Educational Technology Bill of Rights for Students
At some point I found this post byCindy Danner-Kuhn. She had posted about the Educational Technology Bill of Rights for Students. The Educational Technology Bill of Rights for Students post was first made by School Technology Solutions. I read it and it was just one of those WOW moments. After trying to figure out my own feelings about some of the points on the list I thought about this class and want to know what YOU think about the post. I come from a time where we did not have computers in classrooms, only in the lab, and an overhead and VCR were fancy. I did not even have an email address until my senior year of high school. Read the link below and tell me what you think.
Educational Technology Bill of Rights for Students
35 Comments
Travis Dalton
9/1/2013 12:13:33 pm
I think the post made some good points. If you can afford new or better technology then you should be allowed to use it in the classroom over what the school got you. I also agree with the access to WiFi because I think the internet is a fantastic tool for seeking information. I agree with the ability of being able to submit digital artifacts and the use of Wikipedia as a source, but I think Wikipedia should be backed by another form of reference since it can be edited.
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Alanna Dennison
9/8/2013 01:04:00 pm
I strongly agree with most of your points! I think that social media in the classroom is an immediate distraction not only to the student using the technology but also to others around the student. It is also disrespectful to the instructor or person speaking.
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Joshua Hancock
9/2/2013 01:21:32 am
This list of Educational Technology Bill of Rights for Students is very topical. It seems more than once a week students are begging for my rights involving the technology in our school. I really enjoyed this list and agreed with lots of it. However, in my small-school I don’t think a lot of it would be feasible. For one, other than constantly watching over their backs how would we monitor students if we allowed them to bring their own technology. For instance, if they brought their own laptops, how do we know they aren’t surfing things they shouldn’t be. We can walk around and check every once and a while, but we won’t have the programs we have on the school computers that allow the teachers to see every student’s computer.
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Jodi
9/3/2013 11:09:31 am
I agree with your post! Monitoring everything students do on the computer is difficult even in the school computer labs. Blocking sites can help, but that also limits what the teachers are able to do. I hate when I'm trying to look something up and the site I need is blocked!
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Dustyn Yung
9/2/2013 10:55:58 pm
This post is very interesting to me. I agree with some points of it and disagree with others. In today's society technology is huge and should be used as much as one can, but there should also be limits. I like the point of students bringing in their own technology tools like an iPad or laptop, but what about the others who don't have that? I know if a student brought one in and I was in their class I would be upset for not having that tool. I do understand that schools may not be able to afford upgrades in technology, but try fundraising or get grants.
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Jodi
9/3/2013 11:23:40 am
I teach at a small school - one teacher per grade level. I've had the luxury of having a SmartBoard in my classroom for 4 yrs. However, most of the other teachers in our school just got theirs last year and some still do not have one at all. We were only able to purchase the newer ones because we got together with a larger school district and ordered ours with them to get a lower price. I've subbed in a lot of schools and very few have the resources for decent technology. Only one had laptops in the classrooms for the students - grant funded. It's unfortunate that there's not more funding or grants available! Or people who understand the process to get the grants...
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Dustyn Yung
9/4/2013 02:22:29 am
Its very unfortunate that there's not more funding or grants available. I went to a small school district and we didn't have a lot of technology available either. My younger siblings still attend there and a couple classrooms have smartboards to use but they were donated by businesses in the community. I see some kids struggle when they advance to high school or college not knowing how to use different types of technology.
Derek Lannigan
9/6/2013 12:06:04 am
I like your idea about creating a class Facebook account to post assignments and announcements. I had commented on another post about how, for the sake of the class, one of the assignments for the class would be to create student accounts that the teacher could act as a parent of the student and raise the parental control so that they could limit what the student could access and see. I feel that this form of communication has surpassed emails and letters home for the youth of today. It almost seems that if it doesn't pop up on their news feed wall or ding in on their twitter page, that whatever the news is, dose not exist. As far as it being a right though to use social media I do not agree with that. Any more it seems that kids should have a right to everything, but for some reason they do not need to work to get it. I think that social media and texting, or whatever they want to be able to do should be a privilege that they can earn by showing that they are mature and responsible enough to use.
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Ethan Mignard
9/3/2013 12:59:32 am
I would say that I disagree with more of the post than I agree with. I think technology is an important part of today's learning experience, but I'm sure there are some excellent teachers out there that don't have any clue how to use technology. I felt like the post made it sound like a solid learning experience without significant incorporation of technology was impossible. That being said, I think that teachers unfamiliar with the many technologies and social media platforms available today should attempt to learn as much as possible because those things can be quite advantageous.
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Morgan Goetschel
9/3/2013 05:05:57 am
I would mostly agree with your post, this list does need some work before i feel that it would be a reality. with the ever evolving world of technology teachers should educate themselves so they can stay up to date with the changes, however i feel a classroom should not revolve around technology and that technology can become an issue for over dependent individuals down the road.
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Alanna Dennison
9/3/2013 03:13:51 am
While I feel that some good points were made in this article, I also disagreed with some of them. While I think technology is a huge asset to the learning environment, I also feel that it can be burdensome and distracting. If all students are allowed on the WiFi and allowed to have all of their technological devices in class, not to mention free to use social media, how many of them would pay attention? They would be focusing on their neighbors Facebook page, Twitter or other webpages. I run into this issue in my college classes when the person in front of my has a laptop and is on some website other than what is pertinent. I promise you my mind is not on the lecture but on the other persons screen.
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Trisha Shannon
9/3/2013 12:56:21 pm
I also agree with you that wikipedia is not a good source, their are so many other options out their that only take a little more work to find. I also agree that when other students are on Facebook or Pinterest during class i find it difficult to concentrate on what the professor is talking about.
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Trisha Shannon
9/3/2013 04:42:25 am
I agree with some of this post but also disagree with some of it. I do not think that Wikipedia should be allowed to be cited as a source. Some of the sources on Wikipedia are correct but some of them are not anywhere near the truth. Students could access Google Scholar or their owns schools database just as easily. I do agree that students should be able to turn in digital presentation and papers. And I also agree that students should have to be taught with up to date technology and that will help them later in life when trying to be marketable in the working world. I feel like it is a fine line on students not being cyberbullied if students have access to technology so freely it is easy for a comment or post to be made about other students, I also feel like this would happen no matter what so it is a hard thing for a teach to control.
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Joshua Hancock
9/4/2013 10:03:48 am
Trisha,
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Thyago
9/8/2013 05:52:06 am
Trisha Like I said in my Post I agree with you, Wiipedia is not always right about things and when it comes about source it has to be right all the time. Technology its in everywhere, so we have to start dealing better with that, the best way its having some classes about technology on colleges!
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Morgan Goetschel
9/3/2013 05:00:50 am
I agree with some of the rights that are brought up in the post. that it is in the teachers right to be able to use the best technology that they can get there hands on, because classrooms around the nation suffer from not having ample supply of technology that is being used everyday to teach to their students. however I do not agree with some of what is stated in the post. I do not feel that students should have to have the right to be able to access social medias in the class room. because i have worked with the youth of all ages, if you let them use social media at school, then they will just want to do that all of the time.
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Travis Dalton
9/4/2013 03:19:41 am
I agree with what you wrote about the social media. Speaking from my own experience (as a student) the access to social media was not good for me. I would always be distracted and doing something other than paying attention to the teacher. I feel like it would have to be regulated.
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Derek Lannigan
9/5/2013 11:53:17 pm
I think along the line of social media that you can still allow the students to use it in a supervised and controlled environment. For instance, with Facebook you can make it an in class assignment to create an account, but also make it their class account where you can use parental controls to manage what they can access and see. I think that it is very important to make youth aware of how to PROPERLY use social media as a functioning part of everyday life. Take for example any of the teachers over the last couple years that have been let go because of either a comment they have made or a picture they have posted. If they had been mentored correctly on how to used that form of social media or at least informed of how many people can actually see the things that they are posting, then maybe they might have been able to save their jobs. Going back to my original argument though, I do not think the use of social media in the class room is wrong. I think that it just means the teacher will have to be more attentive and active in the classroom.
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Alanna Dennison
9/8/2013 01:07:19 pm
Social media in the classroom is a huge issue today, both for students and professors. It is kind of sad that we, as a society, can be disrespectful enough to be Facebooking or Tweeting during a class and not think twice about it. It shows the person talking or lecturing that we really don't care about what they have to say and that our friends are more important.
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Derek Lannigan
9/3/2013 05:22:17 am
The post definitely got me thinking about how the use of technology in the classroom is inevitable. Those that refuse to embrace the fact that the world has changed, and continue to push to do things "the way they have always been done," will soon find that they are more of a hindrance to education than an advancement. I do not agree that just because you have you should be allow to use it, but I do agree that when it is applicable, technology should be used. Building the use of technology into curriculum is the first step to embracing the future of education. The main obstacle to that though is not every educational institution has the same budget to work with.
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william
9/3/2013 12:13:46 pm
I agree Derek! There's only some much a teacher can teach at high standers these days without using technology in class. I still hate seeing professors still using an overhead projector to discuss class topics. Luckily our todays upcoming teachers are getting exposed to so much technology that they will be able to incorporate it into their class teachings but as you said there are still those stuborn ones that stick to their past ways hard. Hopefully one day all our schools will have the best technology and standards across the states and maybe world too. though its sad to say without money schools and we as people cant provide the best either. With monitoring technology in the class its just difficult unless each student had their very own school issued device but students are students and will be rebels.
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Thyago
9/3/2013 07:02:41 am
Like everything in life is really hard to find 100% of agreement in something. I saw some good points and some bad point in this article. I agree with trisha about the wikipedia, its not 100% true all the times so would be really bad to use as a source. The best source for me still is books and going to library to find out what you need it. We are in 2013 off course students shoud be able to turn digital papers or otherwise we would be going agains technology, We alwasy have move foward and not backwards. The wordl outside campus is changing so the campus have to change too , new technology are arriving everysingle day, and colleges need to have more tecnhlogy classes around. College is the right place to prepare us to the world, so Lets Do IT!
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Jodi McSwain
9/3/2013 10:44:02 am
There were several points that I agreed with in the rights and others I really didn't.
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Ruth Ann Pfremmer
9/3/2013 03:01:27 pm
Jodi,
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william rambo
9/3/2013 12:05:23 pm
I enjoyed reading this post. With something new happening everyday in world of technology its hard not seeing every child having three plus devices at school, tablet, ipod and cell phone. Though I agree that our teachers now and newly coming teachers should be open minded to all the readily available techs to use to help mold our youth for tomorrow. But with that said when not all students can yet afford such items still its hard to teach new skills to someone without the resources. It would be nice if all schools could afford school sets of tablets, laptops and such that are pre programed to follow the school rules and block students from other areas so they can stay better on course but that's if we lived in a perfect world. I know students will use their items and for me as long as they are doing well in class and preforming at high levels still I don't mind them using their items except talking on the phone in class cause things can happen. Though I still like seeing things taught in the old fashion way without to much technology cause those skills are basic skills that all students should know off the top of their head. Today I see to many people calling Triple AAA to change their tire since they never were showed the basics like changing tire 101. Technology is a great thing especially when you know what you had to do before there was technology.
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Ethan Mignard
9/5/2013 03:36:05 am
I think your last thought about teaching things the old-fashioned way and your AAA example are great. Technology can provide an advantage, but if used incorrectly, it can definitely have negative consequences as well. Lack of basic skills like knowing how to change a tire is one of them. I think another good example is the loss of basic math skills due to the dependence on calculators. This same thought process can be applied to numerous other basic skill sets that were at one time unable to be aided by technology.
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Thyago
9/8/2013 05:55:08 am
Rambo, good post buddy.
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Prof. Myers
9/3/2013 12:17:33 pm
So happy that you all think that Wikipedia is not a good source. I tell me kids if you know nothing about a topic you can start there but you better find a REAL source.
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Ruth Ann Pfremmer
9/3/2013 02:37:39 pm
I will address the items as they are numbered and my responses may be different than many others since I teach at a post secondary school and I teach for a competitive entrance program, not general education. 1) You may have the latest greatest technology but if it does not allow for easy connectivity within our school system it will require you to make many phone calls to the help desk and potentially a lot of grief. Many times the software we run has been loaded to a server and must meet specific reguations and it must be accessed from an on campus computer. Depending on the software license(s) must be purchased for each computer on which it will run. 2) The WiFi should be accessible but as we all know technology does not always work correctly and/or as fast as we would like. McDonalds does not have 2,000 people trying to access their WiFi at the same time. Bandwith capabilities are valid and if you want your private information protected, security is absolutely necessary. 3) Any time a student wants to arrange a meeting, outside of class time, to discuss a way to improve a class and student learning I am excited!. 4) Wikipedia is not a valid source and you are never going to talk me into allowing my students to use it as one. It is a great place to begin but you must find valid sources, most of the time we want peer reviewed sources or governmental agencies. 5) Social media can be set up through the college and it will be monitored by personnel outside our program. We, as instructors, are not allowed to be friends on social media sites with our students unless it is a college sponsored site. 6) We discuss the difficulty of balancing home life with a full time program, daily with our students and make suggestions about various items in their lives when necessary, but our students are adults and want to be treated like adults. 7) The technology our students need to be successful in the workforce is specific to radiology and taught throughout the program. It does not involve texting or social media. 8) We assess using technology a high percentage of time in our program and I agree with this to a point. 9) This goes back to our students being adults. If they ask us for help we may be able to refer them to someone but probably will not be able to fix the problem ourselves. 10) We live in a technological society and all training must have some form(s) of technology integrated but every field of study will be different. This is a great you tube video about technology and change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdvo5FlRqmM - you will need to copy and paste into your browser.
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Prof. Myers
9/7/2013 11:29:29 am
Well said.
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Lynn Royer
3/16/2014 08:08:45 am
I agree so much with your comments, as I teach post-secondary also. And the comments about soft skills is true as well. I see it with my kids. Let's sit down and have a normal conversation without the use of our phones. I do use a site called Remind101 to text messages to my students, however, it is a site that can be monitored and also I do not have students' phone numbers, they register so that all of our numbers are confidential.
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Denver price
9/4/2013 08:24:54 am
I like the argument with technology in the classroom however i would have to agree with travis because facebook and twitter are distractions and irs very hard to control the environment for a teacher when they have close to 30 kids in a class
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Lynn Royer
9/5/2013 05:18:21 am
First of all, I want to say WOW. There are several points that I found interesting, unattainable, and maybe even not realistic? I do agree with the statements that teachers and instructors need to embrace technology and learn how to incorporate it into their classrooms. I also agree that students are tech savvy, so why not let them utilize technology as much as possible to express their ideas.
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Jodi
9/6/2013 03:11:29 pm
I found in ironic that part of this post is about social media and it happens this week we ran into an issue on this subject in our school! A coach, who doesn't actually work for the school, was sending messages to students via FB and text during the school hours. Students are not suppose to have their phones while at school, but many were responding to the text messages anyway. On top of that, said coach had consequences for those who missed events that were posted on FB, but apparently didn't take into consideration that not all students have access to FB! FB is blocked on school computers! Needless to say, administration wasn't pleased that this happened... Also proves a point, you never know who is seeing these things and who is reading your comments/text messages! Office staff discovered what was going on and students were in trouble - not just that coach... A lot of trouble when a note home would have been sufficient.
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Prof. Myers
9/7/2013 11:33:42 am
I must confess I am the teacher in the back checking and replying to emails during the meeting when we are talking about MAP scores, or reading scores, or something about core classes because I teach music and 99% of what they talk about has nothing to do with my classroom. I am not the only one...band, art, drama, industrialist technology, pe.....we all do it. I do stay off of social media but if I can get three emails taken care of I am going to take advantage of that time.
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Class BlogThis blog is for class conversations for Ed 514 at Central Methodist University. We invite input form other teachers about how they use technology in their classrooms. Archives
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