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Podcast from Dan Schmidt on developing student inquiry and articulation and the power of finding their voice and letting it resonate beyond the classroom. He uses The Question Game and Bloom's as a framework from finding questions that move us toward higher levels of exploration.

Anne Collier provides us with thoughtful analysis and commentary on the MacArthur Foundation's recent symposium [April 2008) at Stanford, "From MySpace to Hip Hop: New Media In the Everyday Lives of Youth." Click here for the entire Digital Youth presentation.

Download this free 64-page document on developing appropriate policies and procedures to ensure safe use of the Internet. A checklist for developing acceptable use policies and practical strategies for responding to incidents are also included. Developed by the Internet Safety Group of New Zealand.

Media stories over the past year have heightened public awareness regarding cyber safety, teens and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) use. The emphasis of media attention has often been on the victimization and bullying of teens occurring on social network sites such as Myspace and Facebook. The prominence placed on ICT platforms, such as the Internet and Cell Phones, as threatening spheres has resulted in a narrow view of cyber security. Instead, I argue that we need to rethink the meaning of cyber safety for teens and begin a more complex dialog about best cyber safety practices.

This article offers new research results regarding the academic benefits of students use of social networking sites.

This three-part article includes a discussion of classroom connections to social networking sites and the school's role in intervening when information that affects the classroom is publicly posted on MySpace or Facebook. The authors also provide five key social networking tips:
1. Establish a policy for dealing with incidents in which students break school rules and their inappropriate behavior is showcased publicly on social-networking sites.
2. Outline clear guidelines for administrators that spell out how schools should discipline students based on information garnered from social-networking sites, and let parents and students know about those rules.
3. Educate students about online-safety issues and how to use sites such as Facebook and MySpace responsibly.
4. Have a policy in place for dealing with cyber bullying.
5. If teachers are using social-networking sites for educational purposes, they should establish clear guidelines for how they intend to communicate with students via those sites.

Very important document!! The NASSP Position Statement is the cornerstone for all of our work in cybersafety education at CTAP4. Click on "expand" to see their recommendations.

NASSP recommendations for school leaders 1. Familiarize themselves about all aspects of computer technology, including the mechanics of the Internet, blogs, social networking Web sites, and the liability issues associated with the use of these technologies 2.Form a technology team that comprises staff members, parents and students to act in an advisory capacity to the larger school community 3.Educate staff members and students on using technology within the boundaries of the law 4.Guide teachers and students on how the Internet can serve as effective educational tools 5.Formulate clear guidelines to protect students and teachers against cyber bullying and other criminal activities 6.Conduct orientation sessions for parents regarding student use of the Internet 7.Reinforce these guidelines with parents and encourage vigilance of Internet use at home, including the elimination of derogatory statements against other students or staff.

More evidence that kids do not understand what is private in a networked society.
Police have used a law intended to keep pornographic magazines away from children as the basis for arresting four middle-school students accused of using cell phone cameras to snap nude photos of themselves and exchanging the images. Your students should know that exchange of nude photos [another form of cyberbullying] falls under "child pornography" laws and if prosecuted to the full extent of the law, they could spend time in juvenile hall and be forced to register as a sex offender for the rest of their life.

Appropriate web etiquette (netiquette) and web safety are vital for building a strong web community. This is a lesson plan that teachers can use to introduce key concepts to their students as they introduce them to the Think.com community. Use this model lesson as designed, change it to fit your needs, or create your own.

Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Aggression, Threats, and Distress
This book belongs in every school district! Nancy Willard is Director of the Center for Safe & Responsible Internet Use and a noted expert and speaker on the challenges and legal issues related to technology use in the schools. Her book helps school administrators analyze and intervene in cases involving cyberbullying or cyberthreats. She includes illustrative examples, recommendations for practice, and many practical resources. Available through Amazon.com

Temple University Media Education Lab provides this helpful document: 10 common myths about copyright and fair use for educators.

Amid all the initiatives in which Internet companies are supposed to make friends with each other-such as Facebook's Platform and Google's rival OpenSocial initiative-the announcement today by MySpace may well be the most useful to ordinary people and thus the most important: Users will be able to share their MySpace profile with other sites. MySpace has a good list of initial sites that will use some version of this feature: Yahoo, eBay, PhotoBucket, and yes Twitter.

Presentation at the K-12HSN Conference Online by Joseph Bires. A discussion of how the use of Web 2.0 technologies has challenged and changed the concept of acceptable use. The presenter suggests ways to balance protecting students, teachers, and schools from the dangers of the Internet, while still integrating Web 2.0 technologies into the K-12 curriculum. Also, philosophical issues of acceptable use are discussed such as identity and transparency. Finally, practical suggestions are shared to help every teacher and administrator. This talk is available as an MP3 audio file and an audiofile blog.

Tech companies are releasing new software products that monitor and police kids' Internet use, helping them avoid cyberbullying and letting parents know when it's occurring.

There are hobbyists and there are fanatics. I cannot imagine the pricetag for the computer set up shown here and have to hope that these 11 computers used simultaneously to play world of warcraft are put to "good use" at other times during the day. I also see someone who is online but is not connected with others. To me, if I do things online - I like social spaces because of the "interaction" -- sort of like creating your own friend network of 36 different people and tweeting yourself all day -- sort of Sybil-ish, I think. Addictive behaviors is definitely part of digital health and wellness and helping people know when to draw the line.

UC Berkeley study administered by the Institute for the Study of Social Change and funded by the MacArthur Foundation. The complete findings on three years of ethnographic work [22 different case studies of youth engagement with new media] will be published in Summer 2008. The project has three general objectives. The first objective is to describe kids as active innovators using digital media, rather than as passive consumers of popular culture or academic knowledge. The second objective is to think about the implications of kids innovative cultures for schools and higher education, and engage in a dialogue with educational planners. The third objective is to advise software designers about how to use kids innovative approaches to knowledge and learning in building better software. The research focuses on learning and cultural production outside of schools: in homes, neighborhoods, after school, and in recreational settings.

CoSN Receives MacArthur Grant: Exploring Policy and Leadership Barriers to Effective Use of Web 2.0 in Schools
The $450,000 grant began July 1st and over the coming year CoSN will focus on the following key objectives:
1.Identify findings from existing empirical research relevant to the use of new media in schools and the barriers to their adoption and scalability.
2. Assess the awareness, understanding, and perspectives of U.S. educational leaders (superintendents, district curriculum and technology directors/CTOs) and policymaker's on the role, problems, and benefits of new media in schools within a participatory culture context.
3. Investigate and document the organizational and policy issues that are critical obstacles for the effective deployment of new media.
4. Develop a concise report of findings and construct an action plan for intervention.

Inquiry on the Internet: Evaluating Web Pages for a Class Collection
In this lesson plan, students explore a class inquiry project, collecting Web-based resources that can be used for further study during the course of the class or for more in-depth projects. Students use Internet search engines and Web analysis checklists and questions to find and evaluate online resources then write annotations that explain how and why the items they have found will be valuable to the class.

There are many different perspectives to put on online social networking and it is important to know where one is coming from when talking about social networking and youth. The perspective(s) one has will be very different whether one is a parent with a teenage daughter on MySpace, a marketing executive interested in the target group "14 to 20," a journalist looking for the next big news story on young people and new media, a youngster using a social networking site as part of everyday life or a researcher investigating how young people are using social networking sites.

Teeming with chatrooms, online discussion groups, and blogs, the Internet offers previously unimagined opportunities for personal expression and communication. But there's a dark side to the story. A trail of information fragments about us is forever preserved on the Internet, instantly available in a Google search. A permanent chronicle of our private lives-often of dubious reliability and sometimes totally false-will follow us wherever we go, accessible to friends, strangers, dates, employers, neighbors, relatives, and anyone else who cares to look.

John Paulfrey (Berkman Center) provides a review of the book in his blog, here.

John Palfrey (Berkman Center) provides a review of the book on his blog, here.