April 16, 2008
21st Century Learning Case Studies
I love case studies. These two scenarios were discussed in my network today, though not a blog, else I would point to them. But I did promise those in my network who shared with me that I would seek input from this network.
Case Study/Fictitious Scenario 1:
A group of students wanted their picture to be used in the credits portion of the school news program. Instead of asking a sponsor to assist, they used a camera on a cell phone, uploaded the photo online, then downloaded it and used it.
The sponsor is savvy enough to accurately guess where the picture came from, even how it was obtained, and even though none confessed, it was openly discussed in front of the sponsor by the group of students how easy it is to do.
The sponsor is a veteran educator who is on an advisory committee at school, and even helped frame wording for appropriate cell phone use scripted in the student handbook.
What should the sponsor do?
Case Study/ Fictitious Scenario 2:
Students are taken to the computer lab for a project on a school newsletter. The task is to research news sites to glean popular or newsworthy topics that might be of interest in a school student newsletter. Using a newsletter program, the students are to write a proposed article. The task upon submitting article electronically is to look for newer ideas online for next newsletter project.
A student is seen on a filtered site by the teacher, who is young and very tech savvy. The student is just asked to get off the site, and warned that the next offense will result in loss of all Internet privileges. When questioned by the student as to “how” Internet privileges can be revoked, the teacher explains that a call will be made to the technology department locking the student out of the network–that the student’s login will be disabled. The student complies with the request, and there was no scene.
My Response
Gosh these sound just like something that might happen at any school anywhere. I know what I would do, and it would probably be labeled as “kneejerk” or an “over-reaction.” Of course I say go with exactly as the school’s handbook outlines, afterall in the past I have majorly contributed to it. Teachers should model making good choices, and that includes following the rules, as well as implementing them. Not doing this sends the wrong message, and even though these two are harmless, if we don’t implement all of them, my fear is that kids will think all of them can be ignored.
As I reflect on these scenarios, I think the kids don’t believe they have done anything drastically wrong. The first student saw a way to meet what was deemed a need in a simple and quick way. In the second case, I think the student knows he went against a school rule related to the AUP, but did immediately comply, and as far as I can tell, did not make a scene, did not disrupt class, and had completed the assignment given. The assignment was even to a degree innovative.
What would you do?
So what do you think? What should these educators-teachers-sponsors do? What would you do?
Image Attributions:
Image: ‘Something new‘
www.flickr.com/photos/51035677132@N01/87798574
Image: ‘Emma hard at work on an assignment‘
www.flickr.com/photos/27315689@N00/749315946
Filed by Cathy Nelson at 8:16 pm under 21st century,Digital Photography
9 Comments
April 17th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Interesting scenarios. These are much harder to judge than others because as you say, they didn’t do anything too bad.
1. As the sponsor, I would have a discussion with the students about how to do things properly. I can’t be that “cool” teacher who doesn’t care about the rules. I would also make them do a PSA about proper cell phone use at school as part of the broadcast.
2. I think this situation is done. I have done the exact same thing with students myself. Students do need to know that you will support them and trust them. Once they break that trust–if this kid does it again–it is over: no trust, no privileges, no opportunities to do fun stuff.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:50 am
1. Have a good discussion about proper cell phone use and make them create a PSA about proper cell phone use at school to be shown as part of broadcast.
2. This kid is fine. Just watch carefully and if it happens, all privileges are revoked, no questions asked.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I think educators are sometimes prone to creating unenforceable rules. Rules that apply to only those students who get caught. In our school we have photography classes, and on any given day students may be seen wandering the halls or through the library taking photos with school-issued cameras. They return to the lab and load those photos on to a computer. So how do we discriminate between using a cell phone camera and a standard camera when the results are both the same?
Many students no longer wear watches. If they turn on their cell phone in school to get the time do we punish them? In fact as I am typing this I see a student doing exactly that as I glance out my office window. Am I going to go out and confiscate his phone? No. That would undermine the trust I have worked hard to build.
I think the danger for teachers is in passing rules too quickly or as you say as a knee-jerk reaction to a perceived threat or problem. Asking students in to participate in the development of school policies may be one alternative. When we put rules in place we must be cognizant of how they will play out on a daily basis. Does no harm no foul come into play?
April 17th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
You did not explicitly formulate what rules the students broke. I don’t know if you realize that, but the rules aren’t immediately obvious to a reader not involved in this country’s school system. I felt a bit like reading the first chapter of a science fiction novel, while trying to figure out the rules of the universe the author created. As other people mentioned, nobody got hurt, so one can’t deduce rules from general consideration of the case, either (e.g. by doing X, the characters caused an obvious problem Y, therefore, X may be against rule Z instituted to prevent Y). I think I managed to figure out what the rules might be that the students broke, by reading other comments. I thought you might be interested in my “sci-fi” experience with the two cases, though. It tells us something about the nature of those rules, but I am not sure what, exactly.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
@ MariaD
Alas, I cannot explicitly say what rules were broken, and of course my response was based on what I know as rules or student expectations for my working context. But these friends pretty much implied that using cell phones in school and accessing blocked material were actions that were against the rules. That is why I wrote these as case studies. In grad school several of my admin courses required us to respond to case studies, and often we were not given any policies and procedures for the school, let alone any rules. We were told to respond with our own background in mind.
I think daily educators do case studies about events and issues that happen i their teaching context. I just find analyzing case studies intriguing and usually instigates great conversations and debates.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:33 am
Aye, I like case studies too! They are probably my favorite qualitative research method, and then ethnography. I think the whole point of this particular exercise was not to explicate “the rules of the universe” but to make sense of the events, as they unfolded, with whatever information you have, right?
I just thought you’d get a kick out of an “outsider” reaction, hehe. It somehow reminded me of the “Shakespeare in the Bush” essay, speaking of ethnographies.
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/home/idris/Essays/Shakes_in_Bush.htm
April 18th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
My 2 cents: In Case Study #1 the violation (as our school rules would apply) is that cell phones are to be turned off and out of site during school hours. I like Jethro’s response of creating a PSA. Since the correct thing would have been for the student to use a digital camera (which can be obtained from the journalism teacher OR from the library) instead of their cell phone, my initial response as the news program sponsor, I would penalize the students by removing them from the rotation – meaning they wouldn’t be able to participate in the next x number of news broadcasts. The student has to learn that actions have consequences.
In Case Study #2 If a student violates the IAUP a discipline notice is written, in this case I’d write one indicating a warning. The second offense, as you indicated above is loss of Internet privileges for a certain length of time (month, quarter, semester, year). It all depends upon what material was accessed or how severe the violation. My concern with this scenario is that the student KNOWINGLY violated the IAUP by getting around the filter. The filter told him he couldn’t access the site and he CHOSE to use a proxy to bypass the filter. This is blatant violation of school authority. Depending upon the student (you know your kids best) a simple warning may not be sufficient – a conference may be warranted.
April 19th, 2008 at 6:24 am
I don’t see either of these issues in the case studies as being anything but teachable moments. It comes down to the” just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean that you do it” idea. They are just 2 examples of kids not following the rules. When David Warlick talks about what it means to be literate today, one of the literacies involves ethics: knowing right from wrong on the information landscape. To me, these are teachable moments – kids need to know what is acceptable at school and what is not. And certainly consequences are a result for repeated breaking of the rules. But I have found that most kids are reasonable once they are reminded and the reasoning behind the rules are explained – especially if there is consistency in the school and classroom. They may not agree, but again in real life we don’t often agree with rules either.
April 19th, 2008 at 8:08 am
@Heather
I agree with you, and feel in both cases something should have been done,. By NOT implementing the rules that govern school, we undermine every teacher that does enforce them. But….
@Sharon
Both of these cases are definite teachable moments. I am thinking more and more that the kids equate these rules they ignored right up their with the file sharing sites they use to get music, or my middle schoolers who have social networking pages, yet have clearly fibbed about their age to obtain it. They know there’s a chance they’ll get caught, but its a small concern. They don’t equate this with holding up a bank or murder. So it’s okay.
Thanks for dropping by and making a comment.