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Posted Anonymously
Student Safety
Jul 1 2008, 11:39 AM EDT | Post edited: Jul 1 2008, 11:39 AM EDT
Mr. Bartels:

I think that concerns for student safety are going to be a big issue for truly widespread adoption. It sounds like WetPaint gives you some controls, but is it really managable as an environment where students are enabled to make contributions? While from an individual teacher's perspective it sounds like it might be manageable (each teacher manages his/her realm) district office admin types would prefer to throw a safety net out there to cover all. It is hard to fault them that. If safety is dependent on individual teachers and you have thousands of teachers, slip-ups are going to happen. Intranet/Extranet hosting scenarios are going to be attractive on that basis ... at the loss, of course, of significant educational value/opportunity. I work in IT at the district office. I am beside myself with excitement re Web 2.0 opportunities for education and I want to spread that to the Ed. Svcs. division. But these are rational concerns that will be raised and I'd like to know how others are addressing them.

Some of WetPaint's marketing casts a shadow of negativity on IT. I know that the buerecratic nature of public education admin is brutal and, worse, it saps public ed of vital resources especially excitement. But IT is really not the enemy. DO admin types are not the ememy. Each element of buerecratic overhead is a response to public demands/dynamics. I can do more about it as an individual than I can as a public employee. In other words the enemy is in the masses not at the DO and not in IT. Widespread, ubiquitous adoption is going to require tackling the issues that make IT and the DO less responsive than desireable to these opportunities. Do you find this valuable?    
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vsl55
1. RE: Student Safety
Jul 4 2008, 8:03 AM EDT | Post edited: Jul 4 2008, 8:03 AM EDT
Safety is a concern. But the schools in my county really don't have that as their primary issue. Until classrooms have the technology to support in-class student contributions (none do in this county) and school systems 'unblock' sites like wetpaint, the issue is really moot as far as 'student safety' is concerned. By that I mean, those students who do decide to contribute will be doing so from their own machines - or at least from somewhere other than in school.

I've been working on a collaboration wiki for many months now. The number of folks using it is still quite small -- not large enough yet to pass that 'critical mass' needed to really take off (http://collabvsl.wetpaint.com/) . As far as I can tell, no students are active members - several parents are.

I see wiki usage being pulled several different ways. Peer to Peer content for teachers. Peer to Peer for students. Instructor to Peer for individual work. Instructor to class. But the most interesting to me is 'community by subject area'. There is so much commonality between how I see wikis being used as teaching tools. If we raise the abstraction up one level and focus on how the technology can be effectively utilized, I think we'll make better headway. Safety will be a concern for me down the road. For now, I would settle for some progress on usage in general
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