Dangerously Irrelevant

There are a number of great sites that host how-to videos: SuTree, 5min, VideoJug, Expert Village, Vidipedia, and many more. Typically just a few minutes long, these types of videos seem like a perfect opportunity for K-12 and higher education students to display their expertise on some topic. If scientists can tap into the power of online video, educators should be able to as well.

My favorite educational how-to videos are the comma rules at Bionic Teaching. There's just something about those commas dropping down that's sheer genius! Wouldn't it be great if we saw more of this in K-12 classrooms? If creating is the highest level of Bloom's revised taxonomy, wouldn't how-to videos be one great way to foster this? Wouldn't TeacherTube (or some similar site) be a great location for students to upload these? I can envision high-school students creating resources for younger students, middle school students creating how-to videos for their parents, elementary students creating videos for each other, and so on…

Anyone out there making how-to videos with students? Give us some links so we can check them out!

I was interviewed for NASSP’s new article on observing religious holidays in schools:

• Ho ho no: The December dilemma

I blogged about this last year in regard to the holiday e-card from Miguel Guhlin’s team. The NASSP article includes some good resources on the topic. I would add three others:

• Schools, holiday decorations, and the law (my 2002 article for the  Minnesota School Boards Association Journal)
• Christmas curriculum: Unintended consequences
• Tips on celebrating year-end holidays

The Principal’s Policy Blog is sponsoring a dialogue about the article. Add your two cents here and/or there!

U.S. News has come out with its list of the best high schools in the United States. Andy Rotherham of Education Sector explains the thinking behind the list. Jay Mathews at The Washington Post, who compiles his own list each year with Newsweek, has a very thoughtful reply to the new rankings, including interviews with administrators and other experts, many of whom question the idea of even ranking high schools at all. Check out the rankings and the debate; they make for some interesting reading.

[thanks to the Principal's Policy Blog for pointing to me to these]

[cross-posted
at the TechLearning blog]

A video production teacher at Montville High School in New
Jersey had her students create a public service announcement (PSA) as a class
assignment. The students
decided to make an anti-bullying video and assigned roles for the skit.
B.B., a junior with multiple cognitive and social disabilities, was selected to
be the victim. Other students then emptied garbage cans on his head, slapped
him, and pushed him to the ground. The video concluded with a teacher breaking
up the bullying activity and an anti-bullying message.

Sadly, the
video was then edited by some students and posted on YouTube. The YouTube
version omitted the anti-bullying aspects of the video and only showed B.B.
being bullied. The YouTube version was viewed over 3,700 times before it was
taken down. B.B. became the subject of taunts and teasing in school, severe
enough that he missed school for a month. His mother has now sued the teacher,
principal, superintendent, and school board under the state’s anti-bullying law
for failing to sufficiently protect her son after the teasing began.

This incident raises multiple issues worthy of consideration. In no
particular order, here are a few questions and thoughts…

1. Where did the original video file reside? Presumably the editing of the
   PSA was done at school since it was a video production class. What precautions,
   if any, were taken regarding storage and/or possible dissemination of the PSA?
   Did each student involved in creating the video get a copy?
2. Who owns the original video? The school? The students who made it? Both?
   What rights does each party have to do with the video what it wishes?
3. Was the edited YouTube version of the video created at school? If so, the
   school’s AUP should cover the offending student’s behavior. Although the
   offending student was identified, it is unclear what disciplinary action, if
   any, was taken against him/her.
4. In addition to the state law, presumably the school has an anti-bullying
   policy. Can a minor student with multiple cognitive and social disabilities
   legally consent to “fake” bullying? Is there any argument of consent or assumption of risk
   for this situation?
5. One of the necessary elements of a defamation claim is that the
   victim’s reputation was harmed substantially enough to warrant a legal remedy.
   Is this harder to prove for a minor student than it would be for an adult,
   particularly given the rampant teasing that occurs in schools?

There are lots of issues here, but these are the ones that initially jump out
at me. I think B.B.’s attorney was right when he said that B.B. never should
have been selected in the first place to be the bullying victim. That said, any
of the students conceivably could have been teased if they were in his place.
B.B. just appears to be a particularly sensitive student because of his
disabilities.

As teachers and students in schools continue to create more digital content
as part of coursework, we will see more stories like this. The portability and
modifiability of digital files, combined with the openness of the Internet and
the ready availability of content creation tools, make these types of situations
difficult to prevent. The challenge for schools will be to balance appropriate
safety and supervision concerns with the pedagogical advantages that often
accompany the use of digital technologies. Think about the digital content that
is created in your school: is your organization at risk for similar
inappropriate appropriation of content by a student or staff member?

[thanks to Jim
Gates at Tipline for pointing me to this story]

I got this e-mail last week in response to my recent AASA article:

I’m the Board of Education president at [district] in [state]. Our board conducted our superintendent’s evaluation last evening and we discussed the use of technology in our classroom. Well, I asked about it and he replied, “Do you mean the 3M machines?" I requested that our Information Technology staff make a presentation to our Board at a work session. Today I emailed your article to our superintendent with the note, “I wish that this had arrived in my email yesterday; however, these are the questions that I would like to have answered.” It’s difficult to know where to begin; the right questions will be helpful. Thanks for your efforts and the timeliness of this particular article.

Just another indication that our superintendents need help. What are you doing for yours?

In what may be the best word play yet on the name of my blog, Tom Hoffman had issues with my previous post on GDP overachievers. Check out the conversation: the phrase ‘jibber jabber’ was used!