Friday, March 4, 2011

Journal 5: Should schools be held responsible for cyberbullying? (NETS 4)

Bogacz, Renee, & Gomez Gordillo, Miguel. (2011). Should schools be held responsible for cyberbullying?. 38(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Point_Counterpoint_Should_Schools_Be_Held_Responsible_for_Cyberbullying.aspx  

Renee Bogacz, a Language Arts teacher, expressed her opinion by saying that cyberbullying has greatly affected our school environment. She called for teachers, administrators, parents, and students to work together to fight cyberbullying. She said that teachers should learn more about cyberbullying to be able to address it, and that administrators have to establish clear and enforceable consequences. She stressed on the parents role to be always involved in what their children are doing online or on their cell phones, and should monitor them constantly. The students were not ignored in her plan to fight cyberbullying, she encouraged them to learn more about it and to report any incidents.
On the other hand, Miguel Gomez Gordillo, an IT director, did not hold schools responsible for cyberbullying. He blamed the parents and the society for this problem. And said that the way to solve it is to take care of our children and show them parental love. And said that by close communication between schools and parents they can discover the educational plan to support our children.

Question 1: What are the real causes for cyberbullying in your opinion?
I think that schools should be held reliable for not educating our students and preparing them to deal with cyberbullying. But I also agree that parents should be held even more responsible because they are the primary educators. They should provide our children with more instruction on how to use the internet appropriately.

Question 2: How can we educate our students about cyberbullying?
We should explain to them what cyberbullying is, and how to fight it. We should also talk to them about assisting victims and reporting these incidents for a better social networking environment.

Journal 4:"It's time to trust teachers with the Internet"(NETS 1,2,4,5)

Schaffhauser, Dian. (2010, December 01). It's time to trust teachers with the internet. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/12/01/its-time-to-trust-teachers-with-the-internet-a-conversation-with-meg-ormiston.aspx

The interview that was done with Meg Ormiston was remarkable. It provided me with valuable information about our schools laws and regulations. Ormiston viewed our schools’ restrictive policies regarding technology as some what legitimate as they want to provide our students with a safe environment. But she was also confident that our students will be even more protected if they are provided with instruction and guidance on how to use technology appropriately. She pointed out that students have access to a variety of technological applications at home, where there is no supervision sometimes. She spoke on behalf of the teachers who feel that their hands are tied when it comes to incorporating these tools in their teaching, and said that barriers like blocking Internet access at school harm our students and limit their learning. It was very impressive to see how she included social networking websites as a learning tool in her argument. I agree that students can benefit from this software, and that it is essential for better teaching and learning strategies. She also added that professional development is needed for our teachers and administrators to guide them through this process. Leaders have to develop a deeper understanding of this technology and explore how to use it in their schools. Education is certainly the key to show teachers and students how to use this technology in a safe way.

Question 1: Why aren’t schools cooperative when it comes to unblocking some internet filters?
For some schools it’s understandable, it can because they don’t have enough network power coming into those buildings for kids to be using internet continuously. Or it’s because of the piece of software that was purchased by the district. But mostly, in my opinion, it’s due to the lack of knowledge of our school leaders about the importance of these applications.

Question 2: Why do you think students are loosing opportunities when they don’t use applications like YouTube or even Blogs?
There are a lot of information, tutorials, and lectures that are posted on these websites. We should filter and check them before sharing them with students, but they are essential for their learning. Also social networking tools are necessary for communication, and we should trust our teachers to show students how to benefit from them.