BusinessWeek (Sept. 5) has a recent article commenting on new technology applications in K-12 environments. Use of “2.0” is beginning to annoy me. I am thinking it is a personal problem – I have a way of using the term in reference to technology applications and it is sometimes difficult mapping this personal understanding on the way the term is applied in another context. Maybe if this is a general reaction we should recognize that the term has no meaning and move on.
Anyway – the article contains some project descriptions that were interesting and new to me. Take a look.
There is a section that deals with safety and educational value. The topic is consistent with the way I think about “2.0” issues, but the discussion did not seem connected with the examples used in the rest of the article. I wonder if this is a journalistic technique – throw the odds and ends in at the end. I have one complaint about this section. There is a statement here I would like to verify:
About 1 in 5 children online is sexually solicited, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which has created www.netsmartz.org to teach children, parents, and educators about online safety.
While the examples in the article are supported by links, the statements in the section on Safety and Educational value are not. I have read several studies from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children (see final comment) and know the organization has much more to say. What is said or not said makes a great difference in the context of the news item. For example, when students encounter online solicitation, where are they connecting from? If the connection is nearly always from homes, what might this say about the role of the schools? Perhaps social networking experiences and discussions related to social networking need to be emphasized in schools so that students are prepared for the encounters they might experience when mom is not looking.
Grabe summary of recent Missing and Exploited Children survey.
Grabe summary of recent report from the National School Boards Association.
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