Clipmarks | edtechnnorris's Parenting collection

Technology Moral Panic: But Think of the Children!

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:00:01 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Hype about online predators based on completely bogus figures

Recently I wrote about a dreadful article in USA Today hyping up the "oh-no-think-of-the-children problem" of predators using console games to seek out kids. This followed similarly bogus news articles hyping up the threats of predators on social networks. Yet, all the "panic" raised by those articles has politicians practically shoving each other aside to introduce legislation against those social networks, or just various Attorneys General threatening those social networks without any evidence that there's a significant problem, other than a few totally hyped up news articles.

Alice Marwick has recently published a paper discussing exactly this type of "moral panic," focusing on the situation in 1996 in which Time Magazine famously published a scare mongering article about porn online, now known as the Rimm Report.

Marwick's paper has a good analysis of the Rimm Report's ripple effects as well

It was almost entirely wrong.

Facebook Never Forgets

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:33:25 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

The next generation of political leaders is coming of age right now -- and it's unlikely that any one of them will escape digital documentation of their college-era foibles.

Our generation -- high schoolers, college students and recent graduates -- immortalizes the interesting and banal, the innocent and incriminating, all on the Internet. We update our Facebook status as often as we change our shoes, and upload party photos before the last reveler goes home. Nonparticipation is impossible: We file our job applications online and arrange first dates via e-mail. The upshot? America's standards for personal embarrassment, political scandal and appropriate disclosure are sure to change in the years to come.

The Internet's anonymity, long memory and free-for-all gossip culture may yet prove a poisonous cocktail. But as our generation grows older and enters public life -- thankfully, we have some time

Unboxed - If You're Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:37:03 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Relates to the article about over-praising your children. People who think success is based on talent, and not the willingness to grow, learn, make mistakes are not as successful.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

After three decades of painstaking research, the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck believes that the answer to the puzzle lies in how people think about intelligence and talent. Those who believe they were born with all the smarts and gifts they’re ever going to have approach life with what she calls a “fixed mind-set.” Those who believe that their own abilities can expand over time, however, live with a “growth mind-set.”

“People who believe in the power of talent tend not to fulfill their potential because they’re so concerned with looking smart and not making mistakes. But people who believe that talent can be developed are the ones who really push, stretch, confront their own mistakes and learn from them.”

But Ms. Dweck does not suggest that recruiters ignore innate talent. Instead, she suggests looking for both talent and a growth mind-set in prospective hires — people with a passion for learning who thrive on challenge and change.

How the Google generation thinks differently

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:42:05 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: women.timesonline.co.uk

Digital natives
Like receiving information quickly from multiple media sources.
Like parallel processing and multi-tasking.
Like processing pictures, sounds and video before text.
Like random access to hyperlinked multimedia information.
Like to network with others.
Like to learn “just in time”.

Digital immigrants
Like slow and controlled release of information from limited sources.
Like singular processing and single or limited tasking.
Like processing text before pictures, sounds and video.
Like to receive information linearly, logically and sequentially.
Like to work independently.
Like to learn “just in case”.

Why Gifted Isn't Everything

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:38:27 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: lifestyle.msn.com

Must parents today be more vigilant about their kids' preparation for the future than previous generations had been? Certainly contemporary parents seem to be more worried about their children's achievement, perhaps in part because the skills needed for the future are not as well-defined as they once were. There is a sense of urgency: start early; work hard at learning how to learn; strive for high scores on tests that may determine who will succeed someday. We seem to have concluded that, unless proven otherwise, those deemed "gifted" at learning will have the edge. It's a logical conviction, but one that needs some tempering, according to both anecdotal and statistical evidence.

Are You Turning Your Child into a Wimp?

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:57:44 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Overparenting is a bad thing.

Clip Source: www.time.com

A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting

these kids lack coping skills because they've not been allowed to fully function. They are the products of parental anxiety and all the lumps and bumps have been taken out of life for them, so they have no idea how to manage the normal vicissitudes of life.

The world has changed on our watch. I didn't grow up knowing how to use a computer. So that instrument alone is highly symbolic that the world has changed. It's very fast, very dynamic, very fluid. A kid in Bangalore can come up with a program that could make Microsoft obsolete in two years. This is scary. This makes for great uncertainty. So what we're really worried about is the success of our kids. That's why we push them to achieve. And that's why we're focused on the Harvard, Yale, Princeton brand name education. In a world of uncertainty, a brand name carries some cachet and it's the closest thing you can get to a guarantee of some kind of success or achievement.

Educational Benefits of Social Networking Sites Uncovered

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:02:33 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

esearchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered the educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The same study found that low-income students are in many ways just as technologically proficient as their counterparts, going against what results from previous studies have suggested.

What we found was that students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today,"

educators can help students realize even more benefits from their social network site use by working to deepen students' still emerging ideas about what it means to be a good digital citizen and leader online.

"Students are developing a positive attitude towards using technology systems, editing and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout. They're also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology.

Basics - So Young, and So Gadgeted

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:58:08 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Piaget's stages of child development matched with technology

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

What’s the right approach? Studies of child development offer some middle ground.

AGES 0-2

technology products must act like a busy-box, with lights or sounds that respond to a child’s actions.

AGES 3-5

They like to play with pretend cellphones as if it were the real thing.” This pretend-play is actually an important part of the Piaget “preoperational” stage, when children first understand that they can control the events on a flat screen.

AGES 6-11

electronic devices should be used to “supplement rather than replace real experiences,” and encourages them to “make sure there’s an overall sense of balance” in activities during this stage of life.

AGES 12 AND UP

Communicating with friends is on par with breathing

If he were alive today, Piaget would probably advise parents that for a young child, everything — whether it has batteries or not — is a discovery waiting to happen. But toys work best when they are matched to a child’s level of development.

Teacher's Boozy MySpace Scotches Job

Wed, 14 May 2008 17:45:05 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

Those pages, similar to those of thousands of 20-somethings who grew up with their lives displayed online for all to see, can carry consequences. Teachers in several states have been suspended or fired for their online profiles, leading some school districts to begin crafting policies to regulate the virtual lives of their employees.

But for a generation that came of age comfortable with the freewheeling, tell-all online culture, Snyder's case presents a cautionary tale that raises questions about the standards to which teachers -- and other young people in positions of responsibility -- should be held.

Clueless in America

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:42:02 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: drop out rates and sub standard education a real issue in this country

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The nation’s future may depend on how well we educate the current and future generations, but (like the renovation of the nation’s infrastructure, or a serious search for better sources of energy) that can wait. At the moment, no one seems to have the will to engage any of the most serious challenges facing the U.S.

An American kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. That’s more than a million every year, a sign of big trouble for these largely clueless youngsters in an era in which a college education is crucial to maintaining a middle-class quality of life — and for the country as a whole in a world that is becoming more hotly competitive every day.

Ignorance in the United States is not just bliss, it’s widespread.

We have one of the highest dropout rates in the industrialized world,

When two-thirds of all teenagers old enough to graduate from high school are incapable of mastering college-level work, the nation is doing something awfully wrong.

When Young Teachers Go Wild on the Web

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:38:33 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Young teachers have to make sure their facebook pages are appropriate for parents and students to see - many don't realize that their security settings make them available for a wide area network.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Search the Web site for your favorite school system. And then watch the public profiles of 20-something teachers unfurl like gift wrap on the screen, revealing a sense of humor that can be overtly sarcastic or unintentionally unprofessional -- or both.

But the crudeness of some Facebook or MySpace teacher profiles, which are far, far away from sanitized Web sites ending in ".edu," prompts questions emblematic of our times: Do the risque pages matter if teacher performance is not hindered and if students, parents and school officials don't see them? At what point are these young teachers judged by the standards for public officials?

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

as public employees, we all understand the importance of living a public life above reproach.

Teachers caught with inappropriate Web sites could get a suspension for a first-time offense

I never thought about parents and kids [seeing it] before.

Minutes later, access to her site was restricted.

A Q&A With the Author of the Future of Reputation

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:49:24 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: All kinds of reasons to teach children to be responsible and ethical users of the internet. Even those who have no digital footprint can be impacted. A societal shift is necessary.

Clip Source: freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

Section 230 does not establish a good balance between protecting reputation and preserving free speech.

It’s allowed websites like JuicyCampus.com, which facilitate the spread of gossip and rumor on college campuses, to flourish without consequences.

Many social network websites are set up with a default setting that makes information fully available to the public. This is the easiest setting, and many people just go with the default.

If you find information about yourself online that is libelous or invasive of privacy, you should contact the person who put it up and request it be taken down. In many cases … this will solve the problem.

On the Internet, however, shaming can become a digital scarlet letter that can be affixed to a person’s identity for life. Wherever that person might go, their shameful acts will readily pull up in a Google search.

Daniel Solove

The Future of Reputation,

The goal is for a set of norms to develop about responsible blogging — for a kind of ethical code

Are Wired Kids Well Served by Schools?

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:25:59 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Probably not.

Clip Source: www.news.com

"Kids associate one word with school--'boring,'" said Deborah Stipek, dean and professor of education at Stanford, who was part of a panel discussion with the group of researchers. But kids' levels of engagement with the Internet and games could give educators new ideas for upping school's status.

The Stanford event, which was sponsored by MacArthur and Common Sense Media, raised more questions than it answered. But one of the more interesting findings in the research showed that many kids are drawn to create media online because their work can be immediately recognized or judged among their peer group or a larger audience, according to Mimi Ito, a cultural anthropologist of technology use and a principal investigator on MacArthur's project. That, she said, can be immediately gratifying.

Among the generation of kids growing up wired, many teens are hyper-motivated to learn a special skill like how to create a podcast, direct a YouTube video, publish an anime site, or hack an iPhone.

Tech encourages students' social skills

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:40:53 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: www.eschoolnews.com

Well-integrated technology opens social networks for students and allows children to develop key social skills, according to two recent studies conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Researchers X. Christine Wang and Cynthia Carter Ching have based both of their reports, titled "Social Construction of Computer Experience in a First Grade Classroom: Social Processes and Mediating Artifacts," and "Digital Photography and Journals in a Kindergarten-First-Grade Classroom: Toward Meaningful Technology Integration in Early Childhood Education," on the theoretical framework introduced by Lev Vygotsky.

The Sims Series Explores a Player's Fantasy Life

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:19:08 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

In the winter of 1860 Milton Bradley, a lithographer in Springfield, Mass., released a new game he had developed called the Checkered Game of Life. Its players began on a checkerboard square called Infancy and tried to make their way through various trials to the destination of Happy Old Age.

But over the last eight years the Sims — Life’s modern, digital descendant — has found a place in millions of homes and hearts beside all those creations of cardboard and laminate. On Wednesday Electronic Arts, the Sims’s publisher, plans to announce that the series has sold more than 100 million copies (including expansion packs) in 22 languages and 60 countries since its introduction in 2000.