Just for the record, I don't procrastinate. I just work on other things first.
So FERPA. I read some other people's posts about the article we were supposed to read, and I would have to say that I agree with all of it. Students definitely need rules and whatnot for posting on the Internet because they have no idea what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in an online that is an extension of the classroom, but looks strikingly similar to facebook.
I think a few trial runs might be beneficial before any serious discussion or collaboration could happen online. Maybe they could even do some "dress rehersals" in the "real world" on paper or in a class discussion before moving it online. The article mentioned that peer graded work can be posted online, so perhaps the students could become comfortable discussing their ideas in class as a class and learn how to evaluate one another's work in the real world. Then they could simply continue the discussions and peer evaluations online once they learn the proper etiquette.
Something with googledocs could be interesting. Maybe have students post their essays to a google account for the class and have people peer review them. I don't know. Just an idea. Or may they could all contribute to a study guide (I'm not gonna lie, I set up googledocs accounts when I was an undergrad, sent the information to everyone in my class, and had everyone work on the study guides together. Worked beautifully - with college kids anyways).
Oh, and getting the parents' permission is always a plus (but apparently not required by law).
I really like the idea of a dress rehearsal online to see how the students handle the new technology. The rules should definitely be introduced and discussed before the rehearsal takes place, but it would be great way to ensure that they understand the purpose and guidelines of the extended online classroom format.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both you and Katherine -- the students need to see the online discussion, whether wiki, blog, or any discussion forum, as an extenstion of their classroom. In so doing they recognize that the same rules apply. They are so accustomed to being very casual and informal on their social network sites that they may have to be reminded that appropriate language and use of the English langugage is required as well. Also, making sure they do not post any personal information will prevent the FERPA police from coming after you.
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