Reflection on Wikipedia
Joe Hoffman
I rarely use Wikipedia as a resource for researching a topic because I have found that it is full of information primarily that every one already knows. That’s the point of an encyclopedia isn’t it? It’s a brief general knowledge resource. When I was young I must have read the entire encyclopedia set my family had, at least twice. I loved the pictures and would read at least the first few sentences of every subject. The internet is an indispensable tool for research and I fully support its use in school projects. As a teacher I would accept Wikipedia quotes from my students, in the right context.
The right context would be as an example of the contemporary level of understanding of a given subject. For example, take the subject of slavery. A student would do well to compare the definition, cultural perspective, and level of knowledge exhibited on Wikipedia as it compares to that of the times and places when or where slavery exists. Wikipedia can serve as a good source for finding generally excepted basic knowledge, but should not be taken as a true authority any more than your average encyclopedia should.
The article about Wikipedia did not make any strong arguments in ether direction other than his personal endorsement of Wikipedia use. I don’t feel that my opinion has changed about what to do with my students on this topic. I will except Wikipedia citations for basic info and comparisons, but will require that other sources be use in conjunction.
My policy surrounding internet research is simple. One has not done adequate research if they have failed to compare previously confirmed information with contemporary debate and speculation, making the use of the internet a necessity. However If one has not given great consideration to the previously established knowledge found primarily in books, then they have not don adequate research ether. In short, I will require both.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Reflection on Cell Phones
Joe Hoffman
Cell phones in the class room
Cell phones are a tool, employed by our culture with wonderful success. They are perhaps just as important as computers, TV’s, and automobiles, to the productivity and forward movement of our economy. The integration of cell phones with education has happened already and as is often the case, will not be reversed. I do not think it is a good idea to have students freely using their cell phones while the teacher is lecturing, but then again isn’t that what we all do when we are stuck in a meeting or conference.
The cell phone is to the world of communication that the calculator is to math. It is simply a tool allowing us to work faster, harder, and more efficiently. Imagine doing complex math equations and functions without a calculator. The level of communication and networking taking place in the lives of our students is so far above and beyond the level the school is functioning on its no wonder schools don’t allow cell phones. It’s about like a math teacher who is teaching the multiplication tables and says “no calculators”, and with good reason of course. Calculators would make it to easy thus none of the students would actually learn the tables, but the students are all math geniuses compared to the teacher and are simply bored out of their minds.
That’s what the teachers and administrators are missing. The students are on a totally different level than them. Restricting the use of the most dominant communication tool of the real world, can in no way prepare them to function effectively in it. Clearly as with all things there must be rules and boundaries in the class room, and it has been demonstrated to work quite well in other settings. Elementary and high school teachers could take a lesson from collage instructors who often encourage the use of technology like phones in the class room.
Students if given the opportunity will use these devices to supplement and improve upon what is being taught to them. While a teacher lectures for example on US History, the student can check the validity of what the teacher says right there and challenge some thing they feel is untrue or find the answer to a question that the teacher did not know or didn’t wont to answer.
This is how real learning takes place. Simply soaking in what the text book or teacher says, can only give you a small piece of the big picture. I feel that students should be encouraged to employ all forms of technology at all times.
Cell phones in the class room
Cell phones are a tool, employed by our culture with wonderful success. They are perhaps just as important as computers, TV’s, and automobiles, to the productivity and forward movement of our economy. The integration of cell phones with education has happened already and as is often the case, will not be reversed. I do not think it is a good idea to have students freely using their cell phones while the teacher is lecturing, but then again isn’t that what we all do when we are stuck in a meeting or conference.
The cell phone is to the world of communication that the calculator is to math. It is simply a tool allowing us to work faster, harder, and more efficiently. Imagine doing complex math equations and functions without a calculator. The level of communication and networking taking place in the lives of our students is so far above and beyond the level the school is functioning on its no wonder schools don’t allow cell phones. It’s about like a math teacher who is teaching the multiplication tables and says “no calculators”, and with good reason of course. Calculators would make it to easy thus none of the students would actually learn the tables, but the students are all math geniuses compared to the teacher and are simply bored out of their minds.
That’s what the teachers and administrators are missing. The students are on a totally different level than them. Restricting the use of the most dominant communication tool of the real world, can in no way prepare them to function effectively in it. Clearly as with all things there must be rules and boundaries in the class room, and it has been demonstrated to work quite well in other settings. Elementary and high school teachers could take a lesson from collage instructors who often encourage the use of technology like phones in the class room.
Students if given the opportunity will use these devices to supplement and improve upon what is being taught to them. While a teacher lectures for example on US History, the student can check the validity of what the teacher says right there and challenge some thing they feel is untrue or find the answer to a question that the teacher did not know or didn’t wont to answer.
This is how real learning takes place. Simply soaking in what the text book or teacher says, can only give you a small piece of the big picture. I feel that students should be encouraged to employ all forms of technology at all times.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Reflection on Cyber Bullying
The topic of cyber bullying is an obsolete idea. It seems to me to be a sign of the lack of awareness by principles and teachers that there students are living and communicating on a whole other level than they are. As I read the articles about the topic it was making me laugh the way they talked about new technology and what to do about the bullying that may be happening in a realm that they are not involved in. The truth is that the kids in school today don’t think of it as “cyber bullying”, any more than we thought of our bullying situations as “face to face bullying”, or “Snail mail/land line bullying”. It was just bullying. Humans operate, communicate, and manipulate in the culture, context, and language of there time. The law and liberty for students has not changed just because communication technology has.
A school can not punish a student that ran in to another student on a Sunday afternoon far away from campus and got into a fight, It is a mater for the police to handle, and only if the other student wishes to pres charges. In the same way a school should not be able to punish a student for merely saying some thing on line to another out side of school locations and hours. While I condemn all bullying on or off of school property, it worries’s me considerably that the first amendment rights of young Americans would be tossed aside for the sake of hurt feelings. I get hurt feeling and quite upset by some of the political rhetoric and down right bullying that goes on in our country, but that’s America. Discomfort is one of the prices we must pay for liberty. It can be hard to swallow some times, but we must always remember that free speech can not be limited to only positive speech.
The laws already in place can sufficiently handle any problems happening in the cyber world. As long as the language of the laws concerning harassment, liable, and threat/fight speech, include digital communication, than no further action needs to be taken. Good intentions are most certainly what drives parents, teachers, and school administrators to reach out of the bounds of jurisdiction in an attempt to make things better, but as the saying goes “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions”. I do not mean to say that what they are doing is worthy of damnation. It only serves to illustrate that good intentions do not necessarily come from sound reasoning or produce good results.
A school can not punish a student that ran in to another student on a Sunday afternoon far away from campus and got into a fight, It is a mater for the police to handle, and only if the other student wishes to pres charges. In the same way a school should not be able to punish a student for merely saying some thing on line to another out side of school locations and hours. While I condemn all bullying on or off of school property, it worries’s me considerably that the first amendment rights of young Americans would be tossed aside for the sake of hurt feelings. I get hurt feeling and quite upset by some of the political rhetoric and down right bullying that goes on in our country, but that’s America. Discomfort is one of the prices we must pay for liberty. It can be hard to swallow some times, but we must always remember that free speech can not be limited to only positive speech.
The laws already in place can sufficiently handle any problems happening in the cyber world. As long as the language of the laws concerning harassment, liable, and threat/fight speech, include digital communication, than no further action needs to be taken. Good intentions are most certainly what drives parents, teachers, and school administrators to reach out of the bounds of jurisdiction in an attempt to make things better, but as the saying goes “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions”. I do not mean to say that what they are doing is worthy of damnation. It only serves to illustrate that good intentions do not necessarily come from sound reasoning or produce good results.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)