Journal # 3 NETS 3 & 5

Journal # 3

Levinson, Matt. (2010). Keeping the Peace. International Society for Technology in Education, 37(5), 1-4. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=February_No_5_4&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4495&ContentID=25237&DirectListComblond=D

In 2007, students received laptops at Nueva Middle School in Hillsborough, California. This article relates to the controversy that is centered around the issue that students were able to access programs such as iChat and were instant messaging among themselves. Parents thought this was taking away from their schooling and they were spending too much time socializing. To keep the programs going, the school was forced into making a pro’s and con’s list to determine the outlook for the program. Parents were also concerned when they could not monitor and control iChat at home and felt their students were becoming unfocused and not spending enough time doing school work, just chatting.

What can be learned from the Nueva Middle School handling of the issue?

From the way Nueva Middle School handled the situation, we can ascertain that asking the opinions of parents, educators, and students can be beneficial, yet harmful. No where in the world is everyone going to agree or have the same opinions, no 2 parents are going to agree on the upbringing of their children. In this case, I believe a vote should have been taken to determine the opinions of the parents.

Is instant messaging dangerous for students?

I believe giving any information out over the web is dangerous. The school cannot be held responsible for a student giving out their information, it is their own doing regardless if the school provided the program or not. If there was a way to limit who each student could chat with, then maybe the program could be safer, but I know on my laptop, I can get access to people around the world. I for one was not allowed into chat rooms or similar programs until I was 14 years old.