My Fakewall is a Pain in the Rear

My fifth graders tried creating fake Facebook pages for American Colonists today using My Fakewall. It has been lauded as a great Web 2.0 tool in many blogs like Free Tech for Teachers, Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness and Teach2Connect, so I figured I'd give it a try. Not only did the login page take FOREVER to load, but once we logged in and created accounts, we could not create new pages. If we were successful at creating a page--we had perhaps two or three--we could then not upload pictures. We tried several different file types and on several different computers. It's a part of my life as a tech teacher, an early adopter at that, to experience bugs with Beta products, cost increases with free tools and even the occasional demise of a tool. However, there were so many problems with this tool that it almost rendered my classtime moot. I had them research facts and images for the characters in case the site is up and running next week. For now I deem this tool: A Pain in the Rear.

Why Blogs are Better than Tweets...For Me

Yesterday, I attended our first PLP webinar. It was kind of a recap of our first meeting, actually, with discussions about 21st Century Learning. The focus was upon obstacles and changes that must occur in order for "learning" to happen now. During the discussion, I lamented that I have felt out of touch with my family and friends on Facebook because I was investing time into Twitter. Same for my blogs. Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach encouraged me to start a discussion in the Community Hub for the group (a Ning) on the topic and so I did. Susan Carter Morgan helped me to process why it is that I like blogs better than Twitter--most blog posts allow for a longer length to explain what the link is about. That way, I can decide by reading a few sentences if I want to follow the link and explore. On Twitter, it's kind of a "I'm feeling Lucky" button (on Google's Search Engine) ALL THE TIME. Who has time for that? Yes, I have found items of use on Twitter. My fave find are the Famigo Family Apps for iPad. But I'm still deciding how I'm going to use Twitter in the long run.

Image credit: http://bit.ly/pdxl3P

Teacher Suspended in Facebook Incident

Okay, admittedly this is old news, but I'm only hearing it now. Apparently, a teacher in a public school posted a comment to her Facebook page, thinking her profile was set to private, when in fact it was public. I'm guessing she wasn't a technology teacher. Or maybe I'm hoping she's not. At any rate, she was suspended. I read about it in T.H.E. Journal article "Suspended Teacher In Facebook Incident Ignites Debate." Of course there is some responsibility on the teacher's part for learning how to use a tool before posting sensitive information. But on the other hand, I think this is a perfect illustration of how our students fall into these same kinds of situations. They are not taught at school the correct ways to keep their information private, these subjects are taboo, and the Web sites blocked out. That kind of thinking produces adults who make mistakes like this one! My school blocks these sites out, but that's because of school policy, not my policy. I try my best to teach the students about it anyway through demonstration. I'm just not sure how much responsibility lies with the parents. Wouldn't you say most of it? Or no?

Digital Natives: Growing Up Online

Tomorrow, I'm giving a presentation at a law firm in DC on MySpaceFacebook Social networking issues. I'm posting the presentation online here:

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Virtual Playground

I never got around to publishing my research paper on Social Networking and Identity Development for the Marshall McLuhan class I took in the Fall. This 14 page paper outlines the research I synthesized from various cutting-edge researchers on the topic of how socializing online affects children's development, specifically their sense of self, or identity.
You can read it here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg9rtthh_5g6zxftfp

Most Recent Presentation Resources

I'm preparing for a presentation next week in DC about Social Networking. Here are the resources I plan on using for the presentation. They are in no particular order at this point:

NetFamilyNews Blog
http://www.netfamilynews.org/

Frontline: Growing Up Online
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

Megan Meier Chicago Tribune Story
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-megan-meier-myspace-080515-ht,0,1888103.story
CNN Story on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFsfDLCkfQU
Megan Meier Memorial MySpace Page
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=282649353

Olivia Gardner Story in San Francisco Chronicle (Bullying)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/23/MNGTFPVVON1.DTL

Avery Donninger Case: Hartford Courant Newsarticle
http://www.courant.com/community/news/fv/hc-doninger0530.artmay30,0,5206405.story

Instant Messenger Dictionary
http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/mediaglossary-lexicon.html

Crimes Against Children Research Center 2006 Report
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/cv138.pdf

Pew Internet Research Center: Teens and Social Media
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/230/report_display.asp

Pew Internet Research Center: Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/211/report_display.asp

Tips For Removing Offensive Profiles from Various Social Networking Sites
http://www.cyberbullyhelp.com/Help%20Tips%20for%20Reporting%20Offensive%20Profiles.pdf

Internet Filter Review and Comparison
http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/

AOL Parental Controls Download
www.parentalcontrols.aol.com/

Mom and Dad Friends on My Space?

The Washington Post had an interesting article on Sunday March 9th, entitled "When Mom Or Dad Asks to Be A Facebook Friend." I saw it linked on news aggregator Digg. If you're a parent who is considering being a more active participant in your child's online facebook life, the article gives interesting tips and perspectives from both kids and parents.

FaceBook Is Different

In my post (rant) yesterday about blocking social networking sites, Justin Medved commented with a link to Mark Evans' blog (A Canadian Take on Telecom and Technology) entitled "Facebook Is Different." I read the article with interest, initially because I yearn for an educational reason to utilize the usual suspects. In his post, he explains how Facebook is useful in business settings, despite the fact that it is increasingly being blocked by companies fearful that their employees are wasting time.

This raises several issues, the first of which, as Justin mentions, is trust. It's the basic reason why we block porn here at school. We're pretty sure that the occasional porn site accessed by a 1st grader is an accident, while the majority of incidents involving older children are, well, exploratory in nature. For instance, last week, I had turned off our proxy server on one machine in my lab in order to download a fussy update. Wouldn't you know it, a child sat down on that computer later in the day and googled "sex + vegetables." I'm not making this up for fun blogging. On the one hand, bully for him using Boolean logic. On the other hand, he ALMOST accessed a photo of a woman having sex with a vegetable. Thank goodness I stopped him.

Justin is right, it's an issue of trust...on the most basic existential level: human nature. Do you trust that children will use their time and the technology in the most educational and useful ways when given free reign? Answer that one for yourself. I'd get in waaayyy too much trouble if I said what I really thought.