July 2008 Archives

Ok, it's time for you to have "the talk" with your teen. No, no... I don't mean THAT talk. I mean the talk about Internet safety. But having this talk is often more uncomfortable to the parent or the teacher than the birds and the bees talk, because in the case of technology, the teens know more than the parents.

You may have been paying close attention to the media messages about online predators and have carefully prepared yourself with all of the stories about their deceptions. Then when you have the talk, your children are likely to listen dutifully and promise to be careful, or they will roll their eyes and say, "Duh... Iike I've heard this a million times before. I AM careful online."

The media message about the dangers of the Internet is one based on the need to capture eyeballs and increase the bottom line, not the need to educate or keep people safe. While the danger is real, media picture of the predator and victim is not accurate. I would like to try change that situation by providing you with information based on the latest scientific research and tens of thousands of conversations I've had with teens in my role as a technology teacher for more than a quarter century and as the Educational Technology Director of WiredSafety.org, the world's largest Internet safety and help organization.

Each time I blog here, I will try to provide you with information and resources that will help you get the dialog going in painless ways. I'll provide personal insights, stories, or facts based on solid research along with some resources created with the help of Adobe products, that you can view and in some case download.

So to get the dialog going, check out this Adobe Presenter presentation about the facts and myths surrounding Internet sexual predators Then check back here for my next post in which I'll talk about the ten ploys used by offline and online sexual predators.

I had the honor of being a sailing mentor to three blind women for a day. My yacht club sponsored our first sailing event for the visually challenged. Five vessels went out with at least three eager blind adults, two experienced crew and a sighted helper, on each boat.

After one of the crew guided the boat out into the marina, the helm was to be turned over to our guests, one at a time. One young lady who was with us, Kelly, had been sailing a couple of times. Since this was my first time handing the wheel over to someone who could not see, I felt better with Kelly starting the rotation while we were inside the marina.

It was a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon and was very crowded in the marina. Kelly began by talking to me about what she heard around us. She knew there was a powerboat on our left, and she heard something on our right. It was another sailboat, not making any more noise than a little water rushing by the hull. I was amazed already.

I fed her information on where we were in the marina, drawing the layout on the palm of her hand, mentioned how far it would be before we would have to tack (turn the boat so we would not hit the breakwater), and how hard she would have to turn the wheel. She commented that she could feel the wind on her left cheek, and correctly announced that we were on port tack.

(Note: While sailing, the boat is on port tack when the wind flows over the left side of the boat and the boat is on starboard tack when the wind flows over the right side of the boat.)

After my guidance through one set of port and starboard tacks, she was feeling the wind move to her opposite cheek, counted the spokes to turn the steering wheel (her idea) and to get the steering wheel back to the center, off she went tacking her way out of the marina to the open ocean. There was very little input from me. She knew when the boat was sailing at its’ best and adjusted the wheel when she needed to.

When our next blind guest, Barbara, took the wheel, she had been listening to our conversation. Barbara had never been on a boat before. She began by telling me what she heard, asked when we needed to make our first tack, and counted the spokes to turn. She then began timing her tacks, knowing when we needed to go the other way. I was amazed once again. She guided the boat as if she had been doing it for years.

Soon our sighted helper took the wheel to give it a try. She immediately turned the boat head to wind (the bow facing directly into the wind where a boat cannot sail) and stopped our progress. I asked her where she was going and she told me “over there!” pointing at the exit of the marina. She was, of course, the only one who could see it, so she decided to just go there. After an explanation that the boat could not sail in that direction, she needed continuous guidance to understand the theory of sailing and to keep the boat moving. She had no feel for what we had been doing at all.

By the end of the day, our blind guests drove the boat all over Santa Monica Bay, the open ocean, all with very little guidance from anyone. They got the feel of the boat no matter where the swells were coming from or what angle of sail we were on.

I was not sure who was mentoring who! I thought I was there to teach sailing to some blind women, but instead I learned about human spirit, and how our senses can help us overcome challenges.

Now, I am back at work designing a new Website for a client. All I can think about is how Kelly, Hildi, and Barbara utilized their abilities to “see” where we were going, sense what was around us, and how they handled a 36’ sailboat in the open ocean with very little input. I had never seen anything like it in my three years of teaching sailing.

How can this wonderful experience with my three blind mentors translate to the flat computer screen I am looking at? What can I learn from it to help me build a virtual three dimensional Web world that they can see, sense, and handle? It seems to me that learning to sail a 36 foot sailboat was easier for them than it is to sit down at a computer, go online and accomplish tasks. I feel, as a Web designer, I am one of the reasons it is so difficult for them. I want to see my friends enjoy their online experience as much as they did their day on the water.

I am not quite sure how to completely translate what I experienced a few days ago into the full Web experience that these ladies deserve. Just a little alt text won’t cut it anymore. I will have to work very hard to enrich my virtual experience designs to overfill their overextended senses.

I am working on it. Any ideas?

This past trimester I had my students create simulations using Adobe Flash. This was our second attempt at using Flash to create a simulation. The first attempt occurred during the first trimester (dealing with stoichiometry) and resulted in more of a calculator than a simulator. After collecting some feedback from the students, I set to work at making the second attempt more successful.

I found it difficult to keep everyone on the same page while walking them through the steps required to create our first project. This time around I decided to create a series of movie tutorials that students could use to work at their own pace. This worked unbelievably well, and allowed me to assist students when they hit a bump in the road.

I also provided image copies of the Actionscript code...images because I didn't want the students to simply copy and paste the code. I wanted the students to experience the manual entry of code and gain an appreciation for the exactness that is required. One thing I found myself saying a lot..."You don't have to be great at spelling...you just need to be consistent!" Students gained experience in troubleshooting common mistakes...some became good enough to help others spot their mistakes quickly.

Example Calorimetry Simulator:
http://www.chemfiles.com/flash/calorimeter.swf

Project Homepage (with Movies)
http://www.eagan.k12.mn.us/fletcher/2007/T2Project/index.html

http://fcit.usf.edu/

Established in 1982, the Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT) has been a leader in working with educators to integrate technology into the curriculum. With its location in the College of Education at the University of South Florida, Tampa, FCIT is available to assist over 1,200 pre-service teachers who graduate from USF each year as well as thousands of in-service teachers in Florida. With funding from the Florida Department of Education, Office of Instructional Technology, FCIT provides many instructional resources for Florida's teachers and students.

FCIT's award-winning resource and training websites receive over one million hits per school day.

msweeney@coedu.usf.edu

John Nack, Photoshop Guru, super blogger and Senior product manager received a whole heap of "WOWs!" as he presented on some up-and-coming goodies from Adobe. If you don't watch his blog, you should - http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/

Peter Isaacson, VP of Education for Adobe Inc., helped kick off the 2008 Adobe Education Leader Institute. He delivered a fun welcoming to this year's gathering and ... he likes to hug (AEL inside joke).

Mark Prensky, you certainly do make me think. But the more I consider your ideas the more I need to pose a question – are these truly digital natives, or just over-entitled, overly entertained kids with digital toys?

The question started for me back in February while shooting photos outside. I realized that even though I was hip deep in snow on a cold and blustery day, I was totally engaged. I was using digital tools to create and express something of my own. I thought about all of my students and I wondered, just how many of them were equally engaged in using digital tools to build or express something of their own.

So many teenagers, my students included, only use their digital knowledge for entertainment. They essentially fill out online forms that someone else created so they can talk to each other and have fun. Facebook, Myspace and all of the other online forums fall into this category of using digital technology. While growing up with this technology certainly gives them an edge does this really make them digital natives? Isn’t this a concept we need to revisit, now that this technology has evolved even further – for all of us?

During my senior class last year (I teach digital design and digital production to high school students) I introduced Buzzword as the vehicle I would be using for a new project. As I was showing and demonstrating Buzzword to them one student looked up and said – without any provocation from me – “Thank God someone’s using the internet for something that’s not entertainment!” Point well taken – does simply using someone else’s online creations make you a “native”. I asked this same class that question later on – there were two opinions. First – those who use this technology to build or express something of themselves or their friends said, “No!” Kids had to be using it for more than Facebook etc. They considered these forums to be nothing more than the email of our earlier generation. They, in comparison, did everything from creating their own fully functioning web sites (using CSS!), to recording their friends’ bands, creating action characters (2d and 3d), initiating and pursuing ongoing blog discussions (Twitter was one favourite here), making movies, creating manipulated images and sounds and animations (Flash and others)… the list was long and wonderful. But – the other group wanted their say. They claimed that even though they did not use the technology as deeply as group one, they still felt that yes, they deserved the name, “natives”. They pointed out how many adults couldn’t even begin to use Facebook properly – and they were right. It does offer many layers of involvement, which the students had conquered long ago, while the adults they knew were nowhere near this level of sophistication. And they had other examples as well – once again, a point well taken – or was it?

I pointed out how entitled the second group often was, how overly entertained they were, how overly indulged they were. And the class agreed – not totally – but many agreed. Were these overly indulged kids really digital natives? Not by my standards, and that is because the world of digital technology has changed and continues to evolve even as we watch. What counted for so much years ago, now can be taken for granted. There are new levels of “native-ness” if you will allow me this awkward term. Yes, we, the adults, really need to get up to speed and yes, Prensky’s points about how these kids think and work do bear serious consideration. This is especially true for we, their teachers, who must accommodate some of their new attributes. But only some, because not everything they do or stand for is good and supportable. And that, is what bothers me about Mark Prensky’s writings. I am not seeing enough of this other half of the discussion. It is time to put that on the table as well. While we are at it, can we also please redefine what we mean by digital natives? Can we please raise that bar several steps, to better accommodate where this technology has taken us now, and then again in the future as it evolves yet again?