I would add to Barry's post that very often limited English/Reading prioficiency students perform in work and in everyday situations more highly in terms of functionality than their "levels" would predict. I would not however discourage the "waste of time" on MYSpacem but simply give them the opportunity to empower themselves by prioritizing their skills and goals: very often skills students possess have to be explicitily expklained as transferable to another domain: ii.e. how MYSpace embodies communication, interpersonal and networking skills that transfer to the workplace. They would also need to be warned that employers (and others) do monitor MySpace sites for inappropriate posts, which could jeopardize employability. One could say similar things about Facebook, wikis, and other similar comunicvation spaces thast are not adequately moderated and thus represent abuse and even danger. But, parents especially have to be aqware of th dangers their
 chidlren could be by revealing bits of their "lives" to predators, and what better way than to participate themselves? At Post University, many students use FaceBook, and some of our student services have pages too in an attempt to reach students but the ethical questions have been raised about administration having access to these sites in view of potential infractions; the trust level would very quickly disappear.
Best,
Bonnie, Adjunct Faculty, Writing Center Director, Post University


----- Original Message ----
From: "Bakin, Barry" <barry.bakin at lausd.net>
To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List <technology at nifl.gov>
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 5:28:18 PM
Subject: [Technology 1505] Re: Social Networking Part III: Getting StudentsandStaff on Board


As Larry Ferlazzo mentioned, Myspace is not accessible within my district so any use of it, for whatever beneficial reason, would have to be done from a non-work location.  That in itself, would present boundaries to implementation. Not only would keeping an eye on it constantly to make sure that innappropriate postings did not slip through be challenging, simply responding to any inquiries from interested students in a timely manner would pose a problem.
 
Those difficulties not withstanding, there is certainly a valid argument for attempting to meet the students where they are.  There is a certain irony to the data mentioned that show that even though "majority of the participants" face barriers including but not limited to a "lack of a high school diploma, deficiency in basic skills, no marketable job skills, chronic unemployment, and limited English proficiency" 88% nevertheless have MySpace pages, which require at least some basic skills and English proficiency and an investment of time and effort to produce and update.  Perhaps an additional component of any program making use of MySpace would be to show that the participants already do have marketable job and basic skills and the time to develop them into more efficient tools for their own advancement; they're just using their time for socializing on MySpace instead.
Barry Bakin
-----Original Message-----
From: technology-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:technology-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mariann Fedele
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 1:08 PM
To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Technology 1501] Re: Social Networking Part III: Getting StudentsandStaff on Board


Hi Emily,
This is a great set of protocols. Have you had any difficulties in having staff and students meet and stay within the protocols?
Do list subscribers have any concerns related to Myspace or other such sites that Emily can respond to?
Regards,
Mariann
 
 


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