Blog Juice for Educational Technology

Aaron was 15 years old in April 2001, when he created an icon for his home computer’s instant-messaging program. . . . The icon showed a gun pointing to a head, a bullet leaving the gun, and blood splattering from the head. It included the words “Kill Mr. VanderMolen,” the name of Aaron’s English teacher at Weedsport Middle School.

Obviously, those school officials involved in suspending the student have never read Calvin and Hobbes where Calvin, daydreaming in school as Spaceman Spiff, deals with the horrible alien monster (his teacher, of course). This seems harmless to me, or at least only worth a watchful eye to make sure that the kid is not deeply disturbed.

Of course, it figures it would be an English teacher depicted in the icon

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Food for thought for the week: Blogging Pedagogy points to a thoughtful essay by Joseph Ugoretz on “Social Software, Folksonomy, and User Reviews in the College Context.”

Mr. Ugoretz, the director of teaching and learning with technology at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, argues that much-trafficked Web sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, Flickr, and even RateMyProfessors all belong to a “constellation of tools” that is dramatically altering the way users process information:

[I]n all of the cases, these tools, these resources, lack a central authority or a hierarchy of editorial control. In all of these cases the content and the conclusions and the references are communally negotiated and collaboratively assembled. And our students are using these tools. They are going to use them, whether we want them to or not, or whether we have thought about them or not.

Mr. Ugoretz goes on to suggest a number of steps that professors can take to focus that communal energy instead of fighting against it. He encourages professors, for example, to create exercises that require students to test online resources against each other—or against students’ own knowledge. And he recommends that professors use class wikis as motivational tools: When students know their work will be floating out on the public Web, Mr. Ugoretz argues, “the responsibility for the quality, efficacy and accuracy of that work is deepened.” —Brock Read

American students who enroll in online-education programs offered by foreign institutions may no longer use federal financial aid to pay their tuition, under a new law that takes effect on Saturday. The law affects colleges outside the United States that offer courses through “telecommunications.”—Dan Carnevale

Men and women are equally skilled at maneuvering on the Internet, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the Northwestern and Princeton Universities. But you’d never know that from the way the two sexes tend to describe their Web-surfing prowess.

The study asked men and women to perform online tasks—like locating tax forms, or finding a Web site that compared the 2000 presidential candidates’ views on abortion. At the same time, it asked participants to assess their own Internet skills. And while women did no worse than men at the Web-surfing exercises, they were much more likely to downplay their online abilities.

Should women worry about their gender’s lack of Web esteem? Sure, says Eszter Hargittai, an assistant professor of communication studies at Northwestern who is a co-author of the study. “By underestimating their ability to effectively use the Web, women may be limiting the extent of their online behavior, the ways in which they use the Internet and, ultimately, the career choices they make,” Ms. Hargittai says. —Brock Read

Virginia Polytechnic Institute’s engineering school will welcome its newest crop of freshmen this fall by giving each of them a shiny, new tablet PC. And students will be required to use the machines, especially in introductory courses, CNET News reports.

The advent of the new Fujitsu LifeBook machines, of course, means more work for professors: They’ll have to attend training sessions this summer so they can use the computers in classroom presentations. —Brock Read

College administrators should already be planning to warn this fall’s freshmen about the dangers of social-networking sites, but Congress may have just given those officials an even greater incentive to do so.

At a Wednesday hearing, members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations quizzed representatives of MySpace and Facebook about their policies on keeping track of users’ online activities. The lawmakers, according to CNET News, seemed to encourage MySpace and Facebook to keep user logs indefinitely for the benefit of federal investigators and prosecutors who pursue online criminals. Leading the questioning was Diana L. DeGette, a Colorado Democrat who made headlines in April by proposing a law that would force Internet providers to retain their own activity logs.

Ms. DeGette did not indicate that she would propose a similar bill to regulate social-networking sites. But the title of Wednesday’s hearing—”Making the Internet Safe for Kids: The Role of ISP’s and Social Networking Sites”—suggests that lawmakers consider MySpace and Facebook important players in their crusade against child pornography, a campaign that is unlikely to go out of style. —Brock Read

Beginning July 1, the nation’s students will have $790 million in new incentives to keep up their grades and study “high-demand” subjects such as math, science, engineering, technology, and certain foreign languages. To …

Want to show your support for early learning skills and the importance of reading with children? Then join the fun on August 24 when adults and young children across the country will be reading The Little Engine That Could, as part of the Read for the Record campaign for literacy.

This effort has come about thanks to Jumpstart, a national non-profit organization that works to build literacy, language, and social skills among low-income preschoolers, and its sponsors, Pearson Education, NBC, Starbucks, Penguin, and American Eagle Outfitters. NSBA supports the effort, too.

You can participate by organizing a reading event in your community or reading with a child. The campaign organizers hope to set a world record with the number of readers, so visit their Web site and use the promotional code “NSBA Reads” when registering.

BoardBuzz tips its hat to Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) who yesterday introduced the No Child Left Behind Improvements Act of 2006, H.R. 5709. The bill, consistent with NSBA’s recommendations (pdf) for improvements, includes more than 40 provisions in the areas of assessments, AYP, sanctions, state flexibility, and non-public schools.

In introducing the bill, Rep. Young, a former teacher, said, “I am committed to providing our nation’s children with the best possible education. I firmly believe in the original goals of NCLB but I understand that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to student achievement is not possible.” He went on to say, “Each state in this country has geographic, economic, or cultural barriers that impede its schools from reaching a level of success as mandated by NCLB. This bill will establish an improved framework for accountability that fairly and accurately assesses student, school, and school district performance.”

Norm Wooten, president-elect of NSBA, also from Alaska, said, “Rep. Don Young is to be commended for his outstanding leadership in introducing legislation that would amend NCLB. His bill addresses many of the major challenges facing students, schools, and local school districts in achieving the goals of this important federal law. In addition to improving the implementation of the law for schools in Alaska, the bill would make significant improvements in the implementation of the law for schools across the nation.”

Read Rep. Young’s press release here.

Konrad Glogowski has an amazing post today about his grade 8 students’ blogging experiences, and it’s one that should be trumpeted far and wide in this community. Imagine being a part of this:
My community of grade eight student bloggers became so big and so engaging that I spent every spare moment reading and writing within […]

A dangerous site called Flex Your Rights has a Google Video up that basically instructs the My Space generation on how to strategically handle those pesky police officers who show up trying to bust them for pot smoking and other criminal acts (including “ghetto art”). What’s the net coming to? This is an infuriating example of rhetorically presenting subversize materials under the guise of civil responsibility. By the gods, you’re being a better citizen if you know how to stash that bong and finagle your way out of an arrest or jail term.

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The current issue of CCO is now live and offers an issue that highlights the richness and diversity of interests in Computers and Writing research today. In Theory into Practice Andrea Ascuena and Michael Mattison offer (Re)Wiring Ourselves: The Electrical and Pedagogical Evolution of a Writing Center, a look at an online writing center and its evolving pedagogy. The Rhetoric and Discourse of Instant Messaging by Christine A. Hult & Ryan Richins take a deeper look at IM using discourse analysis. The Virtual Classroom brings a piece by Matt Barton and Charlie Lowe. Databases and Collaborative Spaces for Composition is a helpful look at Content Management Systems for those trying to decide which of the many out there fits their particular needs. The Print to Screen section now has up-to-date abstracts of the print Computers and Composition articles. Our Professional Development section has two articles: Making Blogs Produce: Using Modern Academic Storehouses and Factories by Jen Almjeld and Chaos: An e-interview with Johndan Johnson-Eilola contributed by Robin Murphy. Finally, the Reviews section has an embarrassment of riches this time with Technology and English Studies: Innovative Professional Paths Edited by James Inman and Beth L. Hewett and reviewed by James Schirmer; Podcasts, Vodcasts, and ProfCast, a software review by Paul Cesarini; The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil, reviewed by Adam Ellwanger; and Radical Feminism, Writing, and Critical Agency: From Manifesto to Modem by Jacqueline Rhodes, reviewed by J. A. Rice.

If after all that reading you are inspired to submit a piece to Computers and Composition Online, we are accepting submissions for the Fall 2006 issue. Send us your submission using the following focus areas:

• Theory into Practice    Theory, thoughts, and speculation.
• The Virtual Classroom    Pedagogy and classroom experience.
• From Print to Screen    Online features that connect with current print journal themes
• Professional Development    Our past, present and future. Send your interviews and profiles as well as conference updates and calls for submissions.
• Reviews    Not only books, but sites, events, and other blended media.

Since web publishing gives us some flexibility in timing, we can accept submissions up to November 1, 2006 if the piece is especially polished and web-ready. Earlier submissions have more opportunity for interaction and editing comments from the editors and reviewers, a real advantage for those open to the collaborative nature of web writing and editing.

Send your submission via email in a .zip file or give us an URL. Potential articles need to be web-ready–.doc files or other purely text-based articles are not suitable. Check current and past articles at http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/home.htm. In preparing your submission, also note that CCO is a refereed journal and allows time for reviews of submissions. Authors wishing to do so may use a mutually agreed upon form of the Creative Commons License for
their article; CCO supports fair use and the open source movement in academia. If you have any questions about format or content, please feel free to
contact us by email. Queries are welcome.

Kris Blair
Editor
kblairATbgnetDOTbgsuDOT edu

Lanette Cadle
Senior Editor
lanetteDOTcadleATgmailDOTcom

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