"Students Dig up Dirt To Learn about Internet Safety"

     Jesse Morehouse writes in Students Dig up Dirt To Learn about Internet Safety about his experiences in the classroom teaching students about internet safety. Morehouse takes a very hands-on approach while teaching his students just how much information can be found about any given individual on the internet. When teaching this lesson, however, he has found that "[his students'] teenage sense of invincibility keeps them from truly comprehending the impact of an inappropriate entry on a personal blog, social network, or Twitter account." (Morehouse, page 34) Morehouse has found, though, that after the hands-on approach to teaching internet safety students are shocked at what they have found and wind up changing their security settings on their social networking sites.

     As part of his hands-on lesson, Morehouse teaches his students about a method of data collection called Data Mining, which is the process by which "online data can be pieced together to create a fairly complete picture of an individual. This is legal and practiced routinely by companies marketing their products and services." (Morehouse, page 34) Not only does Morehouse teach his students what Data Mining is and how different marketing companies use this process, but he also teaches his students how to data mine, using himself as the 'guinea pig', so to speak.

      I found Morehouse's article and teaching methods to be refreshing and very effective. It is not always easy to get through to students, regardless of their age, about internet safety. The anonymity of the internet is both a blessing and a curse. It often allows us to speak our minds a lot more easily than in person, but sometimes we say too much. For example, some people provide far too much information on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. All too often people provide their phone numbers, towns of residence, and sometimes even more revealing information. People usually use their social networking sites to bare it all, which can be a freeing feeling I'm sure, but it is also dangerous. I feel that the hands-on approach taken by Morehouse is far more effective than lecturing students on the issue of internet safety. By becoming Data Miners, the students are realizing how important it is to monitor the information they put online because it really does stick around for a lot longer than most people expect, and is read by people we don't even know. I think learning-by-doing is a very effective way to make a lasting impression on students, and the issue of internet safety is a very important issue to make a lasting impression about.

Works Cited:

Morehouse, Jesse. (2011, September/October) Students dig up dirt to learn about internet safety. Learning & Leading with Technology. September/October 2011. pg 34-35. Retrieved September 19, 2011 from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/Leading_and_Learning_Docs/september-2011-learning-connections.sflb.ashx

Social-Based Learning in The Classroom

Unleashing the Future defines Social-based learning as occurring when “students want to leverage emerging communications and collaboration tools to create and personalize networks of experts to inform their education process.” (Speak Up, pg 1) The article notes that “while many teachers are using digital media tools (66 percent), digital resources (46 percent) and games (42 percent); they are lacking access to mobile computers or devices for every student and consistent, reliable Internet access in their classroom.” (Speak Up, pg 2) “As a result of using technology in the classroom students are more motivated to learn (51 percent), apply their knowledge to practical problems (30 percent) and take ownership of their learning (23 percent)… by using technology students are developing key 21^st century skills including…collaboration (30 percent).” (Speak Up, pg 2) This should not be surprising – technology is interesting, and it is no wonder that it gets students excited about learning. 

61% of middle and high school students note that the most important use of technology is communication tools. (Speak Up, pg 5) This is particularly important when considering the use of social-based learning in the classroom. “Students continue to tell us using technology to communicate and collaborate with their classmates and teachers helps them learn and enhances their experience.” (Speak Up, pg 6) The study found that schools are not very prepared to provide opportunities for social-based learning, however because of studies like this I feel schools are moving in the right direction in order to facilitate social based learning.

Social-based learning has been proven to be very effective in a classroom setting. It is clear that students get excited about learning when it is presented in new formats which they can control, such as collaborative efforts brought into play by technology. It is disappointing that teachers are trying to make the effort for the students by incorporating digital media tools, resources, and games into their curriculum but their efforts are thwarted by their lack of technological resources.

With students reporting that social-based learning facilitated by technology is helpful to facilitate learning to them, why do we as educators not allow them to do this more often? The demand for technology in the classroom is evident, and we must supply it.

Now that we as future educators are aware of the demand for social-based learning, as well as the evident benefits of it, we must be prepared to provide it. The first time I experienced social based learning as a student was in my senior year of high school; my journalism class used Google Docs and heavily relied on the online documents to collaborate on news stories and create journalism pieces that would not have been able to be created otherwise. I feel that I, as well as many other students in the class, learned much more in that class than any other because we were able to collaborate via technology and teach each other and learn constantly. This is proof that there are a multitude of benefits in the classroom brought on by social-based learning. I feel that if it becomes a bigger issue and is more widely communicated in the education realm, social-based learning will soon grow larger and become more prevalent in K-12 classrooms, and for good reason!