There are many benefits to building an online education community. However, as students and teachers come to grips with it, there could be lots of unintended consequences. Students need to keep in mind the professional barrier between themselves and their educators, and also need to keep in mind that just because they are online doesn't mean they can use the casual and often inappropriate language and phrases often found on myspace, youtube, facebook, and a myriad of other social websites. This should be covered in digital citizenship/etiquette. Even though that is the last 'tool' on our checklist, I would hope that wouldn't make it the last topic discussed in a classroom making use of current technology.
Commenting advice? The commenting advice was more about how to receive comments than to make comments. While these were accurate, I didn't see much about how to comment on others in the class. While as educators, I assume we all already know how to conduct ourselves in a professional and polite manner, if we are using some of this content with kids, sources discussing netiquette are beneficial.
It is not uncommon for communication to get out of hand online. Even what may begin as polite discourse and disagreement online, often eventually spirals into bickering and immature name-calling, insults, and rude behavior (termed: flames or flaming). This behavior is sometimes paired with images to poke fun at and amuse others at their target's expense. Due to the anonymity and detachment technology allows, these situations escalate much more so than one would expect in reality. This behavior can be witnessed on blogs, forums, chat rooms, online gaming, and other online communities as well. This is something to watch for and to take preventive measures against in the classroom. It is no doubt that many students have witnessed and probably participated in this via their online experiences by the time they reach high-school. I have read articles also stating that this behavior is also present through text messaging, even in some middle schools. Plenty of articles on cyber-bullying can be found online.
Comments:
Blithe Blog
Amy's House
Weg's Online
Ms. Sigala's Blog
Frogs, Chihuahuas, & Good Times
Please feel free to share any thoughts you have on how commenting should be conducted. We are all learning from each other. Having such an experienced online participant will be a benefit to all of us.
ReplyDeleteP.S. A strength of the 2.0 world is interactivity...if you hot link sites, it makes it easier for your readers to immediately visit the site.
I think it is to necessary teach on line citizenship as part of the class room environment. Kids need to learn what is acceptable when using technology and how their easy--do anything way is not acceptable.
ReplyDeleteI believe is so important that students are taught the polite way to comment and read comments. Students these days are blogging, facebooking, and socializing online now more than ever.
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