Education as a Conversation

Article today in the Chicago Tribune – All up in MySpace

The ariticle states:

“High schools, colleges and businesses have begun to use social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and Xanga to keep tabs on students and employees.”

Although these are social networking sites, people need to realize that they are publishing content for all to see.  They are also recorded history which can haunt them later.

“Job recruiters say students’ lack of discretion online will catch up to them in their professional lives. A 2005 study by executive job-search agency ExecuNet found that 75 percent of recruiters use Web searching as part of the applicant screening process, according to a Columbia News Service report. More than a quarter of these same recruiters say they have eliminated candidates based on information they found online.”

There was an article in the Chicago Tribune yesterday titled Blogs taking a seat in, out of classrooms (free registration required to view article).  They used some of Will Richardson’s favorite words – connecting, communicating, and community.  They also gave a list of educators/bloggers which Will recommends:

http://tim.lauer.name/

http://mt.middlebury.edu/middblogs/ganley/bgblogging

www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/

I read with interest the views of the technology coordinator from District 211 as my sons go there.  I would love to see the educators in this excellent district take advantage of this tool. 

Two interesting applications were given from other school districts:

First Grade – “There is a scientist and environmental children’s author living on an island near Washington State named Ron Hirschi who sent us a piece of sea creature in a box with clues to help my 1st graders identify what it was,” Newton said. “We blog back and forth with him, and my kids sent him things with clues to see if he could identify them.”

High School – At the high school level, Frances Harris, a librarian at the University Laboratory High School in Urbana, says the blog site at her school allows students to comment and interact with the student newspaper.

I will add these to my educational example page.