The Moral Instict Online

My mother sent me an article she had torn out of a New York Times Magazine called "The Moral Instinct" by Steven Pinker. Firstly, I was so thrilled to receive something in the mail that wasn't a bill, so I hungrily sat down to read the article. Secondly, she sent it because she thought it applied to the line of research I'm informally conducting on moral behavior and how it applies to social networking. The article spends some time discussing what he calls the "five moral spheres" of fairness, purity, loyalty, authority, and harm. He explains that morality itself seems to be universal, but how these five spheres are weighted depends on the culture in which you live, and sometimes even in which subsection of that culture. For instance, a liberal will feel more strongly about harm and fairness and a conservative, according to Pinker, will feel strongly about all five.

So how does this apply to online interactions like IM and social networking? He gives an interesting example about 2,000 people in various countries being asked this question: If you saw a trolley about to fly off the track and you could save six people by flipping a switch on the track, but then one person on the other track would be killed, would you do it? Most folks felt that, yes, the one life justified the six saved lives. However, when the question was switched around to suggest that you'd have to throw one fat man into the way of the trolley in order to save those folks, not many people agreed that they'd do it. There was something about the "hands-on" nature versus the "flipping a switch." So, online, are we really "hands-on" or are we just "flipping a switch" when we throw out mean words or post a picture we took of friend when she wasn't at her best? When the f-2-f element is lost, does that morality change the same way it changes when we have to throw the fat man in front of the train with our own hands?

Predators and Social Networking

Andy Carvin, over at the Learning Now (PBS Teachers) blog recently posted about the American Psychological Association (APA)'s new study “Online ‘Predators’ and Their Victims: Myths, Realities and Implications for Prevention.” You can check out the whole thing written in perfect research-ese or read Andy's blog which explains that the media has basically exploited the few occurrences of children being confronted by predators on social networking sites. Just as the media has done with many other unrelated topics, they have taken a tiny percentage of events and made them out to seem the norm. Andy highlights this passage:

"Further, an online survey of a representative sample of over 1,500 Internet users conducted in 2006 found that youths were more likely to receive online sexual solicitations via instant messages or in chatrooms than through social networking sites....Most Internet-initiated sex crimes involve adult men who are open about their interest in sex,” Wolak adds. “The offenders use instant messages, e-mail and chat rooms to meet and develop intimate relationships with their victims. In most of the cases, the victims are aware that they are talking online with adults."

In recent parent presentations I have given, I try to explain that the real dangers to their children are bullying and lack of compassion rather than the rare instance of being approached by a predator.

Judi Harris and Professional Development

A while back I mentioned contacting Professor Judi Harris at the College of William and Mary about how we might better manage Educational Technology Development at our school. A few weeks ago, my colleague Joan Jones and I finally made it there. Joan is our school's curriculum coordinator, so I thought she'd benefit from Dr. Harris' wisdom as well. It's not exaggerating to say that what we learned was profound. Dr. Harris is one of the most down-to-earth, yet engaging and well read persons with whom I have had the pleasure to work. She referred frequently to the Diffusion of Innovations model as a way to understand how all professional development/innovation in general evolves as it is implemented. What's significant about that is understanding that you'll only reach a small percentage at first, but then with time, others will adopt and that new skill or technology will be diffused throughout the environment eventually--excepting the farthest reaches, those folks called laggers.

We developed a plan for addressing overall professional development at our school based on a two hour conversation with Dr. Harris. She helped us to see that we must first begin by helping our teachers the same way we'd help students--by identifying the ways they learn best and by creating a common vocabulary for a professional learning community.

Steps:
1. Use one of our contacts at Organizational and Professional Development Services. This company has worked for the county in which our school is located, as well as on the state level. He specifically addresses learning styles, communication techniques and team building skills and change management.
2. Contact Judi Harris about speaking at our Inservice Day in Fall.
3. Organize Fall Inservice, including a long-term plan for faculty to demonstrate our long-term commitment to the process. (learning styles, communication techniques and brainstorming curriculum development themes). Possibly a survey?
4. Create committee for curriculum development.
5. Committee led by Joan conducts research (common vocabulary) about related curriculum themes suggested by the teachers and present to faculty at first whole-school faculty meetings after school begins.
a. Devise ways for teachers to engage with the new curriculum themes during the year.

I don't know how this will all go, but it's exciting to be around at the inception of a large-scale redevelopment process. We are hugely grateful to Dr. Harris for the time she spent with us.

A Fully Integrated Experience

This week at our school is International Festival/Multicultural Fair week. For about two weeks in the winter, our entire school learns about various countries and that learning occurs across subjects and grade levels. It's one of the most exhilerating times for me as a teacher. There are those who complain about how much work it is, but they do acknowledge how the level of immersion is maximally effective at helping children learn. I wish every day could be like that in our school. Here are some of our activities in Technology classes, along with some videos of classes in action:
http://wearetheworld.pbwiki.com/TECHNOLOGY
And here's one of the videos:

A New Kind of Field Trip

The January issue of Technology and Learning featured a blurb for Meet Me At The Corner, a web site featuring virtual tours, mostly of people and places in New York City. They have a neat video of digital photo-taking tips for kids. There's also a contest for students to submit their own videos of virtual field trips or interviews. Our middle school video class is planning one now...
Image credit: http://www.meetmeatthecorner.org/

Role Playing Online Behavior

Our fifth graders have certainly come through in a way I envisioned, yet feared at the same time: We've had our first incidence of cyberbullying on our private class Ning. There have been some questionable videoposts (questionable only in sense of humor--taste levels), and some interesting choices in screen names with religious identifiers (!?!). But what has finally happened in our class Ning is something that is happening on MySpace/Facebook, etc all the time. A student has posted rude information about another student on other people's pages. Imagine the boys bathroom walls, if you will. Instead of a black magic marker announcing the phone number of a girl you could call for a good time, you have a web page that everyone can read instead. Of coruse, I am dramatizing this--THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED HERE. But, that's the idea of it. So, now I am given the opportunity educators dream of: I am a part of the conversation of how to behave kindly and appropriately online. I am a part of our Ning, and I saw it happen...it's public.

So, now I have to figure out the best way to show, rather than tell, what's wrong with our situation. My idea is a game show: Naughty or Nice. Another teacher and I will roleplay real situations that have happened online, but acted out as if they happened in the classroom. Then, we show some ideal interactions. Basically modeling behavior and showing what makes other choices unkind. Has anyone else ever approached the conversation differently? Successfully?

Image credit: http://www.brainpowerlearning.com/bully.jpg

Welcoming Kindergarten Parents

Tomorrow morning, I'm speaking to a group of parents whose Kindergarten-age children are enduring admissions testing at my school. I'll be talking about Webkinz, and the tech mindset of typical Kindergarteners these days. In my search for handouts, I found this fairly interesting blogpost from Yahoo Tech's Dory Devlin: "How Protective Is Too Protective?" It's got some good common-sense suggestions in a concise, good for handouts size.

The Rat Race

Today, I finally had a moment to check the blogs on my rss feeds after not having done so for about a month. Obviously, I couldn't read it all. I just skimmed for topics that were interesting to me. Quite a few of them dealt with the stress that we, as technology educators, feel towards the neverending "stretch zone" we find ourselves in. Both the Tech-Savvy Educator and Alex at The Learning Blog posted about the stress of staying on top of all the literature, blogs, twitter posts, blah blah blah blah and so on. I know their pain! The early adopters and innovators at our school sometimes make me feel as if I'm not innovating enough...but that's probably just my perception of things. Wisely, Alex reminds us all that we don't HAVE to stay on top of it all. It's a losing game. Just do the best you can...the same things we tell our kids.