Scholarly Life of a Committed Technofile

I am again responding to Will Richardson’s book…

…Context: I’m on a plane flying to Corpus Christi for a meeting on an executive committee I accidentally got myself elected to. I’m missing one of our podcasting FPLC meetings and we were going to talk about some chapters from the book. I’m also writing these as my contribution to the discussion…

Again, chapter one grabbed me when Richardson started talking about the safety of using these tools. It’s finally gotten me to reflect on the ethics of teaching with these tools; I’ve been wanting to “rant” since early last semester. Richardson’s book is more focused on K-12 teaching, and his “safety” section is important since that sector works with minors; however, I think most of his concerns do translate.

Another input…this concern of safety, and privacy, has been a focus of discussion numerous times on the tech rhet listserv, the listserv for computers and writing scholars. I think there are two major concerns:

· Safety—Making sure students do not present enough information about themselves that they can become victims of cyber predators.

· Privacy—Making sure students work, especially graded work, is not shared with the public at large.

This privacy issue is tough with writing classes. So many of our students don’t “get” audience because they’ve never really had an audience. Blogging begins to make the concept of audience real, especially when other people respond (TYCA West Experience). And although our students at the collegiate level are legal adults, for the most part, that does not mean they are trained in cyber safety and security. I already have written a blurb I call Tech-Help for my students. This focuses on computer safety (viruses, ad/spy ware, running updates, etc.). I’m now thinking I need a Cyber Safety & Privacy blurb (which would have to go out with the syllabus so they read it prior to signing up for any accounts—that pushes the Tech-Help, which needs a new name, out to a weekly tech tip). The Cyber Safety & Privacy blurb would need talk about:

· Usernames and passwords for accounts

· Profiles on accounts

· Simultaneously the what/why blurbs on each technology need to have both generalized whys (usually connect to the social/civic sense) as well as specific why-in-this-class explanations.

· And…please respond with ideas/concerns.

Rant on this topic: Although I’m being “polite” above, I do have a serious rant on this topic. I’m SO tired of all the whining about the “dangers” MySpace, and the internet in general. Richardson emphasizes that “teaching appropriate use is critical.” I guess I want to flip that a bit…teaching critical use is critical. If students use the technology critically, it will most likely be “appropriate” as well. Let me give credit, in the last chapter of the book Richardson says that readers need to become editors, meaning they have to recognize a lot of web content is not been filtered through editors and readers need to critically evaluate material, not just passively read it.

One of the part-time instructors in the English department, who also teaches at one of the local high schools, has a great bumper sticker on his laptop. It’s something along the lines of “You wouldn’t let your children go to the park alone, why would you let them surf the internet alone?” So what I’m trying to say with this rant—although I am willing to take the responsibility mentioned above to warn students about cyber safety and security and to give suggestions on how to be safe and secure—it is the responsibility of parents to teach their children to be critical and act wisely in “unknown environments,” whether they be in the first life or second.

PS—I’ve mentioned more than once the blurbs I’m typing up for my students. I’m realizing it would be useful, and kinda social of me, to post those as well.