During the dinner conversation, my wife and I inquired about school. The older daughter mentioned that one of her teachers "tweets" assignments on Twitter as a means to keep students informed. My brother had a surprisingly negative reaction to this news knowing quite well my feelings regarding integrating technology. He thought that it was a bad idea that the teacher used Twitter, not because he thought that it was inappropriate contact between teacher and student, but because he thought that it implied that parents were now required to provide students with a smartphone. Although he had provided his kids with cell phones, he thought the teacher's use of technology meant that parents were supposed to supply their students with expensive technology. And if they didn't supply or were incapable of supplying the necessary technology, that those students were somehow disadvantaged and robbed of the ability to succeed to the degree that their 'connected' classmates were.
I'm sure that the teacher was not exclusively assigning work over Twitter and was simply supplementing his normal practices with the advanced step of Twittering information to appeal to teens. However, as much as I just love to argue with my little brother, his comment has stuck with me. I looked at all the different angles from ethics to best practices and have come to this essential question: Are we requiring parents to invest in technology so that we can more actively engage their digital native children in the curriculum, OR are we integrating technology simply as a means to keep up with today's youth and as a means to reach out to them?
What do you think? How do you feel? Any thoughts? Have I missed something?
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I agree with what you said, that the teacher is just "supplementing his normal practices." If the teacher keeps the students informed of the assignments in convetional ways as well, then the other students can keep doing what they've been doing. If, however, the teacher is exclusivly using Twitter as his means of communication then I was consider the whole situation unfair. I believe the student without Twitter can get just as good of a grade as the student with Twitter, they just rely on different means to receive instruction from their teacher.
ReplyDeleteI would be a little cautious of twittering/facbooking/whatever students, because, as a parent, I would see it as just another thing to have to monitor. I don't mean to be the "devils advicate" (hehe to all those that got that joke) but with all the news about inappropriate student/teacher relationships, this is just another way problems like this can occur. I'm not saying that problems will not occur without the internet, but it can be used as a "tool" in adding these types of relationships.
ReplyDeleteI also can see it as an invation of students' space. As a teacher I don't think that I would want all of my students knowing every detail about my life, and I'm sure that students' don't want teachers knowing everything about their lives. That is why we have close friends and confidants.
I love me my facebook. I have my own account, as well as the passwords to my kids' accounts. I checked out myspace and facebook (pre-twitter) and decided facebook was the easier of the two to monitor. I'm pretty obsessive about what my children are doing online. Our computers are set with some pretty strict protocol and they know I can/will monitor them. Facebook allows me to keep up with my kids, my football team, old friends, and past teachers of my children. I don't see anything wrong with using them.
ReplyDeleteMost of my children's teachers have some sort of website/blog to update the parents and students of assignments due. I really like that, especially since one of my children consistently forgets his homework. It's my job as a parent to make sure he has everything he needs to succeed and I appreciate teachers who take the extra time to set up and maintain those websites.
With anything, everything in moderation.
You know....It is easy to fear something you know little about. I have a cell phone, and I have a facebook account. I know just enough to use these tools and yet I fear for my children using them. Partly because I don't know enough about the technology to be in a supervisory role with it.
ReplyDeleteI need to learn more how I can monitor the cell phones and computer accounts. I need to know about installing filters and such. I don't want my kids to be the only ones who are not technically savvy because I fear technology and all the "bad" it could bring. I want to teach my children correct principles about the proper use of it and then trust them to apply that to their technology use.
It would also help them to know that I could check up on them if need be. That would help them to make good decisions concerning the use of the technology. I can't put my kids in a bubble, but I can give them the skills to survive in this technological world.
I love the idea of using technology to help teach students. Computer games to help with spelling, math and basic concepts are great. I feel that Elementary kids are too young to have cell phones with them at all times. As a parent, I refused to buy my son his own cell phone until he was in high school and we still had issue with the phone getting lost. I like the idea of giving test to high school students and letting them work in groups. My reservation about that idea is will the other student be resentful to the students that do not have their own cell phone? I think that teachers that are using cell phone in the classrooms are showing their great teaching ability to be creative and trying to reach their students in new ways. Thumbs up for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Becky. Everything in moderation. My daughter has a facebook account and checks it everyday! She also has a cell phone. I can't afford to have internet on it but it does have text. She and her soccer team are always texting each other. Her 6th grade teacher used to text me her assignments all the time. I think that anyway the teachers can use to make the assignments accessible to students is good as long as there is still face to face contact and teacher explanation.
ReplyDeleteI think that we should use technology to keep students excited about learning, but I don't think it should come to the point where if you don't have it you will be disadvantaged. Technology is a way that students of today are wired to learn. I think that if we as teachers can use it, to enhance our students lives and learning experiences than that is sufficient.
ReplyDeleteI personally would not be comfortable calling students on their phones or emailing each one of them. That just makes more work for the teacher to remember to do.
Kids today need to learn to use technology appropiately and also when to use it and when not to. There has to be rules and they have to be followed when it comes to technology.