Should teachers “friend” students on Facebook?
Social networking is an amazing boon to communication, but what are its limits? Teachers returning to school in at least one district in Florida are being asked to not “friend” students on Facebook or to communicate with them via social networks.
The Lee County School District has issued guidelines (not rules) to teachers warning them of potential workplace issues that could arise from inappropriate contact with current students. Most school districts have websites and other online avenues for communication.
What do you think? Do you “friend” your child’s teacher? Have your children “friended” or contacted teachers online?
See also:
Should teachers “friend” students on Facebook? is a post on Digital Landing
Chegg lets you rent textbooks
Chegg can be a lifeline to students with tight budgets. With Chegg you rent your textbook for the semester for a low price and then return it to the company for someone else to rent.
Just in time for back to school, Chegg now has a iPhone app so you can rent on the go (like when you have sticker shock from the college bookstore!)
Besides being a form of recycling, the site also plants trees each time a textbook is rented. The site also offers purchase of new and used books.
Found via Geek Sugar
Sign of the Times–Universities ditching phones
When students head back to dorms this fall, they may find their rooms don’t come with phones–not that they will notice much. Most students today have their own cell phones or smartphones and few need the dorm room phone.
As schools look to cut expenses a half-million dollar phone bill for something few use is a good place to cut. The University of Virginia is ditching almost 4,000 phones but will still have a hall phone available for emergencies.
iTunes University?
iTunes has become the home to audio lectures from professors at universities across America. “Learn anything, anytime, anywhere” is the site’s tagline for its compilation of educational downloads.
Available with or without an iPod, iPhone, iPad or even a Mac, simply download iTunes and listen to lectures from over 600 universities including Stanford, Yale and MIT. In addition, video and PDF files along with other media types are available for some offerings.
Geek Sugar has 11 other ways to get free classes online. It’s really amazing what is available out there. I wonder how long before most universities begin offering an online version of their degrees.
Summer School by playing video games?
Schools in Florida and Texas are hoping to boost student math performance by using video games during summer school to teach subjects they are behind on.
Tabula Digita, the maker of DimensionM–an interactive video game aligned with state and national math standards–is hosting a tournament this summer to encourage participation by school districts. Students can also participate in a national multi-player version.
Designed to teach and reinforce key math concepts, the research-based DimensionM instructional software engages students in a series of first-person adventure missions that incorporate math skills via three-dimensional graphics, sound, animation and storylines comparable to those in popular video games. By successfully navigating the myriad of embedded lessons, students not only earn points but also have the opportunity to review and master math concepts introduced and discussed during the school year.
According to their press release, students in the Florida and Texas schools that used the program saw a 19 percent increase in student scores.
The company also offers home versions of some games. Visit their site for more details.
By Bus
It’s the future of travel, mobile Internet routers. We’ve seen them on planes recently, but now they’re beginning to show up in the most helpful places.
Bus #92 in Arizona is just like any other yellow school bus except for its wireless Internet access. Since this fall kids on bus 92 have been able to type and surf on their way to school as well as their way home. Bus drivers claim behavioral problems have all but disappeared on this particular bus, which must impress parents. I’m sure not all the kids are researching papers, but facebook is much more harmless than teasing. Whatever keeps kids calm and safe I guess. As long as it works it sounds like a good idea to me. I’d just hate to be there the one-day service goes out.
Prison Limits
Really?
The Study Ball is absurd. It’s basically a 20 lb prison style ball and chain to keep a kid from wandering about during homework (or presumably) any time. It comes with a programmable clock (you can punch in anywhere from five minutes to four hours, and the shackle won’t come off until then (supposedly). I’m as distractable as the next student, but come on. Sure there’s facebook, and cell phones, and a host of other average everyday distractions, but this is just unnecessary. Besides, facebook and cell phones are probably staring you straight in the face from the desk you’re being forced to sit at anyway.
Lets be realistic, close the door, set limits, work in the kitchen, there’s a hundred other ways you can force a kid to study without chaining them up. Have a discussion. How about threatening to take that distracting facebook away. Maybe you’re lucky, the kid’s bored cause they’re not being challenged enough. Maybe the Study Ball is a statement to teachers everywhere, when something like this shows up on the market maybe it’s time to reexamine your own styles and efforts in the classroom. Learning can, and is, boring sometimes, does it have to be? Lets just say, on a positive note, as a Halloween or April Fools joke, this baby takes the cake.
Summer School
I for one get enough class time five days a week and enough homework that spare time for online courses is not really available (or a priority). But that doesn’t mean I can’t recognize a good learning tool when I see one.
Academicearth.org is the next step in intellectual growth at our fingertips. Like iTunes U the site provides taped lectures free to the masses. These aren’t just any schools either, but lectures from the likes of Stanford and Yale. I can’t attest to the quality of one lecturer over another myself, but the big school names are likely to get people in the door.
It’s never to late to learn (in life, or in the day) and it’s always nice when you can work for pure interest instead of a grade and extra homework.
Organize your PTA sign-ups and more with Center’d
Center’d is everything you need to plan your next school book fair, lunch helpers or class party.
Coordinate with their easy-to-use templates or customize your own to avoid all those endless chains of emails where someone inevitably falls out of the loop.
See who has signed up for what and what still needs to be done all in one place. Also, include event descriptions, maps and contact info.
They have templates for field trips, preschool class parent sign-ups, book fairs and more. You can save your contact lists, too.
Finally, you can work smart, not hard. I’m definitely sharing this with my son’s preschool.
Found via Cool Mom Picks
Book Glutton takes reading online
If you aren’t ready for Amazon’s Kindle, but you want to see what online book reading is all about try out Book Glutton. (Found via Geek Sugar)
Now, in some ways there is no comparison as Kindle is its own dedicated device, but the Book Glutton site is an interesting option for those who don’t want to carry books or additional equipment with them.
You can read public-domain works (like all the classics and thousands of other things) via their reader. In addition, you can comment and read what others are saying page by page. If you have your own group, you can have a “virtual book club.” If you prefer, you can also read in private.
The site is currently in beta with additional features and more contemporary works in the plans. For now, it is a nice way to find public-domain works in a readable format. It also could work well for your kids who are online anyway so they could at least be reading a good book! Many English teacher favorites are on the site. You might recommend it to your child’s English teacher as an alternative to the “reader-response” notebooks we are all so found of assigning. Integrating technology in the classroom is a great way to get kids engaged.
