"Just a few years ago, social networking meant little more to educators than the headache of determining whether to penalize students for inappropriate activities captured on Facebook or MySpace. Now," Education Week reports, "teachers and students have a vast array of social-networking sites and tools – from Ning to VoiceThread and Second Life – to draw on for such serious uses as professional … [Read more...] about Social media in school more – yes!
school policy
Smart social media use in Oregon school
No child is left behind in using social media at George Middle School in the Portland, Ore., area, Converge magazine reports. Over 90% of the students qualify for a free and reduced lunch, and the school receives Title I funding, but they are not without technology in the classroom. Many of the students don't have landlines at home, but 75% of them have cellphones, so – in order to beat the label … [Read more...] about Smart social media use in Oregon school
Why anti-bullying laws don’t work: School psychologist’s view
With the passage of Massachusetts's new anti-bullying law, 42 states now have laws against bullying, Education Week reports, citing "the most recent data available from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration" of the Department of Health and Human Services. But anti-bullying laws don't work, says Izzy Kalman in a blog at Psychology Today. They don't work because they require a … [Read more...] about Why anti-bullying laws don’t work: School psychologist’s view
The school district that logged 13,000 photos of students’ homes
The Webcam security program of a Pennsylvania school district being sued by parents for spying on students with school-supplied laptops captured "nearly 13,000 images" of the insides of students' homes, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. But a report presented at a school board meeting this week said that "there's no evidence" the district used the laptops to spy on students "despite its … [Read more...] about The school district that logged 13,000 photos of students’ homes
Formspring: What’s really going on?
Nobody's completely sure – even social-media researchers who talk to teens a lot – but it is clear that the Formspring phenomenon didn't come out of nowhere. Remember those personality tests and fashion-sense quizzes in teen magazines? In the digital-age versions, danah boyd writes in DMLcentral.net, teens would – through questions and answers in pre-Web public online spaces like Usenet; "chain … [Read more...] about Formspring: What’s really going on?