Traci Prater and I attended what looks to be a great opportunity for Eastern Kentucky students today at the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative in Hazard, Kentucky.

The pilot project involves students from 10 counties in Eastern KY creating a virtual learning community called Purpose Island using Teen Second Life, which is a compenent of Second Life.  If you are not familiar with Second Life, it is a virtual world where members can create a avatar and bascially be anything or anyone they want in the virtual world.

Using Teen Second Life, students will create the virtual island where each group will establish a part of a learning community.  They will have resources to build a building to house their part of the community.  Students will create an avatar for themselves and can participate in all the activities of the Teen Life virtual world. 

If the project is successfully, it will be a springboard for a state-wide expansion initiative.  While most of the project is still in the planning, it appear it will be an exciting opportunity for our students and those of us chosen to mentor the program.

An article entitled, “Social Networking–Why Are We Afraid?” came across my reader yesterday.  It was an article posted on Tech Learning.  According to the article, social networking is the current scary word.  However, it is interesting to note that it is only scary to the adults.

I think the reason adults are primarily afraid is that we have had enough life experience to realize that what is said about a person can have serious consequences.  Students usually haven’t reached that level of thinking.  Here’s an example.  We use a program called SynchronEyes at school to monitor what students are doing on the school’s computers.  I was looking at the library’s computers the other day when I say two students engaged in a conversation about a girl.  They were discussing creating a MySpace page about her where they would say that “she is a whore” and “will  ________ with anyone who wants to” and so on and so on.  I captured their conversation and sent it on to the principal to deal with. 

I think this type of activity is what scares adults most.  Anyone can say anything about you on one of these pages…true or untrue….and you may never even know it has been said…..but remember how eager most people are to believe something negative!  So I think this is why most adults shy away from these sights.

Thought this was an interesting read……

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7375772.stm

I found the section of Stoll’s book entitled “Isolated by the Internet” to be very interesting and somewhat surprising.  Research from several major universities has shown that spending large amounts of time on the internet can lead to depression.  I’d never thought about it.  Like most people, I’ve always looked at the internet as an escape to anywhere I wanted to go.  I’ve never given thought that for some, the internet leads to feelings of isolation…..but then it makes sense.  Folks who spend countless hours surfing the net lack any contact with real people.  Combine that with the fact that often the reality of what we search for on the net is somewhat of a let down and it becomes easier to see how this could lead to depression.

So maybe we do need to get out from behind those machines and out into the sunlight!

In reading Chapter 2 of Clifford Stolls’ High Tech Heretic, I find he has pointed out that so often throughout history, people have believed that this or that technological advance would somehow change the world and we’d all live as one…..quite a pipe dream isn’t it? 

Stoll cites many times where the propaganda surround a new technology made it sound like the end of all wars, hunger and the key to global bliss.  For example, he states that some believe that the miseries of many third world nations would end when the internet and other technologies prolifereated into their backyard.  Not the case.  Technology is a tool that can be used to solve problems, but is is not the solution in and of itself.

I like Stoll’s view that technology is not some kind of celestial cynosure that will unite all in peace and harmony.  He goes on to examine the view that technology has not shrunk the world, but rather Americans’ view of the world…..we still expect everything to be presented in English, North America pretty much drives the web, and we really don’t invest a lot of time in learning about other cultures different from our own.

In all, while he might be labeled a herestic by some, I believe his views are quite realistic on many issue surrounding modern technology…..the rest of the book should continue to prove interesting! 

My daughter uses Myspace on a daily basis (as I have now begun to do).  She “talks” with old friends from college, high school and childhood as well as her husband who is in IRaq.  Wow, who would’ve thought we would be able to talk with soldiers in a war zone?  Anyway, she is very involved with the SNS culture.  Today she calls me crying because there is a rumor going on about her that began as a comment on myspace.  I won’t get into the details; but she is nearly devastated.

I have a friend who had a similar experience.  Some created a MySpace page as if it were her, said she was divorced and was looking to date again.  She didn’t find out about it until some guy asked her sister to fix them up.  It took a while to get the page taken off as well. 

That just further reminds me that we, as teacher, must be very careful when using SNSs.  Further more, you have to be very discerning in your public acitivities….people have camera phones ready to go anytime they can snap you in a compromising situation…and even if you are not guilty, the damage is done and very difficult if not impossible to correct.

I posted my 21st Century Learner video on YouTube.  The link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cApckXiInoY

I will actually have to repost it…..I posted the one without music by accident.

One quote that I feel sums up the entire chapter is, “As computers replace textbooks, students will become more computer literate and more book illiterate.”  Being a reading teacher and an avid reader myself, replacing books with computers would not be a wise thing to do.

I think I feel the same way….perhaps I am just old and am beginning to resist change more than I used to.  I can walk into my school library and see shelves of books…and know that few are ever checked out anymore….kids use a computer to find the information they want.   Then I wonder if one day I will walk in and there will be no more books….reminds me of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.  I think the use of computers has defintiely hurt literacy rates…much as calculators have killed our kids math skills.

So I get caught between, on one hand, that this is just evolution of technology much as the printing press was in when it was created and on the other, that I have a hard time of letting go of what has always been familiar and embracing a new idea.  Will I one day see books replaced with LCD screens….maybe, but not in my house!

Back in the land of the living… « Adelliott08’s Weblog
I was blindsided on Monday with the fact that I will now have to look for a job. While I knew that my team was losing a teacher next year, I never, NEVER, thought it would be me.

I am so sorry this has happened to you.  What do schools reflect about our culture?  They are much the same as any other profession….they treat you great as long as THEY NEED YOUR SERVICES…..but once they don’t need you anymore, you almost become a stranger….just a face in the crowd to which a harsh statement like that doesn’t seem to bother them.

I think it is a shame that when the budget gets cut, we always [and only] lose teachers….the people actually needed, yet we can create endless central office positions with salaries 2X or 3X that of a classroom teacher…and yet these people have little, if any, impact on our students’ learning in most cases.  Shows just how screwed up our priorities get.

If it is any consolation, I, too, believe that the sun will shine tomorrow….and something will come along….it’s just scary for some of us to face getting acquainted to an new situation….same as on the SNSs….while some embrace meeting new people and challenges, I tend to shy away, preferring the familiar.  

Hang in there……things will work out! 

I have tried twitter, then decided to go with Facebook for my SNS.  However, I am having problems finding “friends” and interacting much with it.

Hey Joe, don’t fret…you’re not in the boat by yourself. I really can’t put my finger on it….maybe I just don’t get it, maybe I am too old, maybe I just don’t want to know anyone else… but for whatever reason, I have not enjoyed working with a SNS.

I stuck with Twitter and am following a good sized group…..but Twitter seems to be just random thoughts and comments. I’m having a hard time figuring out how to get an in depth view of it all.  I have a feeling the ethnography will be somewhat of a challenge to complete.  I am glad Dr. Lowell posted some of the questions we need to address in the ethnography….gives me some direction!  I hope it all works out in the end!