Journal 4: NETS I-V

Schaffhauser, D. (2010, December 1). It's time to trust teachers with the internet:: a conversation with Meg Ormiston. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/12/01/Its-Time-To-Trust-Teachers-with-the-Internet-A-Conversation-with-Meg-Ormiston.aspx?sc_lang=en&Page=1

Summary:

Meg Ormiston advocates the importance of learning to use the Internet responsibly in the classroom. She claims that most schools waste their time focusing on how to restrict inappropriate student or teacher access to sites because the majority of sites can be used to further educate children. Although many schools are forced to limit access due to problems with bandwidth, most are simply afraid of allowing Internet freedom. Meg agrees that certain things, like pornography, need to be blocked. However, limitations on all social networking sites and tools (like YouTube) are unrealistic because they are tools that most kids will be using at home. Therefore, classrooms need to teach responsible computing, rather than telling students not to go to sites that they already check on their phones every few minutes. What’s even more striking is that many students know how to work around filters. Why waste time by blocking sites when they could be used to help the child grow? Meg suggests that districts work to expand the professional development of teachers and administrators to prepare them to supervise, rather than limit, their students computer use.

Question 1: How can a teacher keep supervise all of their students computer use when it is so easy to close and open windows in the blink of an eye?

I don’t think total supervision should be the goal. The whole point of this article was that students need to learn responsible computing. Students have to be able to work alone so that they can experiment with the tools. Granted some supervision is necessary, but trust is an important part of learning.

Question 2: How can teachers prevent inappropriate computing in the classroom when they are busy focusing on an individual?

The best advice is to have a well thought out and prepared lesson plan. If your lesson plan is complex enough to keep students busy for the entire class then students may be less inclined to wander on other sites. Group projects are also a good way for kids to stay focused because one child’s wandering could cost the whole groups’ grade, which would encourage focus.