a case of when kids have access to paper and pencil – they pass notes around? Some are appropriate but some will be mischievous, no doubt some hurtful.
Ultimately it is down to the vigilance of the teacher (and other kids) to recognise wrong-doing and correct bad behaviour. However parallel to this is the pro-active encouragement of the teacher to promote the safe and appropriate use of these amazing tools we now have access to as opposed to just ordering a blanket ban.