Blogs and the Attention Economy

Quote of the week:

"Never in 25 years of teaching have I seen a more powerful motivator for writing than blogs. And that's because of the audience. Writing is not just taped to a refrigerator and then put in the recycle bin. It's out there for the world to see. Kids realize other people are reading what they write."

- Mark Ahlness, 3rd grade teacher at Seattle's Arbor Heights Elementary School
Taken from The Seattle Times: Teachers are reacing out to students with a new class of blogs by Stephanie Dunnewind

MySpace and Teachable Moments

Having been a victim of a faux web site using my name and pictures, I can easily relate to the plight of Mr. Scarpelli in last week’s article entitled “Schools Trying to Prevent Harassment in Cyberspace”. Students created a MySpace profile on the unknowing Mr. Scarpelli using pictures from his school website.

What I find interesting is the author’s comment: If you can’t beat it, educate it. Ideally, we could teach students responsible use of the tools available for them online. Education about harassment issues, as well as the potential dangers of online profiles, is crucial to creative teens who use the web as an outlet for creative expression.

I have yet to see in schools any formal curriculum on harassment let alone harassment on the internet. Simply signing a statement promising proper internet etiquette is not enough. Since “1 in 10 students who use the Internet report being harassed online” (n=1500) I certainly hope that Albany is beginning to look at a curriculums and measurement standards for this important topic… stay tuned.

I have the good fortune of observing Scott in his classroom for Eng 505. This past Thursday, watched him work with a projector from a computer; the class watched as he typed and edited an assignment he had given them, listening to his thought process as he wrote. Scott was acting as an integral part of the learning community using technology. Since my 504 project is based on collaborative learning, I was thrilled to see some of my grad course content working its way into actual classrooms.

One thing that I find interesting from my observations: classrooms currently use web based programs primarily for management. Being slightly overwhelmed (but warming to the idea) of using blogs and websites in collaborative learning, I am both reassured and perplexed that even at the best of sites, it is not common for students contribute writing and interact with a class site. Blog classroom interaction seems to be on the horizon (albeit near horizon) for many classrooms, even amidst the techiest of teachers.

PowerPoint is widely used in the classrooms I've been in, and so it seems like an interesting thing for ENG506 to at least look at. I wonder if most of my classmates are able to do the interesting things that Scott did with interactive quizzes? I was a bit in the dark, and wondered if I was the only one. Please comment.