April 2008 — News
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Crossroads in Education: Issues for Web 2.0, Social Software, and Digital Tools
With more and more data being stored online, as offered by many Web 2.0 applications, what is it that students really need to learn (Daanen & Facer, 2007)? Educators will need to examine curriculum for the value of knowing and being able to recall facts and events from memory, which might now be a focus within certain knowledge domains. The focus is shifting to finding data when you need it, and synthesizing it to become information. How do we ensure that students develop the skills to do that within the curriculum? What instructional strategies best promote those?
Security
Standards documents for content areas (e.g., NCTM, NCTE) indicate technology is essential for teaching and learning. However, when it comes to students using technology for collaboration, creativity, communication, and digital citizenship, called for in documents as the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (ISTE, 2007), educators have added their caveats. Which of the technologies are appropriate? When and where can they be used? We know some schools ban students from using certain social software and digital tools (e.g., cell phones) during school time. This is done in the name of security and protecting young people from access to Web sites with objectionable content, people who might do them harm, or because using some of those sites or applications (e.g., chat) might be viewed as time wasters.
As alternatives to open public spaces, some schools permit educators to use applications within closed, password-protected private areas that can be more easily monitored. The question for curriculum developers has to do with determining the point during the K-12 experience at which we take a stand, and potential security risk, to use open spaces and also teach students social skills they need to survive within those open spaces. How will we know we are helping them "demonstrate responsibility for lifelong learning" (ISTE, 2007), which is part of digital citizenship? Students use open spaces now when they leave the classroom and not always responsibly. This raises yet other questions: "How will we handle the boundaries between a student's Web 2.0 material and that of the institution? ... Can this be administered?" (Anderson, 2007, p. 44). To what extent should schools be responsible for what students post online in social sites?
On the technical side of security, Anderson (2007) stated, "The education community should worry that much of Web 2.0 data is 'hosted externally to academia' "(p. 55). Consider content stored within closed blog-spaces or applications enabling classroom gradebooks or other personal data to be stored online. Rod Boothby (2008) raised two concerns, which have implications for schools:
- How can I be certain that the information that is gathered and shared behind the firewall stays behind the firewall?
- How do I control who has access to particular levels of information and databases?
It's not just an issue of passwords and the rise of biometric data being used to control access. Who ultimately has control over that data in the archiving process or in personalized learning spaces?
