Cyber-squatting: A Teachable Moment? (Week 5)

Plug “martinlutherking.org” into Google, and the top hit will be Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination. “A true historical examination” raised by eyebrows: “So everything I’ve known up until now is not true?” I asked myself.

When I clicked on Hosted by Stormfront at the bottom of the page, in the upper left-hand corner I saw

A few lines below that I read “Stormfront White Nationalist Community.” Mind you, I hadn’t even read anything on Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination yet, but knowing these tidbits about who authored it gave me the heads-up. (Wikipedia’s article on Stormfront.org, though tagged with several warnings about its quality, is nevertheless helpful and contains useful links.)

When I actually read the frame to the left of Dr. King’s picture in Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination, I knew where this site was headed.

Two questions came to mind. First, how did such a site gain first hit position on Google? According to Google’s Our Search: Google Technology, “Google’s complex automated methods make human tampering with our search results extremely difficult.” But is that so? Their PageRank system is explained clearly on the same page and appears manipulatable even to a non-techie like me. I know a university professor who, by having all his students set up blogs that link to his site, has managed to become the first hit for certain keywords (though that was not his goal). So, I think Stormfront.org has simple figured out how to use Google’s unique search capabilities to its own advantage.

The second question that came to mind was, “As a teacher, were one of my students to stumble across this page, would I find it a teachable moment?” The answer is, “Probably.” It provides an opportunity to look into the technology of search engines; to learn how to weigh the value of pages just by looking at their URL (in this case, “.org” was a tip off); to learn how to critically evaluate what is written on a page by comparing it with known reliable sources; and to discuss the right to freedom of speech as described in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. And that’s just to name a few. For example, viewing the page proved to be a learning moment for me. Because of it I read Salon’s Dissing the King, and learned that “cyber-squatting” is nothing new. I would, however, have to carefully way the benefits and risks. Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination certainly provides a teachable moment—within bounds.

That’s why I wrote “probably” above. I would first have to know the make-up of the class, their grade level, and where in the U.S. the school is located. To put it another way, I would probably use the same criteria I use to gauge the suitability of teaching Twain’s Huckleberry Finn to a given set of students.

Week Three: Software B2

We discuss many types of educational software in class this week from broad categories to specific titles (see PowerPoint files before doing this blog). We talked about drill and practice, tutorial, problem solving, educational games, etc. We looked at specific kinds of application software from word processors to spreadsheets to presentation software (e.g., PowerPoint). Many educators feel that students should be taught the software applications they will have to know to succeed in their lives beyond school (e.g., work or college). Please make a list of five specific applications you think every student should learn, from more important to less important (you can name the application or just give the title — e.g., Word or word processors).

Explain your ranking in your blog entry. At what level in school do you think each application should be taught? Why?

Category-wise, I once wrote an Ed.D. dissertation thesis that I later passed off to a colleague since I decided not to go to that route; it earned her the Ed.D. It concentrated on many of Bloom’s practices, including “Drill and Practice.” The conclusion of my research was two-fold. First, drill and practice was an excellent tool for remediation. That is, if students had previously been taught a certain skill, drill and practice helped them retrieve or learn anew that skill. However, if students had not previously been taught a certain skill, drill and practice proved not to be an effective means of instruction. My research reinforces the “Drill and Kill” comments contained in the tutorial.

Speaking of tutorials, the redundancy of the book and online tutorials works well, in contrast to the redundancy apparent in CARET. If you, Sean, think the two to correspond, they do not. The former works; the latter does not.

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Five specific applications you think every student should learn…

(1) Word Processors. Microsoft Word is my first pick. I “grew up” on the Mac (1986-2001). MS Word for Mac was an exquisite program. When, in 1995, Microsoft decided to merge its Mac and PC versions of Word to form MS Word 6.0, all rejoiced—briefly. After one test-drive of Word 6.0, I understood why so many PC users preferred WordPerfect and made a fast retreat to Word for Mac 5.1. But, with the advent of Office 2002, almost all of the features from MS Word 5.1 for Mac that were not included in MS Word 6.0 (now called WordPad) were reincorporated.

A word processing program is just what its generic term implies: it is the easiest means of processing words on a computer. Word is a must-have word processing application. However, like WordPress, it is not for the faint of heart. The online tutorials have improved immensely over the years. Nevertheless, a live person who is adept at using MS Word sitting next to the learner is the best way to learn that application. Word is a must-have application not only because of its utility, but its ubiquity.

As for word processors in general, their beauty is in their utility made possible by Rich Text Format (.rtf)—which can be read, with formatting almost perfectly intact, by any other top-of-the-line word processor.

(2) Spreadsheets. Excel is my first pick here. I was first forced to use Excel (or something like it) when doing a demographic study of Park Township which is located, for the most part, south of Lake MacaToilet in Holland. I’ve since used it to analyze whether or not Shakespeare’s Richard II has a chiastic structure (it does). Excel is almost the best way of organizing both numerical and non-numerical data. But, for many tasks, there is a better application available: data managers (often misnamed “databases”).

(3) Data managers. I think these are the most under-rated applications on the planet. I will use a personal experience as an example. Human resources at the last industrial company I worked for needed to trim its work force by one-third. ”Who do we lay off?” they asked. I happened to walk in on one of their discussions. The HR director was scrolling a mile to the right and then a mile to the left on Excel both to report the datum regarding a particular individual and then remember about whom she was speaking. I interjected, “This is insane,” after which comment I was charged with improving HR’s computer practices.

When I pointed out the benefits of using File Maker Pro, the HR head complained, “We can’t possibly afford to re-enter the data into a different program.” I then showed how the data could be exported via a .csv file (comma-separated values [readable by Excel]) and imported into most data managers. After purchasing File Maker Pro (FMP), the company was able to incorporate the Excel data into FMP and assess it much more easily. For my part, I got a company T-shirt and retained my job.

Why data managers are not taught more so at the high school level I do not understand. They are to data what word processors are to words.

(4) Desktop Publishing. I don’t know much about these. I was once adept at using PageMaker, but I don’t think the program even exists today. My wife is a pro at using Publisher for annual Christmas newsletter. I think some expertise at using these programs is important.

(5) Presentation software. I hate it; I hate it; I hate it. The majority of Power Point presentations (as in 99.9) that I have seen were a waste of my time. The only time that they have proved valuable is when fellow students have posted their presentations to Bb and thus saved me the time of taking notes on their presentations. Ditto for Sean’s posting his presentations to our site. These I find useful. Presentation software, nevertheless, is here to stay, and we have to do a much better job of educating future students on how to properly use it.

Week Two: Research Findings

First off, I must tell you that most of the articles I encountered in the GVSU databases questioned the effectiveness of educational technology. I embrace the possibilities that ed tech presents, but am baffled by the preponderance of negative peer-reviewed articles criticizing its effectiveness.

 

One positive review was “How Does Technology Influence Student Learning?” in Learning and Leading with Technology 29 no8 46-9, 56 May 2002. The author was John Cradler and was accessed through the Grand Valley State University library’s WilsonSelectPlus database on May 18, 2007. The article points out that “technology generally improves performance when the application directly supports the curriculum standards being assessed.” This conclusion supports Sean’s contention that “technology improves student performance when the application directly supports the curriculum objectives being assessed.” Hey, isn’t that almost exactly what Sean said?

 

Nevertheless, Sean, you are going to have to, in the course of this course, overcome the objections of the majority of peer-reviewed articles regarding educational technology. Please, sell me on educational technology. I want to be convinced. But the very databases to which you are directing us are dampening my optimisim.

Week One: Blog Enrty Response

1. Describe the computer-related technologies that you have available in your living environment and/or work environment. How have you used technologies in your previous educational experiences? How have teachers/instructors used technology to help in teaching you? What do you hope to learn in this class? Finally, provide your definition of “educational technology.” Keep in mind, this isn’t a right/wrong type question — just do your best.

2. Also, in the future I will have you respond to another blog that exists out in the blogosphere. Please take a minute to find any ED TECH related blog and post a link to it from your blog. I want to see that you can find another ed tech-related blog and I also want to see that you can create a link to it.

I currently have two living spaces: my permanent residence in the Kalamazoo area and my temporary one in Port Sheldon while attending GVSU. There is a PC running XP at both locations. I also use the campus computers since I drive over 25 miles to get to Allendale and even further to get to downtown GR. Because I live and die by my computer data, it is important for me to locate all of that information in cyberspace so as to be able to access it from any computer at any time. By describing how I do that, you’ll see how I use computer-related technologies in my living spaces and in educational experiences.

My two most important files are FileMaker Pro main file (FMP) and Firefox bookmarks. The FMP main file is a database that is a combination address book and appointment book—and much more. Though FileMaker is far and away a superior data manager to Access, most computers don’t have the application. So, in addition to the regular file, I attach a .csv export file which can be read by Excel. I back up the bookmarks both as an .html file and a .zip file. The .zip file is easier to download and import into the other computer’s bookmarks menu.

Next, I backup to the three servers via .zip file attachments my GVSU course files on a weekly basis. If I’m working on an especially important paper, I’ll back it as each page or especially difficult paragraph is written. It will have a title like *ENG313C_Essay2_061115_1415* where 061115 = November 15, 2006, and 1415 = 2:15 PM. As courses are completed, I archive them in folders with labels like *GVSU 3-2007 Winter*. This has proven to be an excellent resource since material from previous courses is often relevant to a current course. So, for example, I can be at Allendale, remember that we covered topic X two semesters ago, go to one of the servers, download that previous course material, and retrieve the useful data. So, in other words, in addition to computers and the internet increasing my connectivity with others, they also have increased my connection to myself; there’s my mind in my brain in my skull, and then there’s my mind out in cyberspace.

While at GVSU, Firefox has been my most frequently used program. I love tabbed browsing. When I open Firefox, I immediately right click on the Frequent Files folder in my bookmarks and open yourdicitonary.com (the best online version of American Heritage Dictionary) and Wikipedia. Whenever I skip this step, I almost invariably regret doing so, because I almost invariably end up needing to access these two sites. During English-intensive semesters, I’ll also open the Oxford English Dictionary via the database at GVSU. I Google a gazillion times a day. Also, Google News and Google Reader are my main sources of news. I use Google News to enter key word combinations appropriate to each course I am taking. When I’ve identified a useful combination, I select the RSS icon, right-click, and select Copy Link Location. Then I go to Google Reader, click on Add Subscription and paste the RSS feed. I go through the same process with Google Blogs. Reader then allows me to organize the feeds by folders. In addition, I’m subscribed to several reputable newspapers at the national, state, and local levels. I’m waiting until I buy a laptop this fall to experiment with Google applications. One of the most important educational online tools has been text archives. If published material is in the public domain, I don’t bother buying it; I find it online, read it there, or paste it to Word so that I can annotate it. And, of course, I use Firefox to access a myriad of other things anywhere from the weather to maps to the local TV schedule and so on.

While data storage is my number one reason for using email, I also use it like everyone else does. I love its non-invasiveness. For example, whereas I would never call people on the spur of the moment at 3:00 AM, I can email them—and in my underwear to boot. The people at the other end can read my note at their leisure.

Along with FileMaker Pro, Word is my next most frequently used application. I even pre-write blog entries in Word, including links and hotlinks, and then paste to WordPress. It took a couple of weeks to figure out how to make it work, but it works.

Excel has come in handy in data-intensive linguistics courses. I also discovered a use for it in analyzing Shakespeare’s plays. He frequently organizes his materials chiastically (fancy term; simple meaning), but it is not always easy to pin it down. By entering key words in one column and the act, scene, and line in another, I can then use Excel’s sort function to identify patterns.

And, of course, I entertain myself using various media players, downloading videos from YouTube and its spin-offs or music from various sites. I-Tunes is my favorite audio player. The preferred visual player is usually determined by the file type.

Insofar as my teachers are concerned, computers were just beginning to be used by students when I earned my first Master of Education degree. So, most of my experience regarding teachers and computer technology has been at GVSU over the past year. Most have used BlackBoard to one degree or another. But the professor who used computer technology the most was Rob Rozema in Teaching Literature to Adolescents (ENG 311). He taught us how to produce a Podcast, use Nicenet (a freebie version of Bb) for increasing in-class connectivity, and blogging for increasing world-wide connectivity. For example, one student wrote a brief review of a book; the author of the book was the first to comment on the post. Rob also introduced us to Second Life and other virtual worlds that can be used to enhance teaching and learning.

As for my definition of educational technology, I am going to stick with the simple one that I gave in the discussion forum. In just one week’s time, my appreciation for the possibilities of educational technologies has increased immensely. Nevertheless, gist of educational technology remains for me this: it is any tool, whether as basic as pen and paper or as advanced as developing an interactive web site, which enhances teaching and learning processes. The only qualification I would add is that, as Sean pointed out in his online lecture, the technology must be in the service of teaching and learning and not the other way around.

In this class, I hope to acquire new tools for teaching and learning and a better understanding of those tools which I already possess.

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See the Blogroll to the right for links to other ED TECH related blogs.