Session Seven February 19 - February 25

The Ed Norman Syndrome:

There would be several issues if we had a person like Ed Norman at our college. First, by restricting the Internet access, the students would probably just attend another community college by choice, preferably one that did not treat their students like children. I understand the importance of monitoring the Internet and making sure that students do not download files that contain malicious viruses to the computers, but at a community college, you cannot restrict student access to the Internet, especially the way Ed Norman decided to do this by submitting a request to visit a URL 2 weeks in advance!

There are many times while I am teaching that I will pull up the Internet during class and show the students how to access various textbook publishing websites or websites that contain math tutorials that will help them understand the materials covered in class more thoroughly. Also, the students feel that if they are paying tuition, they should have access to the Internet. I agree with them, and that is why our school library has free Internet access for students with a student ID card. The students would enter in their student ID number with a password to access all websites on the Internet. They are allowed to access music sites, myspace, email accounts, etc. as long as they input their student ID number and a password they create for themselves. If the student visits an inappropriate website, the computer will keep track of who the student is. I think this is a good way of monitoring the Internet and also keeping the students honest about which websites they visit at school without actually restricting their access.

All students at our school have a school email account, but if the school were to eliminate this, I feel the students would simply use their personal email accounts. Our school is trying to eliminate as much paper that gets mailed home as possible, so they try to send as much information electronically as possible. If they eliminated the school email accounts, then a portion of our students without Internet access at home, would be unable to receive this information that was previously sent by mail. Therefore, I serious doubt our school will eliminate school email before they eliminate our "Ed Norman."

Our school's "Ed Norman" would monitor the infrastructure of the school's network similar to the way it is monitored currently. In our labs, we have staff and monitors that walk around the computers to "keep an eye" on the students work. In our library, the students must enter in valid student ID numbers with a password to access the Internet. That way the student know the computer is keeping track of the sites visited by that student.

Activity Log for the week of February 19 - February 25
Monday, February 19: downloaded week 7 podcast and listened to it. Started transcribing notes for the lecture.
Tuesday, February 20: emailed Myla for prices on PRS clickers for a classroom set. Received a reply.
Wednesday, February 21: published blog entry for the week. I will continue by work on project 3.
Thursday, February 22: respond to classmate's blog entries for the week.
Friday, February 23: continue my work on project 3
Saturday, February 24: check classmate's blog entries and respond to as many as possible.
Sunday, February 25: begin writing proposal for a classroom set of clickers.

Project One: Using Technology.
Here is a link to my web page for Project One.