Does Facebook Hurt a Student’s Grades?

A recent research by Aryn Karpinski at Ohio State University discovered that students with a Facebook account have lower grades than students who do not. Facebook users averaged 3.0 to 3.5. Those without a Facebook account averaged 3.5 to 4.0. The research does not blame Facebook for the lower grades, and recognizes that there may be some other factors that were not measured. Perhaps students with Facebook accounts are more involved in other social situations that take their attention away from studying.

Let’s step back and think about this for a minute. First, what is wrong with a B or a B+ average? I am sure that many parents would be happy if their son or daughter did that well in college. Second, perhaps there are advantages of having a Facebook account that actually raise a student’s grade, help a student cope with the pressures of college or enlarge a shy student’s social circle.

Now I don’t deny that there is something magnetic, perhaps addicting, about the internet. A quick Google search on internet addiction yield 8,040,000 hit. I don’t know if Internet Addiction is real or not. I do know that there are times when I go to the Internet to get caught up on the latest news or do some quick research that I don’t reappear for a very long time. I get sucked in to following links, watching the latest video, or check the newest deal on Amazon. I also know that the Internet is an incredible and fast resource for information and has aided my research on countless number of occasions.

While I find the Facebook study interesting, I am not ready to cancel my Facebook account quite yet.

What do you think?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wikis: There Not Just For Students

After my initial failure with talking with my Principal about creating and using Wikis in conjunction with the ongoing Professional Learning Communities (PLC) with have established at my school, I have quietly spoken to several other teachers in the two PLC I attend. Both of them see their value. So, one of my self-appointed tasks over spring break along with other wikis, blogs, advocacy issues, portfolio, work around the house, and meeting my wife is to set up a simple wiki on PBWiki for my US History PLC. PBWiki is so simple and easy to set up that it is the logical for a short-term experiment. If it success, then I may have Media Wiki (wiki software) installed on the school servers. This initial effort will focus on review for the SOL which will soon be upon us. Since I already have several ways to review already prepared, I will prime the wiki pump with my material. Our SOL testing window is May 18-23,(we can’t believe it is that soon either). After that we have several weeks of “Okay What Do We Do Now”? I will propose that one thing we do is share ideas, lesson plans, and play with the wiki all at the same time.

I will let you know how it goes.

Lessons Learned the Hard Way

At my school we meet in subject content groups called professional learning communities (plc)to discussion common testing, planning, and lesson plans. So much of what we do in these meetings is oral. We discuss and discuss and discuss. On some sort of regular basis a teacher will share a lesson that he or she is presenting. So, I had the bright idea that my plc group would benefit from a wiki. My plans involved obtaining wiki software and have it installed on the school’s servers. That would give our group maximum access with practically no space limitations. If the wiki worked, the entire school could benefit from this collaborative tool. I found some free software which is the software base for Wikipedia. I checked with the tech people at school to see if this could be done. Neither of them saw any problem. My next stop was to visit with my Principal.


Here is where the lesson got hard. The Principal is a fanatic about these plc meeting and does not entertain anyone messing around with them. Well, I thought that he would be pretty pleased with my idea because a wiki is a great tool to use in conjunction with the established order of things. In my defense, I knew that he had a sick child at home so I did not want to keep him any longer than necessary. After explaining what I wanted to do with the wiki, I waited for him to say it was an excellent idea and that I should go ahead. That is not what happened. Instead he took me to task on many issues dismissed me and my idea in short order. I was really upset. Reflecting on what happened, I realized that he had no idea what I was talking about, and I did not fully explain to him what a wiki was or how it could supplement what we were already doing. I had no reason to be upset with the Principal, it was my fault.



The lessons learned: 1. Be sure that the person with whom you are speaking understands what you are talking about. Assume nothing. 2. Be sure to explain any and all technical terms and technology before you explain what you want to do.

Result of Wiki Lesson

Well, I finally did it. I created and implemented a lesson plan using a wiki. Overall, I would say that the lesson was a success. As with all group activities, some students had high participation while others had almost none. This problem was probably exacerbated because of the new technology.
Now, I must confess that I did cheat a little. The assignment was designed to be completed outside of class, but I was not just interested in the students learning to use a wiki, I did want them to work together to create debate arguments. So I allowed my students ten or fifteen minutes at the end of several class periods to collaborate face-to-face. Even in hindsight, I beleive this was a good compromise. If all of the work was only going to be done on the wiki, some students would not have participated at all. At least this ways some students did learn to use a wiki, and all students had a chance to contribute. In a follow up reflection survey, none of the students were overly thrilled with or put off using the wiki as a tool for collaboration.

The next assignment also involved group work. While I did not require students to use a wiki for their work, I did encourage them to do so and talked about several advantages of using a wiki for the project. I was a little disheartened when none of them choose to do so. They would still rather copy information onto a flash drive. At least that is still a positive use of technology. I think to be really effective students need many exposures to new technology like a wiki. A one shot approach does not give students enough opportunity to become familiar enough with the technology to want to use it on their own.

I have posted about 30 seconds of one of my students beginning to present some of the group’s arguments. The two young men in the back were also part of the group and did speak later.
I hung a set of curtain (purchased at local thrift store) in the front of my class as a backdrop for my students. The curtains also add a little more color to an overly white and sterile room. Several rugs and pole lamp also creates a warmer environment for my students. The lectern was built by my grandfather, a deacon in the Baptist Church, he died long before my mother married my father.

StripGenerator.Com

Comics have been a staple of American life for many years. I grew up reading the Sunday comic strips and read hundreds of comic books. Today’s students do pretty much the same thing with graphic novels. However, not many of us are capable of creating comics to express our ideas. Enter Stripgenerator. Com. It allows users to create a comic strip using a gallery of cartoon humans, beings, objects, shapes, and bubbles. These images allow even the most artistically challenged to create nice looking comic strips with minimal experience. With Strip Generator student can recreate an historical event, make a political statement, or do creative story telling.

The site has two services. Registered users can sign up for a free blog where they can create and post their comic strips to a blog for people to comment. All users can create a comic strip, download it, or print out a hard copy. What an ideal way for students to tell what they know, express their ideas or feelings in a format that they are already familiar.

Another interesting fact about Strip Generator is that while the site and all of its features are in English, the program and site were develop by a group of individuals in Slovenia. I guess the world is flat, but it still speaks English.

Wiki Lesson Idea

This idea could be used for many topics or subjects. Before I introduced this lesson, I did spend one class period introducing wikis to the class. I left out the second part of the lesson which explained the actual debate part.

Debate: State vs. National Government

Overview – Each team will create, collaborate, and debate the proposition: States should have more power to govern than the national government.

One class period will be devoted to research, questions, help, suggestions the rest of the work will be done collaboratively via www.government184.pbwiki.com

Today
Introduce proposition/resolution
Google VideoResearch
Debate on the third class period from today

Part One: Research, collaboration, and creation using (10 points) www.government184.pbwiki.com

Steps and Due Dates
1. Each team creates a folder and pages for their research and arguments
2. Define Vocabulary Words and Post on Wiki
3. Research
4. Post significant points (bullet points) on wiki
5. Work bullet points into sentences
6. Sentences into paragraphs
7. Paragraphs into pages
8. Edit, Revise, Finalize

Each student is expected to make approximately the same number of edits to arguments. Each student must login under his or her own name to receive credit.

Mr. Caffi will periodically check you progress and leave comments.

Vocabulary: Look up and define the following words. All definitions must relate to a debate. Post on your wiki.
· Debate
· Resolve/Resolution
· Proposition
· Affirm
· Rebut(tal)
· Argument

Average words per minute speaking from text 250-350

Itsopedia09: A Blessing and A Curse

My work on Itsopedia09 has been a blessing and a cure.

Blessing

In order to make a valid contribution to the community wiki, I have to read everything that everyone else has already written first. Then I have to think about what was included, what was missing, what was incorrect, and how could whatever has been said could have be said better. This is not the curse. It is a blessing because all this reviewing, rethinking, and rewriting results in a better understanding of the material.

Curse

I have found it particularly difficult trying to read what so many other people have written. Some have written in complete well thought out sentences. Others contributions are riddled with spelling and grammar errors. To complicate matter even more, everyone has their own style of writing and the blending of all these different styles do not always result in a cogent discussion. While I do realize that the wiki is a work in progress and is not expected to be perfect, it is still difficult for me.

What do you think?

Cell Phone Lesson Plan

I can’t help but wonder if we are spending too much time designing lesson around computers. The truth is that many more of our students have and use cell phones than computers. Perhaps we should begin thinking about how we can design lessons around student's cell phones. One quick, simple, and easy way to create a cell phone assignment is with Polleverywhere.com. It allows a teacher to create and take a quick poll of students using their cell phones. For example, a government teacher could give a homework assignment to watch the President give an address before Congress then have the students send a text to poll everywhere whether they liked the President response or not. The next day in class the class could look at their poll compare it to other opinion polls or use the poll as a discussion starter. The service is free for up to 30 students. This idea may not be the ultimate cell phone assignment, but it might be a start.

What do you think?

Citizendium or Wikipedia

Wikipedia has is the big dog for online encyclopedia. It not only has millions of articles, but is ranked #8 on most visited websites. Is bigger always better? Larry Sanger, one of the cofounders of Wikipedia, does not necessarily think so. He believes that better is better. So he began an new online encyclopedia, Citizendium. These are the three differences between Citizendium and Wikipedia (according to Citizendium)

• All contributors must apply for membership in the project under their real names
• All articles are reviewed by experts in their particular fields, offering suggestions and criticism as the articles evolve with the goal for each article to be "approved"
• That vandals, trolls, and disruptive editors are quickly and permanently banned from further work on the project.

While I applaud Citizendium approach and philosophy, I don’t know how much the average internet user understands or cares about such issues. Wikipedia has already corrected some of the problems that have plagued them, and I am confident they will continue to make Wikipedia more reliable. Regardless of how you feel about such issues, none of us should be relying on either Citizendium or Wikipedia alone. Any issues worth researching are worth checking more than one site.

Citizendium http://en.citizendium.org
Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/

What Good Are Wikis In The Classroom?

Like many of my peers, I find these new technology tools like wikis very exciting. But really now, what use are they in the classroom? It is not like they come with lesson plans attached. It takes a lot of work and time that I don’t have. First, I have to figure out how to use these new tech tools. Then I have to find the time to figure out what to do with them in the classroom. Oh, woe is me.


Fortunately we don’t have to figure this out all by ourselves. We are not alone. Other teachers are already way ahead of us. Their classroom wikis are already online. In addition, there are a growing number of resources on the internet that will provide us ideas, suggestions, and activities. A quick Goodgle search of “Wikis in the Classroom” yield 2, 200, 000 hits in 0.31 seconds. At the end of these comments, I have posted a quick and dirty list of several such sites, several of which will lead you to even more sites. Of course, I cannot speak specifically or authoritatively about each and every of these sites. Many of their content is outside my narrow field of interest. My goal was to provide you with a starting point and give some fodder to feed your own creativity.


As developing leaders and experts in the fields of integrating technology in schools, we have the responsibility to be not only good consumers and users of existing knowledge. We have a responsibility to contribute to the growing body of knowledge.


To those who much has been given, much is required.

How Can I Use a Wiki in the Classroom?
Wikis in the Classroom (Good PowerPoint Presentation)
Sites to See: Get Wild About Wikis!
Teaching Tips: Wikis in the Classroom (Particularly Good)
Link to Classroom 2.0 Social Network Discussions

Letter to Parents and Adminstration

In order to provide my students with an opportunity to have their voices heard beyond the four walls of their classrooms and introduce them to another form of communicating, I have created a blog for my students’ work. Room 184 will display some of the work of my juniors and seniors. Because I think a little paranoia is a good thing, especially when dealing with students and the internet, my profile has been left incomplete and only students’ initials will appear on their postings.

Purpose of Room 184

• Provide my students with an opportunity to use technology to communicate their thoughts and ideas
• Provide my students an opportunity to receive feedback from individuals who may or may not be a part of their peer group, a teacher, or a member of their local community
• Encourage my students to put more time and effort into their writing
• Expose my students to the wonderful world of blogging
  Provide my students with an opportunity to brag that their work is on the internet
• Experiment with various Web 2.0 tools

Commenting Rules

I encourage you to make comments on any or all of my students’ postings. When you do comment, please follow these few simple rules.

• If you recognize or think you recognize me, the student’s initials or writing, do not use the student’s name.
• All comments must be appropriate in language and tone.
  

Let the Blogging Begin
Room 184 - http://room184.blogspot.com

P.S.: You may want to check out some of my other blogs on education.
Teacher Leaders - http://foster-teacherleader.blogspot.com
Webucation 2.0 - http://webucation20.blogspot.com

Blocking Personal Technology in Schools

How in the world are we supposed to be promoting technology in schools when schools prohibit the use of the very tools students are most likely to use? It seems that when a school system does not understand some new technology, or when they get burned by a few students who misuse the technology, their knee jerk reaction is to stop all usage of the technology completely. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water. This reaction not only retards legitimate uses of technology, it also hinders advancements in using the technology for educational purposes. Prohibiting the use of technology does not stop students. They just use it in covert way. They open up their cell phone within their purses or backpacks. Students access forbidden sites through proxies.


I do believe that there needs to be controls and limits on the use of personal technology in schools. Students should not be able to access pornography in school, and talking or texting in class during a lecture is just plain rude.

School need to develop sensible rules for the use of personal technology. This is a great opportunity for schools to teach students that their personal technology can be used for more that entertainment and texting each other every 5 minute. If we don’t, who will?

What do you think?

Welcome

Welcome to my first blog.

Over the next few months I hope that you will journey with me as together we learn about the wonder world of Web 2.0 and how to introduce blogs into our classes and to our students. Like many journeys, they are much more enjoyable and rewarding when you have companions traveling with you. So please join me and share your journey with me.

P.S. The picture is of me reading my Kindle on Shadow Lake in Vermont. (The Kindle was in a Ziploc bag to protect it from the lake.) Yes, I did eventually venture away from the dock.