Education and Democratic Ideals

Formal, public education is deeply rooted in the democratic ideals of a newly formed nation. This new nation of the 1800’s was a nation of immigrants having little in common culturally, and no particular allegiance to the nation that had become their home. There was a need to unite these people as Americans. In addition to these factors, another major influence would arise with a great transition. American society was rapidly becoming more urban and more industrial as the 19th century progressed. The democratic ideal, nationalism, and transitions in society continue to be major influences on education today.

As John Dewy (1937) wrote, “Our public school system was founded in the name of equity of opportunity for all, independent of birth, economic status, race, creed, or color” (p. 340). Equal opportunity and access are at the heart of the educational system. This tradition runs through the system as strongly as it did a century ago. The concept of each person bearing his or her own fair share for the cost of education as well as having a vote on the amount that fair share represents are examples of this democratic ideal. The concept of equity also comes to mind when thinking of education reform here in the State of Vermont in the 1990’s. The law, Act 60, was designed to create an equal education experience for students in communities around the state through a complex funding formula. Although the aim of equity of opportunity is democratic in nature, many have criticized the resulting property tax increases that have come to many communities.

Throughout history schools have served as centers of communities hosting civic events and promoting the sharing of ideas. This sharing of ideas is a centerpiece shared by both education and democracy. As Dewy (1937) wrote, “democracy means voluntary choice, based on an intelligence that is the outcome of free association and communication with others”(p. 341). Ideally the classroom is a place where the ideas of all individuals are shared and discussed so that students learn to form opinions and make well-reasoned decisions.

Yet another major influence on American public education comes from factors associated with nationalism. It is said we are a nation of immigrants and as Noah Webster observed in 1783, that people were not born with a loyalty to their new country, there would need to be a uniting force to accomplish national identity in the minds of citizens (The District School, p. 68). The tool that would be used to inspire nationalism was language. Webster’s Blue Back Speller was put into use within countless schools to teach this new American Language (The District School, p. 68). Much of the common American speech today was impacted by the work of Noah Webster who recognized, “A national language is a band of national union” (p 73).

The influence of nationalism is still alive and well in American schools today. On a very basic level, saying the Pledge of Allegiance is done in most every school each day. In my situation as a classroom teacher, I am required to lead this activity. Because I teach social studies, I have made a point of teaching students what it means. Beyond the pledge, nationalism is embedded in the curriculum in countless ways, from a “Constitution Day” required by federal law to language found in writing prompts and educational materials. I do feel nationalism is positive in many ways, but believe it is important for all students to have free and open access to information representing all points of view.

The early 1800’s brought major changes to the United States. The transformation was from a nation of rural, agricultural areas to urban, industrial areas. This rise of industry required workers and citizens to have new and different skills than before. In the push to create common schools a century ago Mann encountered resistance from people who favored local control of schools. “Mann softened their opposition by convincing these people that a common school would provide all children with the knowledge and skills necessary for success in this new industrialized world of the 19th century United States” (Horace Mann, p.80).

Today similar arguments are made regarding a technology revolution in our society. Even as I write this reflective essay, President Bush as well as his Democratic rivals speak of education reform, which will lead to students of today being ready to fill the high tech jobs of tomorrow (Bush 2006, January 31).

My experience teaching in public schools leads me to believe that mathematics and language arts are given the highest priority. Government mandated testing in these subjects has led schools to limit funding, classroom time and human resources in other areas. In my school first through sixth grade students only have half a year of social studies and only 8 weeks of computer. At the same time teachers of all grade levels are required to teach math for an hour each day. President Bush and others have suggested that technology is the key to the skilled labor of the future. Perhaps the strong push of mathematics in the last several years is a result of the technology revolution. I have not yet seen the same emphasis placed on technology or integration programs in K-12 schools.

Although more than 200 years have passed since the formative years of public education many of the same influences remain today. The democratic ideal, forces of nationalism, and changes in society continue to drive the education system. Many of these influences have manifested themselves throughout the years through the actions of our government.

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Technology & The Mess at Coventry

“There can be no doubt that in our civilisation poetry is by far the most discredited of the arts, the only art, indeed, in which the average man refuses to discern any value.” (Orwell, 1968, p.3)
As poetry, besides Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead, jazz, and classical music fans, twenty-minute songs without lyrics were not enjoyed by the everyman. Phish had a very specific kind of sound that echoed those four and in the beginning was only able to reach their audiences through word of mouth. Even with that, they had an impressive following in the early nineties for a band without a hit single.Their sound was for a more intelligent crowd. The commercial radio stations never played Phish (even after they released a few MTV-type songs), but they kept filling larger and larger venues due to the increasing popularity of technology.

When I first got into their music there was a fairly new message board online at rec.music.phish Through this media, the band got exposure to people who otherwise would not have heard. Spring (1997) asserted, the “Amercian broadcasting system [claimed] it was democratic because it was based on listener selection” (p.319). How can a listener select something they have never been exposed to? It is lonely to be the only one you know to like a particular band. In the past, adolescents who felt this way might run off to the city, San Francisco most notably,to be with like-minded people.

Without leaving home, the internet expanded the circle of people you could know.I did not have a car, but I conversed frequently with people who lived across the country and felt that I was part of a community. The same tool that enabled Phish’s fan base to grow led to the mess at Coventry. When I was a sophomore in college Phish played at the tiny Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and did not sell all of the tickets available. The next year they played the massive Irvine Meadows and almost sold out. The following year people were ready to sell their brother to get to that show.

The counter-culture that had developed in the mid-nineties as a peace loving community who looked down upon those on drugs at the shows had a new younger following who did not really get it. Due to news reports that focused on the few overdoses or arrests and not the thousands who avoided both, new fans were coming to the shows socialized to think that these were common. They were drinking and doing drugs irresponsibly and disturbing the people who were there for the music. What once was the exception was now the rule because of technology and mass media. In the beginning, the audio resources were scant; there was precise taping etiquette that if you failed follow you did not get any tapes of shows. There were, however, plenty of seats at shows and shows to go to. As the technology became more accessible, more information about the band and its music became available.

As these resources grew the fan base grew. In 1999, the most crucial of the resources started to run out, seats at shows and shows to attend. At a festival called Big Cypress we waited in twelve hours of traffic because there were more people than tickets available. Fall Tour 2000 was the first time I have ever not been able to buy a ticket through Phish, but my friend and I were still able to go to all of the shows. During the two year hiatus they took there were no shows, afterwards there were no seats. To get to their next festival, IT, we waited in fourteen hours of traffic. The population of the fan base became so large that the fan’s standard of living decreased. The culmination of increased demand with limited resources was Coventry.

References
Lenski, G. E. (2005). Ecological-evolutionary theory: Principles and applications.Boulder, Colo.: Paradigm Publishers.
Orwell, G., Orwell, S., & Angus, I. (1968). The collected essays, journalism and letters of george orwell.London: Secker & Warburg.
Spring, J. H., & Spring, J. H. (1997). The american school, 1642-1996 (4th ed.). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

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Effective Citizens

posted for smm

Noah Webster made a unique contribution to America’s educational system. According to Johnson (2002), it was Webster’s belief that our newly independent nation needed a distinctive language and government (p. 75). With its publication in 1783 and its use nationwide, Webster’s Blue Back Speller standardized American spelling, thus creating the distinctive language he advocated for. Soon after the introduction of the Blue Back Speller, spelling bees, enjoyed by youth and adults alike, became standard practice throughout the nation. Webster also “recognized the importance of education for promoting nationalism” (p. 69), and his role in standardizing our language played a significant role in helping all American students to become effective citizens who now felt connected to each other through the common bond of language.

If we jump ahead to the next century, we see the influence of persons such as Horace Mann and other crusaders for the common (public) school. According to Johnson (2002), Mann was discouraged by what he saw as a “moral decline of U.S. society,” and he felt that, in addition to ensuring that all students practice and learn the three R’s, the purpose of the public school was to provide the best education possible in order to “provide moral guidance to the masses” (p. 79). I would agree that it is important for schools to provide an environment that promotes high moral character. But what exactly are our responsibilities? Do we teach sex education in our health classes, or do we avoid this controversy and leave the teaching of this subject to the parents? Do we teach Internet safety, or do we simply ban access to certain technologies? In a letter to his sister, Mann stated his desire for every child to become “a noble citizen” (p. 84). The challenge is determining the public educational system’s role in helping our students to become noble (or effective) citizens.

The 20th century brought us John Dewey, another icon in the educational community who is known for his stand on the role of democracy in education. Dewey (1937) maintained that the democratic process isn’t just something to be discussed in schools; it must be practiced (p. 340). We often talk about democracy, and we may model it ourselves, but unless students have the opportunity to practice it in a meaningful way, they are less likely to become truly effective citizens.

What is the purpose of education? I believe that the purpose of education is to help our students to become effective citizens. The three educational leaders highlighted above were proponents of different perspectives, but together these viewpoints incorporate a larger picture of how to achieve this goal. Joseph Needleman (2006) quoted these wise words from Walt Whitman:

I say the mission of government, henceforth, in civilized lands, is not repression alone, and not authority alone, not even of law, nor the rule of the best men, but higher than the highest arbitrary rule, to train communities through all their grades, beginning with individuals and ending there again, to rule themselves. . .
This is the purpose of education.

References
Interview with Joseph Needleman.(2006). In Speaking of Faith from American Public Media. The Religious Roots of American Democracy. Retrieved February 3, 2006, from http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/democracy/index.shtml

Dewey, J. (1937). Education and Social Change. In F. Schultz, (Ed.), Sources: Notable Selections in Education (3rd ed., pp. 333-341). Guilford: McGraw-Hill/Duchskin

Johnson, T. W. (2002). The District School and Noah Webster’s United States from Historical Documents in Education (pp. 67-78). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Johnson, T. W. (2002). Horace Man and the Common School Crusade from Historical Documents in Education (pp. 79-86). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

--posted for smm

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Missing Homer

posted for Sara
Homer Gilbert was a cranky, grizzled old man that ran the gas station in my hometown. Yup, that’s right, he ran a gas station. No mini-mart attached to it, no delicatessen and certainly, no creemees. You could get one thing there, gas, and maybe, if you were lucky, Homer might even tell you an off-color joke that would be sure to irritate your parents when you told it at the dinner table that evening. He knew all of the kids by name and was known to set a few of us straight about exactly what the speed limits in town were, particularly when we were newly blessed with our driver’s licenses and roared by his station, hair on fire. He was a man of little means, and he was a little mean too, but nonetheless, he was part of our community and his place in our lives was an honored one. If value is judged by the turnout at a funeral, then Homer Gilbert was at the very least, a person of great value and as you can tell from this introduction, in my eyes, he was priceless.

I was reminded of Homer the other day, when the pump was broken at my local Mobil Mini Mart and, annoyed, I stomped into the store and was promptly ignored by a surly teen who was chatting on her cell phone. Now, I won’t bore you with the ever popular lament about the good old days and how teenagers used to be so polite (Homer would set you straight about that, if he were here), but I am willing to say that I am more than a little concerned that my desire for efficiency is surpassing my desire for human contact. The truth was, I was irritated long before I laid eyes on my pierced and pouting cashier. And who can blame her for being surly? Every day I see at least one person, talking on their cell phone, completely ignoring the salesperson behind the counter, barely making eye contact, dismissing them with a wave of the hand, a hurried nod and then out the door they sail, still talking – but never having spoken to the cashier. So, no wonder she is not thrilled to see me . . .

Besides practicing the niceties of life, I am also concerned that a child’s interaction with technology is, at times, at odds with their social adjustment. In addition to being a mother of four, I am also a teacher of six and seven year olds. I have arrived at this conclusion regarding technology and social adjustment, after coming to the difficult decision to ban handheld games at recess. Seeing six year old children hunched over their GameBoys, oblivious to the sunshine and imaginative play around them was just too much for me to bear and so I canned them. I know it is censorship. I’m OK with it.

Of course, gas pump, cell phone and gaming technology are not evil things in and of themselves, but they are indicative of a shift in our culture toward a more faceless, impersonal, multi-tasking interface with the world. But it does bear saying that technology does not have to, by its nature, be impersonal or faceless. In fact, recently, I have been reunited with my cousins in England via Yahoo’s Messenger program, bringing their faces (via webcam) and voices into our living room in a way that makes the world seem a much smaller place. My children hear the lilt of my late mother’s British accent echoed in my cousin’s voices and that, I must say, is very touching and, well, as personal as a voice/sound experience with someone thousands of miles can be. However, with that said, the potential of a child interacting with screens and hand held devices for the majority of their communication/information needs leaves me with the feeling that they will have lost something valuable in that exchange. I don’t want their brains “hard wired” to flashing visual images and to the idea that faster is always better.

But before deciding what to do about it, if anything, I would like to explore this unsettled feeling, because I feel I am not alone. In fact, I am standing in good, historic company. After all, this feeling of technologic disenchantment has been echoed throughout time as each new generation wrestles anew with current advancements. In the early part of the twentieth century, religious leaders and parents were hotly debating with movie studios about the deleterious effects that motion pictures were having on the minds of youth. And, as soon as television sets became commonplace in the American home, educators began to complain that television was negatively impacting the ability of children to learn in the classroom. Of course, there have always been the dissenters. Representing the opposing viewpoint that television could be used to educate children through entertainment was Gerald Lesser, an adviser for the Children’s Television Workshop that produced Sesame Street. He claimed that the benefit of education by television was that “the child learns without fear of a public or a teacher, there is no threat of humiliation and the child can control the learning process by the flip of a switch.” Boy, teachers like me love hearing stuff like that.

Of course, Lesser’s point is well taken. Children learn best when they are not feeling threatened. But, perhaps contrary to his statement, is my assertion that, at this stage of the technological revolution, teachers are needed more, now than ever. In the mid-sixties, Lesser had no way to even imagine the advances that were brewing and about to explode. In fact, in 1965, few could have imagined the far reaching and dramatic effects that the Internet and wireless communication systems would have, at a national as well as a global level. Gerhard Lenski (2005) states that because of the “systemic nature of societies, there tends to be a multiplier effect in the process of innovation: Each change tends to increase the need for, and the possibility of, further changes” (p.72). This has certainly been the case with current technological advancements and this phenomenon has left many teachers gasping, trying to keep up not only with the technology itself but the diverse and changing ways that it is being utilized by the populations we serve.

So, what is a responsible and responsive teacher and mother of four to do? Other than banning GameBoys that is . . . Should I retreat into a world that ignores current culture? Should I ride the techno-tide and embrace every nuance it has to offer? Isn’t there somewhere else to stand that is not smack dab in the path of the stupid pendulum that is bound to knock me over on its way by?

It comes to mind that when Homer Gilbert was born, in 1906 or so, automobiles were certainly not a common technology in rural Vermont. Vermonters were not even sure that they were a good idea. Horses and carriages had done all right so far, right? Yet Homer ended up running a gas station. At some point, he had decided that cars really were a faster, more efficient way to get around and he jumped on the proverbial bandwagon. Homer was pretty “hip” after all, I guess. Perhaps I should take a few lessons from Homer: to move along with the technology when it makes sense, to complain about it when necessary (I remember Homer had a few colorful words for computerized car systems) and when you have the opportunity to do so, yell “Slow down!” to a kid passing by…it might just make a difference.

References
Lesser, G. S. (1975). Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street, New York: Vintage p. 254-255.
Lenski, G. (2005). “Determinants of the Characteristics of Individual Societies: The Independent Variables”. In Ecological-evolutionary theory: Principles and applications (pp. 53-80). Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.
Spring, J. (1994). "Big Bird: Movies, Radio, and Television Join Schools as Public Educators". In The American School: 1642-1996.

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Mobile Learning Centers

I thought I'd share something I posted this week as part of my VT-CITE participation. The topic was Learning Centers. I wasn't sure how I would be able to keep up going on vacation to a remote island and still meet my committments to my two online courses and to VT-CITE. I had all kinds of angst before I left about how I was going to survive the week. I decided this would be the perfect time to experiment with m-learning (or mobile learning) and emerging tech tools, so I gave in to my longtime desire to buy a pocket PC with an unlimited data plan. I'm sure many of you are probably rolling your eyes at my inability to go "cold turkey", forget my committments, and enjoy the quiet of "off season" on Block Island. I assure you that I did manage to Power Down and enjoy some reclusive time on the beaches, and bike rides around the island to all four lighthouses, but the fact that the library had wifi and I got to experiment with Internet Access through a Pocket PC also added pleasure to the experience. I actually had time to PLAY with this new technology concept, not just try to be efficient with it. Which by the way, is why today's Digital Native probably gravitate towards emerging technology, why we adult's try to 'squeeze' it into our day for functional reasons.

In any case, one of the things I learned is that we are still in the pioneer stages of adapting current technologies to a truly mobile state. Mobile version of Internet Explorer did display the DRUPAL interface that Jon Bellum is creating for VT-CITE, but it didn't like WEB-CT. I had to wait for the library to be open to be able to use WebCT.

------------ here is a post I made to my own blog at Learning With Lucie, and proof that I really did "Power Down" and get away from the technology...

Two months since the last post, doesn't mean I don't have much to say . . . but rather that I've been saying it elsewhere. The two online grad courses I'm taking at UVM have consumed much of my web publishing energy for the past few months, as has the VT-CITE project. But alas, April vacation took me away from much of it and brought me to Block Island, Rhode Island. But I didn't go cold-turkey. I purchased a mobile tech toy right before vacation (Pocket PC) and experimented with mobile computing. But to prove that I did find some respite, I've chosen to experiment with a new technology resource called Film Loop to post some photos from our bike tours around the Island. Enjoy either the pictures or the presentation technology... or both!

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Will We do Anything for Money?

Even though it is clear that China practices censorship of its citizens and denies basic freedoms for dissidents, the Western World is falling over itself to do business with China. As we all know, it is difficult to buy items that are not made in China or some other country that ignores human rights. Do we really need cheap shirts and microwave ovens that badly? Pocha's article reminded me about hearing that both Google and Yahoo recently complied with China's practice of censorship in order to do business in that country. How can we compromise our own belief in political freedom and human rights just to gain access to a big market?

Check out these articles:
"Google has offered a Chinese-language version of its search engine for years but users have been frustrated by government blocks on the site.
The company is setting up a new site - Google.cn - which it will censor itself to satisfy the authorities in Beijing." Full Text at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4645596.stm

"Internet giant Yahoo has been accused of supplying information to China which led to the jailing of a journalist for 'divulging state secrets'."
Full text at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4221538.stm

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Copyright, The Web, and Cut and Paste

While attending a social studies network meeting this week, I was involved in an interesting copyright discussion. One of our activities was a demonstration of the Landscape Change Program Website. If you have never seen the website before it is definitely worth checking out. The URL is http://www.uvm.edu/perkins/landscape/. Although this website generously permits many types of use for the photographs other websites often do not.

The Landscape Change Program wasn’t really the topic of conversation, but rather the starting point. The web is full of pictures, diagrams, charts, graphs, ideas, theories, etc. While most people post their ideas to the web because they want to share, most do not envision their work being cut and pasted into reports and PowerPoint presentations in schools around the country and world. Often this cut and paste work is done without citing a source correctly.

A few years ago I attended a workshop with the creator of Americas Historic Lakes http://www.historiclakes.org/. Although he wanted his website to be an educational resource, he expressed concern about those that do not properly respect copyright. The website features a section addressed to students specifically on this issue. In addition, the author has disabled the right click feature for most of the images on the site. When someone right clicks an image, they instantly get a copyright reminder and invitation to contact the author.

Schools have addressed the copyright issue in many different ways. In one school, students were not permitted to use a work included within a website unless the author or created has specifically granted permission. In others, a citation of the sources was considered appropriate. For many others, there was no consistency within the school. One teacher might accept work that was pasted from a website while another may not.

This conversation came up among a group of social studies teachers, I am sure other content areas see the issue as well. There are complex lessons that need to be addressed consistently in every classroom. When is it is appropriate to use work created by someone else? How do we respect the work of others? Copyright issues definitely exist in all other media, but speed and access make the web an interesting focus.

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A Cultural Connection to iPods

by michael
Years ago, kids would go to their rooms and listen to rock and roll. Now with an iPod, they do it in your face, making it more psychologically difficult to deal with. Regarding this particular issue, I don't think the real issue is more, its just more in your face. My preference is generally to not engage socially, so I understand this is not a disinterested point of view.

I believe much of what we communicate in all its various forms to be lacking in purpose. I am not so sure the reduction of social engagement is such a bad thing. Just because we can talk, does not make it a good thing to do.

I wrote last time about points in history and how many of them are about negative events. This also holds true for daily conversation. If we looked at it from a distance, we might agree expressing negativity is not how we would prefer to carry out our daily life. Yet, from the first moment we were born, we expressed and often continue to focus our communication around the wants in our lives that aren't being met.

Another form of communication I find difficult in that I understand its purpose, but it is its shear continued repetition, year after year, that makes this one lack purpose for me. These are the historical stories shared amongst friends and family members, especially during the holidays. Yes, they may be positive and provide a bonding moment, but this is one of my difficulties with the holidays; I can only talk about those same things for so many years.

I believe it is not technology itself, but the pace of change and the amount of information and choices, that has contributed to some of these forms of social isolation. They are coping mechanism for over-stimulation. I liken it to being in a dark room with only a strobe light. The frequency, multiplicity and randomness with which these inputs come, make it very difficult for one to cope. I understand the iPod response, what concerns me is our ability to incorporate rapid change over a sustained period of time.

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Can One Size Fit All?

-post for SMM

Can the “one size fits all” mentality work in a public school system? This is a question that has plagued education almost from the beginning, and it has been especially challenging since the inception of compulsory education. One recent challenge to public schooling has been the push to privatize failing schools with the professed goal of efficiently increasing student performance. According to Ogbu (1992), students approach education from a myriad of perspectives due to vast differences in their ethnic, economic, and historical backgrounds, and these ultimately influence their level of success in school (p. 287-288). When attempting to address the issue of student performance, it is tempting to try to find one solution and assess its success in one way. But perhaps we should first examine the question of, “What exactly is success?” Are there core facts or ideas that all students should know, and, if so, how do we determine whether or not a student has learned that core content in a fair and equitable way? If students are not succeeding to the accepted level, then what do we do? I don’t know the answers to all of these questions, but, at the risk of reiterating an earlier essay, I believe that the ultimate goal of education is not to fill our students with specific facts and data, but rather to prepare our students to become effective citizens.

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To celebrate the good things we do.

by michael

I wrote this to the teachers at my school. Just thought someone else might like to read it: When I think of various historical points, many of them have a negative context, demonstrating an inherent negative focus in our human nature. For whatever reason, my journey has taken me to many different parts of the world and many different careers. I have watched people come and go, become rich and poor, and those for whom life has not change much.

And as I have watched, I have wondered, why don't we celebrate a marriage, or the birth of a baby, with the same duration and depth of emotion, as we do, the death of a loved one? Certainly there are times to weep and to grieve; yet I would suggest this is not our purpose in life.

Life begets life; it is the essence of what we do.

Unrequited love is very difficult to sustain and I will never understand why some feel it is ok to lash out at those who love unconditionally. We chose to beget life because it answers what our soul cries out for; despite its adversities, life finds a way to survive.

Certainly, there are times for righting wrongs, but as I get older, I find that time is better spent on finding new life, keeping it simple, to love and be loved in return.

I know I cannot save the world, or even make a noticeable difference. Regardless, I do a few little things, like parking further away so others have less of a walk to the building. I try to ease the frustrations technology brings. And when I look into the eyes of our students, I want them to know their life matters.

We all make these little contributions, but we don't celebrate them. It may not change the world, but it does affect the world of those it touches. For as long as I can remember, this idea of giving meaningful gifts has been important to me, I call it a gift well given.

I want to celebrate, and talk about the good things we do. So in the spirit of building community, I would like to solicit entries of celebration, opportunities, reflections, hopes and dreams to our Courtyard conference.

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Citizen Participation Through Technology

Recently I completed my random assignment for the course by visiting a municipal office to learn how government is reaching out to the community in this age of diminished citizen participation. I was able to find some meaningful ways the town was accomplishing this through the use of technology.

The town website is up to date and contains almost everything a citizen might be looking for as far as town information. Permit applications, regulations, meeting agendas and minutes, and contact information are all available to anyone with access.

With an estimated 400 seasonal residents, the town is able to use the website and e-mail to maintain a connection with these citizens as members of the community. The planning and zoning office recently launched a blog to solicit community input regarding the future of growth within the town. Since it was featured in the regional daily newspaper, there have been several thoughtful postings. The town employees who set up the blog believe they are tapping into a new segment of the community. Most of the citizens that are posting to the blog do not attend public meetings. As this method of expression catches on, it will be important to remember that these postings are not necessarily the opinions of the community as a whole.

As I mentioned above, these services and others are available to anyone with access. This issue of access has been an ongoing theme of our study of technology in society. The town is very fragmented with several distinct town centers, and numerous dirt roads that lead to dead ends. The companies operating in Vermont will likely never bring broadband Internet to every home in Colchester, even if it is in the most developed region of the State. The town has recognized this fact and has partnered with a telecom company to design and implement a wireless network that will be accessible anywhere in the community. Other nearby towns are also currently taking similar steps to get on board with launching municipal telecom services.

An extra benefit of communities taking this step is the additional connections to national networks. Previously, a network running along a major transportation corridor brought all Internet data into adjacent counties. New connections to other areas will greatly benefit all users regardless of the provider.

If the future holds new roles within democracy involving the Internet, the issue of access for all citizens will become increasingly critical.

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Presenting to the School Board

A few weeks ago, several of the technology coordinators from the various schools in our supervisory union (SU) spoke at our SU School Board meeting. Our purpose was to inform board members about what is happening in the various schools as well as to suggest the need for a coordinator at the SU-level to help manage and coordinate SU technology issues.

We had twenty minutes to make our presentation. We discussed in general terms various advances in technology and how they impact the classroom; one example was using the Internet to do research. Many of our schools have part-time technology staff and one school has no technology staff at all. We all have technology plans and the infrastructure to make the system function. What we lack is a solid understanding of questions like, Where are we going? How do we get there? Why are we doing what we are doing?

In the past there has been an SU-level coordinator, but last year that person left. The SU did try to hire someone. Unfortunately, there were no viable candidates and the position was not filled. We have several integrated systems,-- such as our student management system, special education database, data warehouse information system, and our email system--which are all centralized through the SU. These all have to be maintained and managed; and the individual coordinators and other staff members have been helping out with these duties. One of the reasons we lacked candidates, I believe, is that the salary is significantly less than what a system administrator would be paid in the business sector. That does not mean the salary is going to change. We don't have the money for one, not even in next year's budget.

In an attempt on the coordinators part to even-up the digital divide within our SU, we have come to an agreement that whenever possible we would work as a team to benefit our schools in terms of purchases, grants, and services. We have a core set of software programs that all of us use and we provide support services for each other. One of our schools is significantly behind the rest of the schools in terms of technology.

A group from this school is currently in the process of trying to write a grant to purchase new equipment. As a tech committee we have provided support to their members who are trying to get this started. We have asked school principals, and came to this board meeting looking for support. This SU board is comprised of board members who represent each of the SU's school district boards.

We talked about the report the Vermont Department of Labor put out about the state's economic base moved from agrarian to manufacturing over a 50-year period, and they predict this current shift from manufacturing to an information/technology base could happen in as little as 10 years. Our hope was to inform them about what was going on in all of our schools. To demonstrate that keyboarding skills was not the only advantage students gained from having technology in their school.

We had 10 minutes of questions. Most were clarification questions, but one member asked, "What does integration looked like?" We got a great opportunity to share about our place-based program where students go out to study vernal pools, bring back specimens to observe and share with the class using microscopes and digital projectors, do further research on the Internet and package it altogether in a PowerPoint presentation.

People always want to know how it went, and I always say I don't know. It is difficult to read the nonverbal cues. We presented what we hope to present and they listened, so based on that I felt it was a worthwhile effort.

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Information overload?

As Sara & David noted, too much online drivel can just be too much. Should we schedule time to turn it all off?

If we value the online agility of our young learners to connect to a range of resources, do we also need to help our young tech natives learn to turn the electronics off and reconnect with nature? Is this another new role for teachers?

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How do we know when a blog is news-worthy?

While I am a traditionalist when it comes to appreciating the credibility offered by peer-reviews and editorial boards, I am non-comformist enough to really like the unfiltered aspect of blogging. If my words-of-the-day do not fall under the heading of a simple descriptor (e.g., "curriculum & instruction", "school administration", "civic education") but fall into a category that is difficult to define, are my words any less worthy for publishing? And who decides? Publishing in a peer-reviewed journal is an exercise every scholar should strive to master, but, at the same time, we need to learn to take risks,--and have those risks rewarded. The immediate gratification of typing a paragraph or two and then seeing it posted online for all the world to see at the click of a mouse could be an intoxicating incentive to continue blogging. And the possibility of a bona-fide response from a reader within moments could make blogging down-right addictive.

But when does self-expression become self-indulgence? And how do we know when we should book-mark a blogger's site for review at another time? And how does one make the A-list of blogger's worth watching? And how do we teach students about credible blogging versus just a bunch of hot-air? Or is it all credible in that any blogging allows a mechanism for unfiltered self-expression? What skills do students need to blog judiciously?

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Knowledge Construction

Inasmuch as education is accepted as the construction and reconstruction of knowledge, then blogs make a very powerful tool.

The construction of knowledge that happens in the world of blogging is a fascinating phenomena. The popularity of blogging has come from the fact that society has discovered a tool that allows them to play an active role in knowledge contruction, and also from a desire to gain a more balanced perspective of what is happening in the world around them than can be obtained from commercial media alone. Many people today include both blogs and commercial news media as part of their daily digest of "what's going on in the world".

I was offsite participating in an online chat with my students when the first plane hit the first world tower. My students at that time were making daily blog entries as part of their learning. Their blog entries that day captured their experience that day in real time.

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What is the reach of "School"?

The day-to-day experiences of many students outside the classroom necessitate promoting dialogue about the role of technologies in school settings. Students of today come to school with a range of life experiences, yet they share the commonality of ever-present influences of technology. Accessing streaming audio, manipulating digital images, instant-messaging, and retrieving limitless information through the internet seem common activities to many students. In a school setting, we can appreciate the good connections, filter the bad, and monitor technology behaviors on school computers rather easily. However, although many schools forbid the use of instant-messaging within schools, we know instant-messaging is one of the preferred methods of communication outside of school. Same goes for personal web-site/blogging postings.

So, here's the problem: When students use technology outside of school and use it inappropriately, what is the responsibility of school personnel for curbing those behaviors? For example, let's say a middle-level student posts information on one of the popular blogging sites for adolescents that could potentially be harmful, and a teacher of the student sees the post. Should the teacher intervene by speaking to the student? What about speaking to a potentially unaware parent? We know adolescents can sometimes view their world as safe and secure when in reality they are as vulnerable as any statistic we see in the paper. Should school officials step in?

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How can blogging and wikis help kids learn critical thinking skills?

If one of the goals of public education is to develop a cadre of learners who can approach problem-solving with confidence, what are those skills that kids must play with, and potentially master? Are there ways that blogging or creating a class wiki might help?

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