ODYSSEYWARE

More than ten months ago, PBS launched Frontline’s Digital_Nation website, featuring short video reports, opinion clips from expert guests, and a mosaic of user-generated stories designed to let visitors participate in the documentation process.

The content is much more notable than the platform. Digital media and the Internet have virtually transformed every aspect of modern culture and information dissemination, enabling this kind of multiplatform project.

Gathering the experts and asking essential and thought-provoking questions, Digital Nation begs the question: is our 24/7-wired world causing us to lose as much as we’ve gained?

On Tuesday, February 2, 2010, Frontline will continue its exploration of technology in the Information Age with the television premiere of Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier. Produced by Rachel Dretzin, it’s sure to raise questions, old and new, about where technology is taking us and its long-term implications.

“I’m amazed at the things my kids are able to do online, but I’m also a little bit panicked when I realize that no one seems to know where all this technology is taking us, or its long-term effects,” says Dretzin.

As educators, we must find ways to adapt and ensure that technology continues to be the means to an end, not an end in itself. Digital Nation gives us a place to begin, or perhaps continue, the examination of technology’s effect on education and our future.

From the way we learn to the way we work and socialize, technology is on the fast track, and we must be on board. At ODYSSEYWARE, we’re committed to offering the most innovative learning environment while maintaining the goal of academic success. Through the use of our online curriculum, we’re reaching students who were once believed unreachable and supporting them in their lifelong journey of learning.

I’m not sure if parents and children have ever agreed on just how teenagers should spend their free time. The widespread use of the Internet has flamed this age-old fire and has created a few new sparks. According to the Norton Online Living Report 2009, parents believe their kids spend 21 hours per month online, but kids say it’s an average of 39. Either way, six in 10 adults worldwide say it’s “too much.” Surprisingly, 45% of kids agree.

How is this time spent? The study indicates that their time is split between school projects, entertainment, games, and shopping. The report also found that “one in five kids admitted to conducting activities that their parents wouldn’t approve of.”

For students in traditional classrooms, time online is limited to approved class work and free time, but for students who attend school online or use online curriculum like ODYSSEYWARE®, more hours of the day are spent connected to the computer. As parents and educators, it’s important to recognize the safety and time management issues and to address them with kids.

As a provider of security software, Norton™ offers these tips to parents and teachers for helping to keep their kids safe while they’re on the web:

• Have “The Talk” frequently and establish realistic rules. Engage in dialogue about who, what, and where your kids are online, but make it fun, not an interrogation.

• Deploy basic preventative security measures and all-in-one security site and parental controls.

• Participate in their lives online; in addition to joining their kids in texting, IM’ing, and social networking, parents can learn more about their kids by looking at their online videos, photos, and status updates, or even “Googling” them.

If I had all the time in the world, a concern for the future of education, and a Facebook login, I think I would spend my time reading “Teachers’ Letters to Obama”. 

According to a recent article in Education Week, this popular Facebook group began when a science coach from Oakland Unified School District, Anthony Cody, wrote a letter. He remembers it this way: 

“In November, I accidentally launched a groundswell. I posted an open letter to President Barack Obama online and invited other teachers to join me.”

As of today, the group boasts 751 members who start and join in regular discussions about the state of education. They offer ideas, insights, and a ground zero perspective of what’s happening in their world. From test-driven policies and analogies that liken the educational system to Wall Street, there are more than 100 eloquent letters and almost as many topics and opinions.

At ODYSSEYWARE, we believe in the power of digital technology. We use it to provide curriculum and tools that help students learn. Social media channels, a product of the digital age, provide students, educators, and politicians a forum for examining issues and collaborating toward solutions. 

Looking for a good read? Join a discussion at teachers’ letters to obama on Facebook.

Your students and their parents are tweeting, socializing, and sharing information via social media outlets everyday. Their messages are not sanitized, filtered, nor distilled, yet they yield great power. On the other end of the spectrum, the information that administrators and communication directors release to the public has been carefully written, removing any words or phrases that may cause controversy, and crafting sentences cautiously to deliver precisely aimed messages. 

Unfortunately, the voices and posts of the masses may be loud enough to drown out your messages. A small but heated discussion by the school board will no doubt be interpreted as a major conflict on Twitter, or a tiny policy change may be linked to a civil liberties violation then spread through Facebook to hundreds.

 While there may be a place and a need for your sanitized messages, it may be time to expand the scope of your communications to mimic that of your constituency. They’re communicating to others in your community with their opinions and even their understanding of the facts.

 In a recent blog post, Reaching for the Heart: 5 Tips for School District Communications Directors, Miguel Guhlin suggests,

 “As a citizen-journalist, as a person who has embraced social media as a way to share the exciting actions being taken by educators around me, I also see an important need for K-12 educators to tell ‘their’ story, sharing what is happening at their schools, in their classrooms, in the offices, as openly and transparently as possible. My bias is that I believe that most educators live in fear of speaking up, fear of losing their jobs, being censured, being called into their supervisor’s office or at Human Resources and asked, with the force of temporal power lurking behind each word, ‘So, tell us. What do you really believe and why should we continue to employ you if you’re going to say this about us?’ Instead, anyone with the temerity to be transparent about the work they are doing should be celebrated and applauded.”

 Mr. Guhlin has great suggestions for diving into social media, and tips for success on his website.

 As innovative educators and administrators, it’s time to ask the hard questions: Are you using social media to tell your stories, applaud accomplishments, and discuss local initiatives? If not, maybe it’s time to start.

To better serve your needs for a robust and reliable learning environment that’s ready when and wherever your students log on, ODYSSEYWARE has added a new channel to facilitate communication between schools, students, and our technical support team. You can now follow us on Twitter for the latest updates on our curriculum. In addition, you can use @odysseycare in your Twitter posts to ask a question or request support regarding hardware, network, or Internet connection challenges. 

ODYSSEYWARE^® is committed to providing innovative, digital curriculum with exceptional technical support, so schools can provide an exceptional learning experience to students. As social media increasingly becomes a significant component of the educational landscape, we are excited to tap into this popular microblogging platform to provide additional access to our team of experts.

We hope that Twitter will facilitate communication and make ODYSSEYWARE even more user-friendly.  How can Twitter and other social media support communication and learning in your classrooms?