Open the Gate

"Web 2.0 has created an environment in which the web becomes interactive. Social media allows us to connect not only to the people we know but indirectly to many, many more people. In education, both Web 2.0 and social media are lauded and criticized for different things. What are your thoughts going into this course pertaining to education and Web 2.0 and social media? How might these tools best support education or should they be left completely out of education?" - Jennie Goldman Schaff

I bought a Commodore 64 (yes that is a whole whopping 64mb of data storage capacity and 20mb of pure processing power!) with my paper route money some time in the early eighties. I was somewhere between ten and twelve. 

The computers in the lab at school were Macintosh, and had green graphics. My C64 was connected to a color TV and had a FULL 12 color display! I sat alone in my room and taught myself basic programming and even purchased a cradle modem to place the handset of my home phone on to connect to other people using C64s. I could listen to the beeps and boops of the computers connecting and see text appearing on my screen. It was amazing! And my parents had no idea why I wasn't using my television to watch TV...

Fortunately for my parents the internet was still fledgling at best and home users had very limited access. I was limited to who I could contact with my modem, I only had my friends numbers and only three of them had C64s. Also, other than copying video games from each other (yes, piracy is as old as the household computer) I had no malicious intent for my computer. It was a gaming system and a item of curiosity. 

Could you imagine leaving a ten to twelve year old boy alone in his room, with the door closed, on a computer, for hours at a time?

We need to teach students to swim. 

It is a dangerous and tragic neglect to all students and teachers to leave social media and and Web 2.0 out of education. I would equate it to locking the gate to the public pool during the day when the life guard is on duty and UN-locking it at night when nobody is watching. 

Unfortunately, often, this is sadly the case.

Even in the schools where computers and technology are used, Web 2.0 is weakened and social media nonfunctional due to the firewalls and blocked access of the servers - the gate is locked. After school, kids go home often to empty houses, the PS3, the Wii, whatever current game system you can imagine, the tablet, the desktop and the smartphone are all connected to the web and right there waiting... and mom or dad won't be home for a couple of hours.

I know this because I am "friends" with about 60-70 students around Monroe County. I know what they post. I see when they post it. Most of it is by phone. But, I also know that when I set up groups on FB for us to discuss particular issues and events, their posts reflect the values of the group that they are posting to. I have rarely had to remind a group member about appropriateness. It's a shame that schools don't teach kids how to use these sites and then leverage that natural inclination of students to use them. 

I do believe that if students were taught, with parental permission, and teacher supervision to use social media at a younger age, it would cut down on cyber bullying. It would cut down on the number of kids that are taken advantage of by sexual predators, it might also cut down on the number of inappropriate posts that are happening right now.

I know that I only answered the last half of the question, but I've written enough and still have more to say...