Its been a while but with the impending demise or sale of Delicious by Yahoo! I have created another starter sheet, this one is for Diigo - another social networking tool. http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/file/view/starter+sheet+-+Diigo.pdf This starter sheet has an overview of the use of the tool and some of the key features it has. It also examines how this tool may be used in the classroom. In this example its a brief examination of how it could be used in a humanities classroom. Comments, suggestions and corrections are always appreciated

Over the last three weeks I have had the privilage of speaking to principals and teachers in Canada, America and New Zealand. One of the core topics has been digital citizenship  and I have come to the conclusion that its the same everywhere.  While the legilastion may be different the issues facing the schools, teachers, parents and students are the same. Everyone is grappling with the same issues. Faced with the amazing digital world we live in where everything is available and apparently free, where access is so easy and ubiquitous and available on everything from the computer to the cellphone to the refrigerator; where in a seemingly anonymous medium you can release that frustration, anger and pent up emotions. Its no wonder why everyone is struggling and this virtual struggle parellels the same ethical and moral struggle in the real world too. The questions are the same the world over. What do you do?  how do you deal with….. what do you tell the students? How do you get community buy in into the concept? What we have found is that rules are too inflexible and concequently out of date and irrelevant quickly. You can not ban cell phones, it simply doesn’t work. While you can at school block and filter the internet to some degree, this shifts the time of inappropriate use from school to home. While that might mean that its not the schools problem, its diverting the issue rather than addressing it. In my opinion the school has failed if this is there approach on a holistic level. Critically, we must instil in our students and understanding of the reasons behind our approaches to digital (and real world) citizenship. For them to accept the guidelines we have they must buy into them and so too must the parents and the community. The guidelines too must be age specific and reflect the moral and ethical development of the individuals. As teachers we must be development psychologists, motivators and ethicists  as well educators. Middle School Senior School Real world looking after yourself Respect yourself Protect yourself Respect yourself Protect yourself looking after others Respect others Protect others Respect others Protect others looking after property Respect Intellectual Property Protect Intellectual Property Respect & Protect the environment The AUA or acceptable use agreements we have developed are available at: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/The+Digital+Citizen http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Digital+Citizen+AUA

One of the critical skills for the 21st Century is Information Fluency . A critical aspect of this is validating information. Students (and adults) frequently take information collected from the internet as being accurate and appropriate. They have little understanding of how search engines work (google is a popularity engine in many ways). Here are some interesting resources that can be used to assist students. DHMO.org - http://www.dhmo.org/ This is a favourite partly because it shows partial truth about DiHydrogen Mono-oxide - here is the wikipedia write up - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHMO and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax Save the Mountain Walrus - http://mountainwalrus.webs.com/ this is suitable for the younger students The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus - http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ Help save this endangered species fromextinction. Not quite as good as DHMO but pretty cool. Wikipedia write up and background - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_tree_octopus and another interesting related article http://www.inklingmagazine.com/articles/tentacled-tree-hugger-gets-legs-up-on-twelve-year-olds/

In this update of on the wire resources we have materials for google earth in the classroom, visualisation, graphics and DTP,  SERC and more 1. How to teach with Google Earth - http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/google_earth/how.html - This is a useful resource for using Google earth in schools. Published by the Science Education resource Center at Carleton  College is a well resourced and structured resource. Havbe a look at these resources on the same site: http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/pedagogies.html Teaching Methods a good resource on pedagogy http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/search.html?q1=sercvocabs__72%3A2 Learning resources search page 2. Many Eyes - http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/ - This is a data visualisation tool produced by the IBM. Visualising data is a powerful tool for analysis and evaluation. Its easier to see the trends when they are displayed as a graph rather than a field of numbers. create a visualization - http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/page/create_visualization.html Data Sets - http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/datasets 3. MyStudiyo - QuizRevolution - http://www.mystudiyo.com/ This is a web based quiz development tool that allows you to embed a test into your blog or website. While it is a lower order thinking based tool, its useful. 4. Cloud Canvas - http://www.cloud-canvas.com/index.php/ This is a web based tool that allows the user to develop Raster  and vector graphics as well as some basic desktop publishing features as well. Useful and adaptable and finally the finnish school of the future. This is a blog post from Terry Freedman - http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2010/11/7/finnish-school-of-the-future.html Watch the video that goes with it. Future School of Finland

In this update we have some interestingr esources for science and the environment, humanities, the arts, ipads and the flat classroom. 1. The story of Bottled Water - http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/ This is a great video that examines bottled water. The story, which is animated and real video talks about the history of bottled water and the environmental impact of this. Great and challenging. Also look at: http://www.storyofstuff.org/capandtrade/ http://storyofstuff.org/index.php http://storyofstuff.org/cosmetics/ http://storyofstuff.org/electronics/ 2. Google Art Project - http://www.googleartproject.com/ This is a stunning resource for the Art historian and art student. Imagine visting the best galleries and museums and creating your own collection to share with your peers. Well this is the virtual way to do this. A google project it has huge potential - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/explore-museums-and-great-works-of-art.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMKuf+%28Official+Google+Blog%29 3. Apps for Education - https://market.android.com/apps/EDUCATION/ - this is an application store for the Android operating system. Like the Apps store for the iPad and Ipod this store has a variety of free and purchased tools to use. Worth considering if you are an android user.  In a related article Singapore is trialing the iPad as a replacement for textbooks - read the article here - http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_life/2011-01-14/196332269116.html 4. RPGMaker - http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/ - if you have ever wondered how to combine the language arts, with computing, imagination and creativity this is a tool for you and your students. RPGMaker allows you to create your own Role Playing games. This is a bastion for higher order thinking - creativity, analysis and evaluation and finally at the end of the month I am heading over to China to the Flat Classroom Conference - this will be an amazing trip and one I am looking forward to immensely. I have a number of sessions I am running, including Global Digital citizenship, ipads and ipods in education and a TED Style talk… http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/ and http://www.flatclassroomconference.com/

I think its fair to say that most people accept that the 19th century model of education is not applicable in our 21st century world. However, few people have ever experienced 21st century learning, particularly our students parents and in many case ourselves as teachers. I think most educators accept as well that the focus on lower order thinking skills within teaching and assessment is out dated and inappropriate. If I was asked to find out the capital cities of the world, beyond the ones that have relevance to me, I would look it up online using my laptop, ipad or phone so why  should I memorize it? Is it critical to my life and employment, probably not. Even given that we all accept this, there are many obstacles that have prevented us from breaking the mold of education and changing what, how, why, where and when we teach. Inertia - Definition - the property of matter by which it retains its state of rest or its velocity along a straight line so long as it is not acted upon by an external force. - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inertia Educational inertia is something we have experienced. Education will happily stay in the same place or keep moving in the same direction until an external force acts upon it. Unfortunately the external forces that might shift education are: too small or ignored - this is the students voice. Its their education but does the system listen to them? Unaware and basing their decisions on their own educational experiences - Everyone has an opinion on education, but few have a vision of what education should be like rather than what it was like. The world has changed but the vision remains the same . Aware but politically motivated - I would say almost every politician has heard about 21st century education, but its not palatable because they want to be re-elected and everyone is an expert on education. Step too far away from the norm and you are branded a radical and doing education a dis-service. So the challenge for education, educators and educational leaders is to make the shift, too break the mold without upsetting to many people. I have seen examples of schools applying the best pedagogical practice and failing because they attempted to do it all at once and with out community buy in. Source: http://zeenatsyal.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/footprints-sand-beach-sunrise.jpg?w=392&h=315 And it community buy in that is the change that counts. A child does not go from crawling to running in an instant. Instead this development takes time and is composed of small steps culminating in the running child. Changing the communities vision and opinion of education, and this is essentially what community buy in is,  is the same. Small steps, each one achievable, each one with clear benefits, each supported and championed, that leads to the wider change. So what will be your first small step?

The Term Digital native has been broadly used to describe people who through continous immersion in technology are neurologically different to those who have not had the same degree of exposure. For a considerable amount of time this was theory and subject to much skeptacism, however the body of research into neuroscience has provided a huge amount of supporting evidence. (See the work of Dr Gary Small in his book iBrain, Nicholas Carr in the Shallows, Understanding the digital generation by Ian Jukes and Lee Crockett  and so on). Their brains are wired differently to the generations who did not have the same degree of exposure. Similarly, your brain will adapt and change throughout your life. Age is not a barrier to learning and experience cause the brain to adapt. In general the charactoristics we see for this digital generation are that they are: Highly visual and have a preference for multi media information, technology and media savvy multitasking (rapid task switching) and often lack patience, wanting immediate access, feedback and rewards communicators and collaborators producers, remixers and creators value transparency and fairness adaptive and like customising their environment to suit themselves In the classroom, many people expect that the students walking into their learning environment are able, almost by instinct and dint of being a digital native, to use software and technology instantly with a degree of competence. They are suprized by the lack of skills that these "Digital natives" possess. So its probably worth expanding the "technology savvy" component of the charactoristics of the 21st century learners. source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/22/xbox360_games_console.jpg They are technology savvy, but technology is not just computers and software, computers  and software are elements of technology. Technology surrounds us and them, its the television, media recorders, players, games consoles, gps, cell phones, remote controls, robots and so much more that surround us. Our digital natives can manipulate and use these technologies, they are adept at using technology and can quickly pick up the underlying concepts and processes within these. BUT…. it is dependent on what they are exposed to.. The general exposure to and immersion in technologies has led to the neurological changes we see in the digital generation, but their competence or lack of it competence in a particular tool is dependent on their experiences with it. So when our brand new students walk into the classroom at the start of the year, we must put aside the expectation/assumption that they come with a skill set on how to use computers and software. Rather, we should consider them as sponges that will quickly absorb the skills to a basic level but need direction, support and critique to reach their potential.

In this update of on the wire we have a variety of resources including some brilliant digital citizenship videos. 1. Exposed - CEOP -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ovR3FF_6us Exposed is the latest release from the CEOP, Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. This video examines  sexting from the perspective of a young person. This 10 minute videofor 14 to 18 year olds. Also produced by CEOP is concequences - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK5OeGeudBM&feature=relmfu Check out the CEOP website - http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/11_16/ this is an issues facing schools around the world - here are some current articles New Zealand - http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/8811235/schools-ban-cellphones-to-stop-sexting/ BBC article - teen sexting experience - video - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8182133.stm 2. 7 things you should know - ipad apps for learning - http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutiPadA/223289 This is one of the ongoing series of resources for educators. it focuses on the variety of applications available for the iPad. Recent briefs include: open ended responce systems - http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutOpenE/221241 directory of briefing papers - http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/ELI%207%20Things%20You%20Should%20Know/33438 3. Divided attention disorder - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12406677 - This article examines Divided Attention Disorder or DAD - it looks at the effect of technology on attention and concentration. This is worth reading. Other recent articles include this one from USA today -http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-02-01-tech-overload_N.htm - Social media users grapple with information overload from mashable http://mashable.com/2011/02/01/deloitte-survey/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_content=Twitter The Rise of Digital Multitasking [STATS] From the Star the no facebook experiment - http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/906199-no-facebook-experiment-yields-dramatic-results .

If you were to ask a group of teachers if exercise is important, they would unanimously say that exercise is very important. Many of them would state the health and welfare value of exercise  - they might mention diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Some would state that it has benefits for student behaviour - it expends "excess energy", reduces behavioural issues, increases student engagement;  some too would note the cognitive benefits that exercise benefits brain function, decision making, higher order thinking linkage between the hemisphere of the brain post exercise. Then others too would mention the emotional benefits, the value of exercise in managing depression, self image, general feeling of well being etc. And then we may also hear about the benefits of exercise on sleep patterns etc All of these are, in fact, correct. We know that each of these points or benefits are derived  from regular, preferably daily,  exercise. So why do we see so few schools implementing regular daily exercise even with the huge physical, emotional, behavioural and cognitive benefits are clearly demonstrated? Primary schools DO implement daily exercise, but why does it drop of as we progress up the school? I have heard arguments that the students are more self directed and should be making their own decisions, but this is from the same schools that implement vigorous uniform policies, rigid attendance procedures etc so this only applies to exercise and no other form of choice. source; http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/images/ency/fullsize/19383.jpg I have heard from some people that they can not afford  the lost of teaching time. Yet if each class lost 5 minutes and instead gained an improvement in concentration, focus and improved cognitive benefits which would translate directly to improved teaching and learning the benefits would outweigh the loss of a small amount of class time. From a holistic aspect too school is about establishing appropriate behaviours, values and attitudes as well as the curricula outcomes. We know that the habits, values and passions they start in their formative years under our guidance will stay with them for life. Isn’t exercise something we would all agree is of benefit worth emphasising?

My students are currently investigating IT and education for the IB ITGS course. As part of the course they are producing a multimedia training resource for the year 7 students on how to use the windows 7 operating systems. They are producing an interactive resource that has the following elements: graphics - moving or still or both text audio interactivity One of the restrictions set for them is that any media they use must be royalty free. The students have sent me a coule of links that are worth using: Free graphics - http://www.freegraphicsworld.com/ available under cc attribution licience - http://www.freegraphicsworld.com/license/ Free Audio - http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/ check the licience on the individual tracks but the ones that I have seen are CC licienced Nice stuff

One of the sessions I ran at the Flatclassroom conference was iPad, iPod, iPhone and iEducation. The session was short but very well attended and Apple China lent the conference 10 iPads and 40 iPod touches to use. The premise of the session was what would I put on a class set of iPads or iPods for use in a classroom. Some comentators have said that the iPad is a consumption device and I would agree with that comment for the average user, but in education, the iPad is a tool of creativity, imagination and production. One of the teachers at the session asked me what were the limitations of the iPad and my answer was that, other than size related issues and lack of a camera, that web development and programming was hard. But for your average student is this a problem? The iPad doesn’t have the power of a laptop or desk top, but do we use that power to its potential? For the average student, i suspect that the iPad would be a more than adequate tool. So what would I place on my class set of iPads and what assessories would I want? Productivity tools pages - Word processor keynote - presentation tool numbers - Data processing mindmapping tool - iThoughtsHD (I am sure there are other but I know and like this one) Image editor - Adobe Photoshop Express File management tool - Good reader Comic development tool - Comic Strip CS Video editor - I would probably have either Splice (i haven’t yet got it to find video on my iPad though) or ReelDirector Language application - iTranslate GIS tool - Google Earth Note taking tool - Audio Note (records sound while allowing you to type notes and draw illustrations) Projector - enables other applications to use the VGA adapter Communication tool - Skype This is the basics, these are the tools that I would make regular use of in the classroom. There are many others worth mentioning too like Math Board, Virtual Frog dissection, storybook, Play2learn all of which are of value and worth using. For the iPod the list is not as broad. You lack the productivity tools  but the others remain the same. mindmapping tool - iThoughtsHD Image editor - Adobe Photoshop Express Comic development tool - Comic Strip CS Video editor - Splice Language application - iTranslate GIS tool - Google Earth Note taking tool - Audio Note. In my class set of assessories I would have Camera adapter (SD Card and USB adaptor allowing direct connection to the iPad) VGA adapter - connect you iPad to a projector One microphone/earphone set per iPad Have I missed anything? What would you add?

The flatclassroom conference was a very interesting event for a number of reasons. The two parallel strands, one for teachers and one for students, with the interaction between them was brilliant. As was the fact that this was an action based conference, not a sit and listen conference. The students and teachers both had to produce a product (or project) by the end of the  conference. In the students case the product was a video and for the staff it was to design and develop a global collaborative project. The students in developing their product had to "pitch" the video concept to the teachers twice. The first pitch was a ‘elevator pitch" an oral explanation of their concept. The second pitch was an "animatic pitch" where they storyboarded their video and presented this to the teacher. These were both challenging stages of the product development. At each stage the students received formative assessment and detailed feedback and were able to modify their design and concept if required or if they felt the feedback was justified. The teachers also had to "pitch" their global collaborative project to the students and receive formative assessment and detailed feedback from the students about the concept they had developed. Students pitching ideas to teachers and receiving feedback is pretty "run of the mill" stuff. The inverse isn’t. When we asked the teachers about the experience most of them said they were nervous presenting to the students. When we debriefed the students they said the process was empowering and that they would be more engaged in their learning if they were able to shape how they learnt it. Discussing with my own students has indicated that they would love to be involved in the method and mode they are taught. they accept that the content is often dictated from "higher authorities", but the way they are taught isn’t. Some students, at the conference,  didn’t want to do this and I suspect that is the exam focused "I want it handed to me on a plate" approach, but for many or actually most, they would love to be involved. source: http://cus.oise.utoronto.ca/UserFiles/Image/PEV116.jpg The advantages of this are obvious - student buy in to their learning, student engagement, student ownership and improved learning. The disadvantages are that is threatening and challenging to teachers, that it can make learning messy, that the teachers vision of what teaching should be and the students reality of how they want to learn could be different. It requires the teacher to be flexible and open to critique and to have developed a level of repore with their students.

Its great to have a rant about firewalls and filtering, but its irresponsible to not suggest a solution. Here are some thoughts on what might be a suitable solution. Solution: The core issue is having the student establish/develop a suitable moral and ethical approach to using the Internet. Establishing this moral and ethical approach will be of benefit to the student not only at school but at home, university and work. The key facet of the concept is timely and appropriate use of the resources namely internet access . Source: http://www.acastle.com/images/SolutionPuzzle.jpg For schools the key use of the resources (internet and email access) is for learning. Therefore students need to manage their resources including access to online social media, quota, educational and recreational use of the system. Students need to understand that access to social media etc during lunchtime, breaks, before and after school is OK, but they have to manage their use/quota. They must also act in a appropriate manner while accessing these sites. They are to be digital citizens. Access in class is strictly for educational purposes and other uses are unacceptable. Other activities are effecting the students learning and potentially the learning of other students in the class. Therefore, such behaviours must carry consequences, similar to using a cell phone in class or other off task activity. To facilitate this strategy schools would: 1. Block sites that are absolutely unacceptable - pornographic etc - set rules to report students who attempt to access pornographic sites - follow up on any attempts. Attempting to access a porn site is essential the same as accessing one. The intent is the same. 2. Establish a culture of open access - core to this is that  access at school is for education not entertainment. We should have the students ask the question "does this have to do with my learning?" We must follow up on students who attempt to access anything via closed methods (i.e. proxy tunnels), this must be dealt with as a serious offence, because with open internet they can visit any site except those that are completely unacceptable. 3. Establish rules and procedures  that allow staff to examine who is accessing which site and when - Who, What & When? 4. Establish a process and procedures where staff follow up on unacceptable/non education related activities in class time. Often this will require a few "object lessons", the student grapevine is incredibly efficient and they will quickly get the message about actions and consequences. 5. Establish suitable consequences for inappropriate behaviour. Since such actions are essentially a betrayal of trust, the consequences should reflect this. 6. Communicate this to staff, parents and students. Its an open model, with open process and clear consequences Caveat This is an age dependent process - we know that the ethical and moral development of students is age dependent. I would recommended a progressive withdrawal of restrictions as the students progress up the school and accept responsibility for their learning and actions.

One of the frustrations I had in China was the so called "Great Firewall of China" which blocked access to many sites often without apparent reason. The Blocked sites include social media like facebook, communication tools like twitter and strangely enough Google Spreadsheets , sites but not documents. However, tools like Astrill which allow you to access these sites and more through the firewall are not blocked by the Chinese government. Some of the blocked sites included: Diigo blogger.com Wordpress.com Google docs and spreadsheets Google Sites PB wiki NetVibes YouTube (and many other video sharing tools) Edublogs.com tinyurl.com The reasons for these actions, in China, have to do with control of the populous, freedom of speech etc. They are, after all, a single party state, communist and at times quite repressive. source: http://sendanonymousemail.com/img/Firewall.jpg Reflecting on this state of affairs has me wondering about schools policies regarding firewalls and access to web 2.0 tools and social media. There are perhaps some parallels that could be drawn and it is worth reflecting on the reasons for blocking sites. Why do we block websites? Well, we block some because they are total unacceptable. For example pornographic sites But what about some of the other sites like social media? If a student is accessing social media in class we should be asking why are they accessing this rather than learning. This is surely a teaching/engagement/motivation problem. (This is not pointing the finger at the teacher, as sometimes inspite of interesting programs, student involvement and motivating activities some students will not engage, however often it is a reflection of the teacher him or her self. ) Blocking the site is masking the issue rather than addressing it. Would it not be better to monitor the site and act appropriately when require seeking the source of the issue be it lack of engagement, motivation or classroom management. A concern is the potential damage to the school of students posting material that may not be appropriate, the abundance tools and sites combined with the students level of access from their own tools (like cell phones) and at home have rendered this agrement obsolete. The argument for conserving bandwidth is also now weakening. The availability and reducing cost of internet connection is reducing this argument. So students do not seriously effect other by surfing such sites. The question of duty of care arises - blocking the site may mean that we can say yes we are protecting them, but it doesn’t really holistically address the issue, its a bandaid a sticking plaster. it protects the schoolat the expence of the students.  Isn’t it better to allow opportunity, monitor and then deal with the issue rather than saying "I’m alright" its now someone else’s problem. We expect our students to be responsible digital citizens, we do not encourage or develop this by removing the potential. An ethical and moral digital citizen makes a conscious decision or choice rather than having the decision removed. Similarly, we expect the students to make appropriate decisions about when and where to access social media, and again we don’t do that by removing the opportunity. I think it is time for us to consider what we are filtering and whether such filtering reflects the ethos that we uphold.

In this update of on the wire we have resources available from MS Australia, the open library a cool school and much more. 1. Free Tools in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/australia/education/teachers/teachertools/free-tools.aspx- Applications and resources available through MS Australia. This is a good start and has links and resources for Autocollage Photosynth Moviemaker live Worth investigating - look at this PDF to - http://view.atdmt.com/action/slcepg_AUSFreeToolsGuide_9 2. Open Library - http://openlibrary.org/ - this site hosts over 1,000,000 free ebooks. This is a hugely powerful resource, source: http://openlibrary.org/images/logo_OL-lg.png accessing these can effectively save school thousands of dollars. Great stuff 3. Zooburst - http://www.zooburst.com/zb_about.php - This is a digital storytelling site that allows you to develop digital storybooks in 3D. The basic account is free and allows you to develop upto 10 books of 10pages each , the premium account has a fuller feature set, is Ad free and obviously a cost. Pricing and sign up here - http://www.zooburst.com/zb_pricing.php 4. Think Global Schools - http://thinkglobalschool.org/ - this is an interesting concept. I met some of the students at the flatclassroom project in Beijing. The catch line for the school is 12 countries in 12 trimesters. This is an exciting system. The students luerally travel around the world spending a trimester in a different country and school. They are developing outstanding global citizens. A great concept and one I will watch with interest. 5. Digizens - http://www.digizen.org/ This is a useful resource for digital citizenship materials and resources. Well constructed and planned this should be on your reading list. and finally from National Geographic this cool zoomable image made up of 7000 human figures - Zoom in and zoom out it is very cool - http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/age-of-man/face-zoom-interactive

One of my recent posts prompted this reply from Simon and I would like to respond to it. The posts in this series are challenging the use of filters and internet blocking in schools and questioning the reasoning behind it. The second post provides a solution to this. Simons responce is below: "While you’re at it, why not allow them to have sexual relations as soon as they’re biologically inclined. Encourage them to make a conscious decision or choice, it’ll make them responsible, ethical, moral citizens. Don’t remove the choice from them - what message does that send? Allow them the opportunity to have sex with each other, or their teachers, monitor it, and then deal with the issue AFTER it’s occurred. Similarly, let’s allow children to drive motor vehicles as soon as they can reach the pedals, drink alcohol, own firearms, get married, vote…" I find this comment a little surprizing and too be honest, melodramatic. The whole concept being proposed is actually safe and appropriate use of the resources, its about developing a moral and ethical approach and behaviours. You don’t develop this by removing choice. Banning and blocking does not develop an ethical and moral approach. It is a bandage you stick over a gapping wound. It make it someone elses problem and does not address the issue. You talk of sexual relationships as if the school saying you shall not do this is actually going to stop it. Of course a school takes a stand on such activities, of course they say its unacceptable, inappropriate and often illegal, but the school must also explain why. If we want to make a real impact on the students we must go beyond blocking, banning or setting rules and develop a deep and philisophical understanding of rationale, ethical and moral issues. To do this we must be open and transparent, we must provide choice, where appropriate. If you explain clearly the rationale behind rules or guidelines and then the student must make a deliberate decision to behave in a certain way. Accompanying this must be monitoring that allows the school to easily check those who have diverged from the standards the school sets. The country we live in sets the framework of laws that we must follow, as a school there are some absolutes that must be applied, for example there is no case for pornography being acceptable at school, this is a legal, ethical and moral stance. There are restrictions that governments set that must be followed as well. However, school do go considerably further than this, schools set regulations, rule etc for a wide range of reasons - often these rules are set with out suitable explanation - often to they are TTWWADII - "thats the way we always do it". These rules and regulations need, in fact, must be challenged. Our students on their cellphones can access websites, this does not go through the school system, they bypass any filtering we may put in place and our only way of effectively dealing with this is to instill suitable and appropriate behaviours. Most of our students have internet access at home, we as holistic educators want them to behave appropriately everywhere not just at school - we have no control over their use of the internet at home - but we can influence their behaviour by developing a suitable moral and ethical approach. In the second part of the post you will not that this is also an age dependent process, that younger students have not reached a suitable level of maturation to be able to deal with the decisions and to balance the demands of the now and the concequences of the future so these processes are applied with this in mind. As the students progresses through their schooling the level of restriction is lowered progressively and the level of self responcibility increased. As educators we need to prepare our students for the next stage of their learning journey whether this is employment, the next school or higher education. We are failing in this role if the student leaving us does not know how to act appropriately in an environment with out restricts, just expectations and where the concequences are some much great that at school.

This video was shared with me through twitter, its simple, straight forward and quite useful. It doesn’t show a wizzy new future, but it does put somethings into perspective. A little bit anyway. It does raise a few questions. How many people are still using overhead projectors as the cutting edge of technology? How many people are still using powerpoint and smartboards as presentations tools? If we look at Bernajean Porter’s levels of technology use are they Integrating - learning about technology Augmentative - learning with technology transformative - learning through technology - doing things you could not do with out technology

Friday I was working with the eWrapper ICT  PD Cluster down in Waiuku. The focus for the the principals and elearning staff was Digital Citizenship. It was a fun day and productive. One of the issues we see all the time in primary, is students are asked to sign acceptable use agreements, along with their parents. The agreements are not written in any way shape or form for the students, many of which in year 1 struggle to write their own name, let alone read the complexity of an acceptable use agreement. The purpose of these agreements is, I believe, purely to add a layer of protection for the school, as its irrelevant and meaningless to the students. (if you think I am kidding do a search for "acceptable use agreements" and elementary or primary school) So I though I would take some of the concepts in the acceptable use documents and then mould them into a form that the students atleast would understand when its read to them. Here is my attempt and I would appreciate feedback: Junior School Computer Guidelines The school provides computers and the internet for you to learn. All use of computers, printers, cell phones and the internet at school is only for your learning. Students should not play games without specific teacher permission. If students accidentally see material that is rude, nasty, mean, dangerous or inappropriate, they must click on the HOME button immediately and tell their teacher. Students will not download movies, videos or games. This is stealing. Looking after themselves online. - Students will not put any personal information about themselves on the internet. They won’t post photos or videos about themselves or share information like their address, phone numbers, hobbies or daily activities. Looking after other people. - Students will not share any personal information about other people over the internet. They won’t post other peoples photos, videos or share information. When they write anything they will asks "how would I feel if somebody said that about me?". If it is mean or nasty don’t say it. They will look after themselves and other people by telling their teachers or parents about people who are being mean or bullying. Students will acknowledge all material taken from websites and include web addressees in their work.

Many, if not most schools have a policy where students of all ages are expected to sign an acceptable use agreement. Students from year 1 upwards are required to sign these agreements. The language used in the agreements is very rarely suitable for the younger students and they struggle to understand them, let alone read them or sign the document. The problem with this is in my opinion two fold. First the students are so young that they are unable to comprehend what they are signing. The concepts that are detailed in the acceptable use agreements are beyond the experiences of the students. The students are essentially told to sign the agreement, and do not understand what they are signing. So what is the value of this? The second problem is, in my opinion, that the parents are asked to sign that they accept the rules, and are never present to supervise the actions of their children or students. Further in the absence of parents, we are the teachers are parents in locum. So it comes back to us being responsible So I have to question the value of these documents. So what is the alternative? Well, I have talked about this with several colleagues, and I think the best alternative is actually what we operate with the digital citizens, partnership. I think our agreement about acceptable use would involve all three aspects of the community, parents, teachers and students. The approach would start with a clear statement of what we, as a school can and can not do. This would include restrictions and monitoring, students education and training, and our expectations. It would also cover what we can’t do, like be watching every student every minute of the day, stop children from sneaking in and using computers or from opening multiple windows and applications and switching rapidly between them. The second part would be what we expect from the parents and what we can do to support them in this. This would outline the expectations and suggestions for home computer access and use. It would also explain the cyber-safety evenings and parent support mechanisms. The third part would cover the expectations, behaviors and outcomes from the students. It would cover the vision of the student as a digital citizen appropriate for the age of the child. The document would then be signed by all three parties not as as legal agreement, more as a memorandum of understanding, understanding that this is a learning journey. This would be a positive documents that models the partnerships that we need to develop to develop students who are ethical, moral contributors to our digital world. Thoughts?

I like this video. Its a great summary of many of the things I talk about when I am working with groups and talking about students and change. In class today I had my students work through a process where they watch the video and then when through and identified what were the key points for them. Then they pared the list down to the 2-3 most important points. Once they refined the list down they choose their most important point and had to defend their decision to the class. Their peers then supported or debates their points. Interestingly, the two key elements they brought out where the importance of play and the value of risk. isn’t it interesting that in many classes these are the two things that are scrupulously avoided. Source; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=falHoOEUFz0&sns=em

A recent BBC article has indicated that the British government is moving to give teachers search and seicure powers on students cell phones to thwart cyber bullying. While the goal is laudable it does raise more than a few questions and potential issues -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12868879 Cyberbullying and infact any form of bullying is intolerable. We have seen too many instance where young people are tormented to the point of self harm and in extreme cases,  suicide. This measure is put in place to help deal with this, but is it going to be effective? source: http://themodline.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/iPhone.jpg The ability to search a cell phone and find evidence is critical and will make a difference. The ability to delete unacceptable material seems to me to be inconcequencial compare to finding the material and putting in place a structure and process to deal with the issue. While the bill indicate that "teachers" have the rights of search and in this case delete, I think this is something best invested and used by the management and pastoral care staff within  a school. Discovery is the start of the process rather than the solution. Why would I put the emphasis on management rather than the teacher having this "right"? Well , there are a number of reasons not the least is the importance of the relationship between the teacher and the students. Second would be the time factor and importance of this. It takes time to investigate and deal with the issues that arrise, the average teacher does not have this time. The other aspect of importance is the privacy aspect for the students. A cell phone is not just a device for talking any more, nor is it just a tool for bullying. So much of a persons life can now be stored on this ubiquitous device. Not only their messages, but emails, calendars, contacts, personal information, financial information, social images and more. It contains access to  files, account information and often banking details. To open and search through a students phone even with the best of intentions is too look through their life, to scrutinise their morals, ethics, relationships and alike. In many ways it lays bare who and what they are. Is this something that their day to day teacher needs or wants to do? Is it something that should be taken lightly or engaged on the chance of finding bullying? No. It is better that it is a processe removed from the classroom and undertaken with the degree of seriousness that this action requires. So, do I support the intention of the bill, yes, am I concerned about its implementation yes.

In this update of on the wire we will look at the IAEA, some Biology, ITGS & Mathematics resources and more 1. IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency - http://www.iaea.org/ This is an interesting site at the best of times, but in light of the tragedy unfolding in Fukushima this site provides unbiased and accurate information. The daily updated blog does not just look at the Fuushima reactor complex rather examines and documents all of the reactors. An excellent valid information source. 2. Anatomy Arcade - http://www.anatomyarcade.com/ A games based learning site for anatomy. This site is useful for Science, Biology, health, and Physical education. Worth visiting to appraise.Games for skeletal, respiratory, muscular systems and more source: http://www.anatomyarcade.com/images/AAheader.jpg 3. Super maths world http://www.supermathsworld.com/ This is a mathematics games based site that provides an engaging way of learning mathematics. 4. TeacherZone - http://teacher.tenmarks.com/ Mathematics video resources. This is a useful site that has over 1000 videos aimed at grades 3-10. Its free for teachers but does require a sign up. Also worth examining are: Mathtrain.TV - http://www.mathtrain.tv/ Brightstorm - http://www.brightstorm.com/ (also science resources) MathTV - http://www.mathtv.com/videos_by_topic 5. Here’s to the crazy ones video - I love this its inspiring - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oAB83Z1ydE&feature=player_embedded and finally for the ITGS and IT students. This infographic about the size of files and storage. Useful for terminology

As phrases go "talking to strangers" is hugely loaded. It brings connotations of child molesters, kidnappers and generally wierd and unpleasant people. We teach our students and our own children about "stranger danger" and alas many people live in fear of strangers. Given this you can image the response at a recent conference when Will Richardson said we should encourage our students to talk to strangers. But he is right we should talk to stranger. I was sent yesterday an article from Ian Jukes About Digital Footprints. This is another loaded term, the digital footprint is Dinosaur footprint in the rock. Is this how we see our digital footprint. Source: http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/74/49/744987_bb1f2e5b.jpg seen as this permanent and unerasable trail of actions, conversations and activities that you have on the web. It like talking to strangers is used in a negative context. But here’s the catch we should leave digital footprints. http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2011/04/what-do-students-know-about-positive-digital-footprints.html So many of the discussions we have with our students regarding digital citizenship have a negative connotation. We shouldn’t talk to strangers, watch out for your digital footprint what you do will haunt you for ever. But actually we should be talking to strangers, we must talk to them. This is how we develop a mutual understanding of different cultures and religions, this is how we discuss the issues, events and situations beyond our four walls. We live in a world where we can be in Auckland, New Zealand one day, Sydney the next and the following week in Singapore or london. Where Moscow, Beijing, Yokohama, Abu Dhabi, Montreal and New York are only a skype call away. These are the strangers we need to talk to. How many people have seized the opportunity presented by Skype for education? Yes, there are Strange Strangers out there, and part of our digital citizenship program must be to educate students on what to do and what not to do, on what to share and what to keep private. It must not be to hide in our comfortable community, talking only to those we known, discussing only from a limited perspective and point of view the things that matter. This is living in fear. I agree with Will, we need to talk to strangers. The same can be said for Digital Footprints. We should be leaving digital footprints and making sure that these footprints source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dMF6Awo9lPY/TPzRC54MpqI/AAAAAAAAAOE/wp6jMIPUyfw/s1600/footprints_in_the_sand_op_493x600.jpg are the ones that will only be seen positively. We need to be reflective, considered, appropriate and sensitive in what we say and do. The photos we upload, the comments we post, the blogs we share should reflect positively and appropriately on us. The footprints we leave in the sand (we its more like concrete) should be sharp and clean, not smudge, blurred and dirty. Our students should cherish their digital footprints as positive reflections of their learning and development. They are not something to be avoided, tip toeing around quiet and missable nor should they be huge stomping boot prints splattering mud. Instead they should show the journey of well placed steps traveling from one stage of learning to another.

Today I had the opportunity to wander around downtown Singapore, and one of the locations I visited was the Art Science museum, down in marina bay. The place is engaging and eye catching because of its shape. The main part of the museum isn’t up in the rounded construction, but is underground. As I was wondering through enjoying the interesting hybrids of science and art I was intrigued by the sayings and quotations they had painted on the wall. They made sense to me in the context of art and science. "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science" Albert Einstein "from wonder into wonder existence opens" lao Tzu "you see things; and you say why? But I dream things that never were; and I say why not?" George Bernard Shaw "Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?" Leonardo Da Vinci To me these spoke of creativity, risk, experimentation, vision and perhaps trust in your instincts and imagination. An interesting visit.