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While conceptualizing this article, I reminisced about my first teaching job. It was as a fifth-grade social studies teacher in my hometown. To be honest, my first year wasn’t necessarily a stellar one. In some ways, I felt overwhelmed, even inadequate in the classroom, especially when it came to classroom management. But with the help of veteran teachers and an understanding principal, I completed that year and became a master teacher by my third year.
My experiences are not at all uncommon. Ask any teacher what their biggest challenge is on a daily basis, and most will say classroom management. Consider, the following classroom scenario. You are a fifth grade English teacher who has just started a lesson on action verbs, but your students have other plans. Matthias interrupts you with a question or an opinion about an unrelated topic, Rebecca is talking to her friend while you are attempting to redirect Matthias, and Susie, who is worried about her mother in the hospital, starts to cry incessantly. On top of that, while you are distracted, Alfred is posting hurtful comments about Rebecca on Facebook. This episode is just the tip of the iceberg, as sometimes these scenes get even more convoluted.
As modern students change their learning styles and expectations for their educations, the way that educators approach classroom management must be modified to meet the needs of today’s K-12 classrooms. So what does the future of classroom management look like? Not an easy question to answer, is it? My thoughts: we must find new and innovative ways to help teachers better manage their classrooms, and we must do it fast.
How is edtech shaping the future of classroom management?
Over the last decade, edtech companies have been experimenting with innovative ways to use technology to help teachers efficiently manage their classrooms. Thankfully, several of these companies are getting it right and are really doing a great job. One company, in particular, NetSupport, has done an excellent job of creating a comprehensive suite of applications designed to help teachers manage their classrooms, and schools maintain the school-wide learning environment.
In this article, I will discuss how two of their solutions, NetSupport School & NetSupport DNA-IT Asset Management & Internet Safety for Schools, can help educators and administrators prevent cyber bullying and academic failure. These tools can be used either as a standalone solution or as one complete suite. NetSupport School is an award-winning classroom management solution, designed in consultation with teachers, to provide dedicated assessment, monitoring, collaboration, and control features to help orchestrate and deliver lesson content – plus maintain students’ focus in technology-led teaching and learning. NetSupport DNA is a complete IT Asset Management & Internet Safety solution that helps technicians to track, monitor, and manage IT assets across the school and district. Although these apps perform different functions, they were created to work in tandem.
Preventing threats of cyber bullying.
Bullying is a common problem in schools. Most children have either been bullied or have known someone who has been bullied. Bullying is no longer confined to the school playground, cafeteria, hallways, or the walk home from school. The newest form of bullying is cyber bullying, which is bullying through the use of electronic media and devices, such as e-mail, text messages, or social media. The online environment is a place where students may have threatening messages sent to them, or embarrassing things said about them, over which students may feel they have no control.
Over 4500 students commit suicide every year because of the psychological effects of cyber bullying. Teachers and other school employees serve as the eyes and ears of cyber bullying awareness and prevention. NetSupport School & NetSupport DNA, have several features that place the odds in educator’s favor, helping them recognize and respond proactively to instances of bullying and cyber bullying.
Irrespective of the devices students are using in a classroom, with NetSupport School educators are able to view their student’s screens at all times. These features can be useful for ensuring that students are on task, but also can help teachers monitor instances of traditional bullying and cyberbullying in real time.
Educators can monitor internet usage and allow lists of approved and restricted websites to be applied at certain times of the day; which can protect students from their own curiosity. This also ensures that they are aware of what sites are safe and helpful and which ones are dangerous. As a result, students increase their digital literacy. The app comes with a “Help Request” feature that was initially designed to allow students to seek academic support, but it can also be used to report instances of cyber bullying in real time. With NetSupport School, nothing goes on in your classroom without your knowledge.
NetSupport DNA offers a “Report a Concern” feature that allows students to swiftly and anonymously report any problem (e.g. cyberbullying) that they may have encountered to a staff member that they trust. NetSupport DNA even includes the contact information for national support resources so students can reach out to these support organizations if they are in need. Now, students can feel empowered to confront bullying without fear of retribution from their tormentors.
School IT administrators can use NetSupport DNA to setup real-time monitoring and look for exact keywords or phrases in several languages to keep an eye on student activity. These keywords are displayed in a word cloud format, along with other insights so school officials can spot trending topics across clusters of students. If phrases that you think suggest bullying/harassing behavior or may place the student at risk show up, they will be displayed in the word cloud. Not only does it display the word cloud, but it also puts the word into the context it was being used.
For example, a triggered phrase being used in a Word document during lesson time would be perceived as a lower risk than if the same phrase was being used in a messenger app during lunchtime. Within NetSupport DNA, the system can determine the severity of the phrase used and assign different sensitivity levels based on those conditions. Another useful feature that educators find helpful is the ability to capture screenshots and video clips to assist in more serious instances of bullying. Educators can also use the word cloud feature as a starting point for discussing the importance of leaving a positive online footprint. This can help teachers curtail cyber bullying and assist students in learning valuable digital literacy skills.
Preventing academic failure.
Every day, teachers all over the world have to figure out how to serve students who are operating on various levels of understanding. The most challenging and exhausting part of this Rubik’s Cube is identifying and helping students who at risk of falling behind academically. In spite of these challenges, teachers all over the world manage to help at risk students succeed successfully. They don’t ask for awards or praise for their superhuman efforts, but wouldn’t it be nice if we could make their jobs a little easier?
Thankfully, NetSupport School has found a way. With NetSupport School, educators can write personalized lesson plans, create learning journals (that teachers can share with students), and gamify formative assessment with an assortment of collaborative activities. Teachers can even use the app to facilitate group work. Tablet based apps are also available for teaching assistants so that they can support the teacher and at risk students within the classroom. These features can be helpful in letting teachers use technology to get beyond teacher-centered activities and put more emphasis on student engagement and learning. This helps teachers engage at risk students in the learning process, which allows them to take ownership of their own education and construct their own knowledge. As a believer in the constructivist approach to education, I was deeply impressed by this.
The student app provides a toolbar so students can receive rewards from the teacher, view lesson progress, see their learning objectives for the day, and view their learning outcomes. Also, teachers can assess their student’s comprehension and understanding using a range of audio, visual and text-based questions. Assessments are auto scored, and the results can be displayed to students. Students who are at risk are usually afraid to ask questions, but with this app, students can request help from the teacher anonymously without alerting the rest of the class. Also, if teachers see students struggling, they can intervene by initiating a virtual chat with them.
Teachers can also use the chat feature to model appropriate online communication with students while monitoring the information they share with others. As a result, students pick up valuable digital literacy skills. In addition to the chat feature encouraging positive online etiquette, students also have a chance to instruct while using the “Group Leader” feature. This unique feature allows students to take the lead in sharing their digital literacy skills, while encouraging responsibility and independence in a constructive way.
Teachers can transform their device into an interactive whiteboard, and then broadcast that whiteboard out to students to see or interact with. If they find a cool website and want to share it with their class, they can. These are excellent ways of ensuring that all students can see the example you’re giving. Also, educators can add in multimedia resources, or whatever they need to, and then swiftly share that out to their class. If you don’t want students to use their device while you are instructing, you can lock their keyboard/and or mouse. With NetSupport School, academic failure doesn’t stand a chance.
Final Thoughts
By using the technologies that I talked about in this article, teachers can face this upcoming year of teaching with a quiet confidence and a voice in their head saying, “You got this!” Instead of spending countless hours preparing for class or dealing with problem behavior and other distractions, they can focus on helping students learn.
What apps or tools do you use to manage your classroom or school?
Most people agree that our current schools are severely outdated. Many instructional designs are still organized around the antiquated, inefficient and ineffective factory model.
School design doesn’t have to be that way, and some innovators are already creating visionary schools.
If you want to create the school of the future, you must incorporate these ten keys:
Use tools, not programs. Edtech is a whole lot less about the program and more about the tech tools. Technology can give students access to experiences. Schools of the future, like the C.T. Academy in McKinney, Texas, give kids the access they need to tech tools. Designed as a learning center of the future, the Academy relies on more than edtech access alone. It uses edtech to build experiences.
Take collaboration beyond walls. Students in a school of the future will capitalize on peer learning in new ways. Learning groups will go beyond classroom walls and the school building’s boundaries. Schools will be global learning networks.
Focus on clicks, not bricks. Great schools were never about the building itself. They’ve always been about instruction design. Designers of future schools will optimize connectivity and minimize classroom space.
Allow flexible hours. Students have peak learning times throughout the day. A flexible schedule allows students to be in school when they learn best, not necessarily when it’s best for the adults working with them.
Permit remote learning. Students living in remote areas can have access to premier schools through remote learning capabilities.
Offer self-paced learning. Students customize their education plans, and they move ahead at their own pace, similar to how the Steve Jobs School in Amsterdam facilitates instruction.
Move beyond the status quo. Socioeconomic status or political platforms won’t hold students back.
Create experiences. Authentic learning comes about as a result of hands-on experience. It’s holistic, like the internship projects at Big Picture Learning.
Include more STEM activities. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction is hands-on learning, and STEM lessons engage students by using a variety of instructional modalities.
Be open to change. Our collective knowledge is doubling every two years; that time frame will decrease to 12 months. Learning and unlearning must occur as we drop past practices that no longer serve.
There’s no way to be certain of everything the school of the future will include, but technology will be at the center.
The field of education has a plethora of conferences and assemblies where educators and industry leaders gather to learn about emerging developments, instructional trends and market disruptors. If you are interested in attending a highly beneficial education conference to share, learn, and find new solutions to current challenges, consider these four “not to miss” conferences that stand out with effective programming and networking opportunities.
Hosted by MDR, EdNET2017 provides senior executives from PreK-12 education companies the latest information on market trends, business partnering opportunities, funding sources, new technologies, and activities for key market players.
Now in its 29th year, EdNET is a business-to-business leadership forum, with peer-to-peer interaction. The conference attracts senior personnel responsible for marketing, sales, business development and strategic initiatives, as well as top management from all industry sectors selling products and services to U.S. schools, including nonprofits and consumer goods.
Speakers include influential voices in education, such as representatives from innovative corporate players, education-focused investment and analyst groups, education institutions, education administrators and policy makers.
EdNET provides a forum for discussion and an opportunity for senior executives to consider not only the market they are currently working in, but also where the industry is headed. It has brought together top executives of companies whose products and services for schools constitute the most important source of instructional and assessment resources available to schools in America and beyond.
This year’s programming is built from conversations with an Industry Advisory Board, and leaders from various segments of the education industry. These Board members identify critical issues in the market, from both the business and customer perspective, and help to shape the topics, speakers and presentations of highest interest. This is one of the most well-established and well-attended educational industry conferences of the year. For more information, click here to visit the conference site.
The iNACOL Symposium is sponsored by the nonprofit organization iNACOL, and it focuses on the education of children in grades K through 12. This conference is designed for anyone within the education field, whether a teacher, professor or administrator.
In addition to the opportunity to develop your network, the symposium offers a broad range of topics to help you explore new ways of teaching. There are over 200 sessions covering a wide variety of issues that fall one of the following foci:
Personalized learning
Policies
Competency education
Blended and online learning
iNACOL national quality standards
It is the kind of event that you must attend to get a real understanding of the scope and breadth of knowledge that is on display. You can check out the areas being highlighted at the symposium to see if they are covering a particular field. If you are interested in setting up an exhibition, they are still accepting applications.
While there are still months before the event, there are already several hashtags associated with it. You can post some of your own ideas or look up what others are saying with the hashtags #Policymakers and #Edleaders. You can also follow details about the symposium and other news and events by iNACOL by following @nacol on Twitter.
If you are actively involved in using technology to help students learn, this is a conference you need to add to your calendar. The entire event is dedicated to different learning technologies and how they can best be used to enhance the learning experience. Sponsored by the eLearning Guild, you will have three days devoted to technology in education. You can speak with some of the leaders in the industry or share ideas with others who are enthusiastic about what technology can do to help students perform better both in the classroom and outside it.
You can follow the latest news and information on Twitter @eLearningGuild.
To round out the year, you can go to the National Summit hosted by ExcelinEd for a look at ways to improve and reform the American education system. The focus goes beyond the classroom and examines how state and local policymakers and advocates can keep up with the latest trends to help students get ahead in their education. Some of the conference’s primary focus include the following:
Holding schools accountable for learning
Creating incentives for students to achieve more
Using technology to improve and customize education based on the student
Expanding the options for students and parents
By focusing on these details before the holiday season, you can establish some resolutions to help improve the way you, the local government, and the state approach education. To stay current on the latest news and changes to the event, you can follow the event on Twitter @ExcelinEd.
Final Thoughts
As the field of education continues to evolve at a furious pace, the need to assemble and share our thoughts and best practices is more important than ever. The conferences that were discussed in this piece are just a sample menu of all the valuable and relevant gatherings that will take place this fall. Our hope is that it provides a starting place for educational professionals that are planning to attend a conference in the near future.
With all the news of different school shootings, it is becoming increasingly important to take advantage of new technology to keep schools safer. Implementing effective high-technology security systems can be costly and lengthy but there are four tips to make the decision of what is best for your school:
Know your school’s unique needs.
Start small, then build smart…don’t try to implement every technology security system at once.
Head off controversy by including the families of students in the decision-making process.
Don’t forget to hire people to oversee, run, maintain, and upgrade the system.
With these four tips in mind, here are ten very popular and effective technologies that keep schools safe.
#1 Social Net Watcher
At a middle school in Indiana, administrators launched their new computer program, Social Net Watcher. This program works in “the cloud” to find dangerous words posted on Facebook which then, through the program’s algorithm, will alert the school administrators. This program helps the school to keep an eye on cyber bullying. Bruce Canal, the President of Social Net Watch, said “With the new bullying law that went into effect in Indiana this summer, schools are now required to report to the Department of Education the number of bullying events that they’ve had. Our software also allows them to go in and create a report to send to the Department of Education.”
#2 Anonymous Alerts
Another technology that helps prevent bullying or other severe and dangerous situations such as a weapon on campus is the Anonymous Alerts app. At Round Rock ISD, students and staff can download this app on their Apple or Android products and can anonymously report incidents. Round Rock ISD spokesperson, Corey Ryan, mentioned that they want students to feel safe and comfortable when sharing concerns about safety and security.
#3 NetSafe Kit
Many schools feel that they can’t completely protect their students online. So, they are focusing on teaching students to be prepared and safe while online. This NetSafe Kit helps schools teach students cyber safety and digital citizenship.
#4 Visitor Management System
Many schools require visitors to sign in on a paper log and show proof of ID before entering the halls of the school. However, at Stow-Munroe Falls High School, the administration is using a technological visitor management system to protect its students. Visitors have their state or federal identification scanned and the system checks a national database of registered sex offenders.
#5 Entry Control Equipment
Not only should schools require visitors to check in with the office before going any farther into the school, but many schools feel it necessary to keep all exits locked at all times. These schools have entry control equipment: electromagnetic doors that can be remotely locked or unlocked. Visitors buzz in and the office staff can choose to unlock the doors for them or not.
#6 Metal Detectors/X-Ray Machines
Especially in inner-city schools where violence and drugs are rife, metal detectors and x-ray machines are a necessity to keep entrances to the school campus safe. This will allow detection of guns, knives, or other weapons before they are brought on campus.
#7 Surveillance Cameras
Over 90% of K-12 schools in the United States have security cameras and video surveillance equipment. Cameras should be placed in the school hallways, large rooms (such as the library, cafeteria, and gym), and especially near the front entrance. Some security systems come with alert buttons that send emergency transmissions to police.
#8 Panic Buttons
Teachers can wear small panic buttons such as the Mobile Duress panic button on their belts or pockets during the day. If some trouble or danger arises, the teacher can push the button and an alert is sent to both the authorities and the school administrators. The administrators will then make everyone in the building aware of the threat while first responders make their way to the school. Different brands of panic buttons can double as microphones or voice amplifications systems.
#9 Mass Messaging Software
Mass messaging software, such as e2campus, allow schools to immediately send messages to parents, students, faculty, and staff at the same time when there is a threat. Messages can be sent in the form of email, voice, or text and can be sent to both computers and smart devices. Even without threats or danger to the school, this program is nice to have to send community-wide reminders or memos.
#10 Alertus Desktop
Having all the computers of staff members connected is important to keeping the school safe. Using Alertus Desktop, or other similar programs, allows desktop alerts to appear on every computer screen on campus. This is a great idea, especially if a student or faculty member is in an area that doesn’t have great cell service. It can also help all staff members stay coordinated and be used to send staff memos and reminders.
Remember, the safety of the students and staff at your school are of the utmost importance. Don’t be too paranoid in your decision making, but be smart.
Classroom “clickers” quiz students in real time, allowing instructors to gauge student learning and reinforce what is being taught.
New research suggests that the effectiveness of these devices hinges largely on the teaching methods being used with them, not the technology, and that instructors would do well to think about why they are using the devices and whether or not they dovetail with their teaching style.
“It’s super easy to just incorporate clickers into the classroom and to say ‘I am doing something new, something innovative,’ ” said Amy M. Shapiro, a professor of psychology at UMass Dartmouth. “But it’s not that simple.”
The study, published in the most recent edition of the journal Computers & Education, studied clicker use in classrooms of undergraduate students in an introductory biology class and a physics course at a university in the northeast.
The researchers discovered, to their surprise, that these devices encourage some students to focus on rote fact memorization, to the detriment of deeper, conceptual learning. Those students without a background on the topic covered in the course might fixate on the clicker questions when studying, rather than delve deeper into the material of the course, researchers suggested, adding that more study of this novel finding is needed.
The study builds on prior research that generally found that clickers had a favorable effect on student learning. But those earlier studies found it difficult to determine if the improvements in student learning came directly from the use of the clickers. This new research helps fill in the gap by studying how clickers combined with different styles of teaching – lecture halls full of students versus problem-solving in smaller groups, for instance – changed the results of student learning. The study notes that previous research showing positive results with clickers had hypothesized that teaching strategies probably had a major influence on the results. This new research seems to confirm it.
That said, limitations remain. Results could have differed because researchers were comparing courses in different subjects (biology and physics), for example.
The researchers were careful to note that they do no suggest eliminating the technology from the classroom. Instead, they say their research suggests this: The mere use of a technology isn’t enough; careful attention to how devices interact with teaching is required.
Shapiro, for example, said that she uses clickers in a large lecture hall during an introductory level course. There, the clickers are useful in improving attendance (students know the clickers track that), and the course requires a fair amount of rote memorization of new terms. But she does not use clickers in smaller, higher-level courses where students are more engaged in applying what they know to solve problems.
“We suggest that, while clickers are useful in motivating students to come to class, increasing enjoyment of the class, and enhancing rote learning in didactic courses, instructors interested in imparting deeper understanding must be mindful of their overall pedagogy,” the researchers wrote. “Incorporating activities that involve students in active inquiry and problem-solving may be much more helpful than simply offering clicker questions in class, even when the clicker questions are conceptual in nature.”
This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news website focused on inequality and innovation in education. Read more about blended learning.
Mobile phones have become ubiquitous in Africa. Among younger users, basic phones are most common. But more pupils are accessing smartphones that can connect to the internet – and taking them along to school.
Phones are often used in school whether they’re allowed or not. Although they can enable valuable access to information, they also bring new responsibilities and dangers. It’s remarkably common for classes to be interrupted by both pupils’ and teachers’ phones. Access to pornography as well as bullying and harassment through phones is widely reported.
We have conducted a study of young people’s mobile phone use in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa. Our findings emphasise the central place that mobile phones occupy in many young people’s lives. Before the mobile phone arrived in Africa, few people had access to landlines. The mobile phone represents far more of a communication revolution in Africa than in richer countries.
Researching phone stories
The study, involving a group of university researchers from the UK and Africa, was funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council and Department for International Development. It covers many aspects of young people’s phone use, from generational relations to job searches and health advice. Use in school has emerged as a leading issue, echoing concerns around the world.
We conducted more than 1,500 face-to-face interviews and focus groups with young people, teachers, parents and key community members across 24 locations – eight in each country. These varied from poor city neighbourhoods to remote rural hamlets.
We followed this up with a questionnaire to about 3,000 young people aged between nine and 18 and 1,500 young people aged between 19 and 25 in the same 24 locations.
The survey of children aged nine to 18 years shows that mobile phone use is much higher than ownership figures might suggest. Ownership of phones was lowest in Malawi, the poorest of the three countries. Here only 8% of children in the survey owned their own phone, compared with 16% in Ghana and 51% in South Africa. Nonetheless, in Malawi 35% of children said they had used a phone in the week before the survey. In Ghana the figure was 42% and in South Africa it was 77%. Children often borrow phones from each other, their parents, other family members and neighbours.
Children’s use of phones
Some pupils, particularly in South Africa, use their phones to access sites like Master Maths for help with homework. But the positive benefits mostly seem to be limited to mundane tasks such as contacting friends to check on homework or using the phone as a calculator. Much information from pupils and teachers was more negative: academic performance affected by disrupted classes – due to teachers as well as pupils using their phones – disrupted sleep because of cheap night calls, time wasted on prolonged sessions on social network sites, and harassment, bullying and pornography.
Class disruption from pupils’ phones used to be mostly from ring tones when calls were received. Now, for those with smartphones, messaging on WhatsApp or checking Facebook have become common classroom activities. Teachers’ phone use in class can be equally disruptive, as some teachers admitted. A call comes in, or they make a call, and whether they step outside or take the call in class, the end result is that the lesson is interrupted and – as more than one told us – “You forget what you are going to deliver.”
In Malawi, 60% of enrolled pupils said they had seen their teacher using a phone in lesson time during the week before the survey. The corresponding figure for Ghana was 66% and for South Africa 88%. Pupils are rarely given such an opportunity to comment on the behaviour of those in authority over them but even if not all were truthful, these figures are of concern. Many head teachers also spoke about the problem of teacher phone use, saying they found it difficult to regulate.
Other problems include disturbing levels of pupil bullying and harassment. In the survey of enrolled pupils who use a phone, 16% in Ghana, 28% in Malawi and 55% in South Africa said they had received unwanted, unpleasant or upsetting calls or texts. This was almost equally true for boys and girls.
Distribution and viewing of pornography is also widespread, as older boys were often willing to disclose. A few – even primary school pupils – mentioned sexting.
Promoting responsible phone use in school
Many head teachers have asked us how to promote responsible phone use in school. Here are some suggestions:
Pupil phone use: It is important to have a clear school policy on pupil phone use, to inform parents about this and to explain the reasoning behind it. If the school has decided to allow pupils to bring their mobile phone to school – for instance, because of travel problems – but not to use it in school, then pupils could be required to put a name tag on their phone and deposit it with a staff member, using a register, before school begins. In this case parents or carers must be given a phone number for urgent messages.
If the school allows pupils to use mobile phones in class as calculators or to access the internet, pupils and their parents could sign an “acceptable use” agreement each term. This would promote effective use of class time and their own and other pupils’ safety.
Pupils also need reminders not to publish personal information on the internet and to tell their teacher, a parent or carer if they access any information that worries them. Parents must be encouraged to help their child follow the school’s guidelines. Asking them to sign an acceptable use agreement together with their children will help.
Teacher phone use: Teachers’ mobile phones should be switched off and left in a safe place during lesson times. If teachers are using their phones when pupils are banned from doing so, pupils may become resentful. Staff should not contact pupils from their personal mobile phones or give their mobile phone numbers to pupils or parents. This would help teachers maintain sound professional practice.
The wonder of internet connectivity can turn into a horror show if the people who use online platforms decide that instead of connecting and communicating, they want to mock, insult, abuse, harass and even threaten each other. In online communities since at least the early 1990s, this has been called “trolling.” More recently it has been called cyberbullying. It happens on many different websites and social media systems. Users have been fighting back for a while, and now the owners and managers of those online services are joining in.
The most recent addition to this effort comes from Twitch, one of a few increasingly popular platforms that allow gamers to play video games, stream their gameplay live online and type back and forth with people who want to watch them play. Players do this to show off their prowess (and in some cases make money). Game fans do this for entertainment or to learn new tips and tricks that can improve their own play.
When spectators get involved, they can help a player out. Saiph Savage, CC BY-ND
Large, diverse groups of people engaging with each other online can yield interesting cooperation. For example, in one video game I helped build, people watching a stream could make comments that would actually give the player help, like slowing down or attacking enemies. But of the thousands of people tuning in daily to watch gamer Sebastian “Forsen” Fors play, for instance, at least some try to overwhelm or hijack the chat away from the subject of the game itself. This can be a mere nuisance, but can also become a serious problem, with racism, sexism and other prejudices coming to the fore in toxic and abusive comment threads.
In an effort to help its users fight trolling, Twitch has developed bots – software programs that can run automatically on its platform – to monitor discussions in its chats. At present, Twitch’s bots alert the game’s host, called the streamer, that someone has posted an offensive word. The streamer can then decide what action to take, such as blocking the user from the channel.
Trolls can share pornographic images in a chat channel, instead of having conversations about the game. Chelly Con Carne/YouTube, CC BY-ND
Beyond just helping individual streamers manage their audiences’ behavior, this approach may be able to capitalize on the fact that online bots can help change people’s behavior, as my own research has documented. For instance, a bot could approach people using racist language, question them about being racist and suggest other forms of interaction to change how people interact with others.
Using bots to affect humans
In 2015 I was part of a team that created a system that uses Twitter bots to do the activist work of recruiting humans to do social good for their community. We called it Botivist.
We used Botivist in an experiment to find out whether bots could recruit and make people contribute ideas about tackling corruption instead of just complaining about corruption. We set up the system to watch Twitter for people complaining about corruption in Latin America, identifying the keywords “corrupcion” and “impunidad,” the Spanish words for “corruption” and “impunity.”
When it noticed relevant tweets, Botivist would tweet in reply, asking questions like “How do we fight corruption in our cities?” and “What should we change personally to fight corruption?” Then it waited to see if the people replied, and what they said. Of those who engaged, Botivist asked follow-up questions and asked them to volunteer to help fight the problem they were complaining about.
We found that Botivist was able to encourage people to go beyond simply complaining about corruption, pushing them to offer ideas and engage with others sharing their concerns. Bots could change people’s behavior! However, we also found that some individuals began debating whether – and how – bots should be involved in activism. But it nevertheless suggests that people who were comfortable engaging with bots online could be mobilized to work toward a solution, rather than just complaining about it.
Humans’ reactions to bots’ interventions matter, and inform how we design bots and what we tell them to do. In research at New York University in 2016, doctoral student Kevin Munger used Twitter bots to engage with people expressing racist views online. Calling out Twitter users for racist behavior ended up reducing those users’ racist communications over time – if the bot doing the chastising appeared to be a white man with a large number of followers, two factors that conferred social status and power. If the bot had relatively few followers or was a black man, its interventions were not measurably successful.
Raising additional questions
Bots’ abilities to affect how people act toward each other online brings up important issues our society needs to address. A key question is: What types of behaviors should bots encourage or discourage?
It’s relatively benign for bots to notify humans about specifically hateful or dangerous words – and let the humans decide what to do about it. Twitch lets streamers decide for themselves whether they want to use the bots, as well as what (if anything) to do if the bot alerts them to a problem. Users’ decisions not to use the bots include both technological factors and concerns about comments. In conversations I have seen among Twitch streamers, some have described disabling them for causing interference with browser add-ons they already use to manage their audience chat space. Other streamers have disabled the bots because they feel bots hinder audience participation.
But it could be alarming if we ask bots to influence people’s free expression of genuine feelings or thoughts. Should bots monitor language use on all online platforms? What should these “bot police” look out for? How should the bots – which is to say, how should the people who design the bots – handle those Twitch streamers who appear to enjoy engaging with trolls?
“…lmfao! Trolls make it interesting […] I sometimes troll back if I’m in a really good mood […] I get similar comments all of the time…sometimes I laugh hysterically and lose focus because I’m tickled…”
“…My favorite was someone telling me in Rocket League “I hope every one of your followers unfollows you after that match.” My response was “My mom would never do that!” Lol…”
What about streamers who actually want to make racist or sexist comments to their audiences? What if their audiences respond positively to those remarks? Should a bot monitor a player’s behavior on his own channel against standards set by someone else, such as the platform’s administrators? And what language should the bots watch for – racism, perhaps, but what about ideas that are merely unpopular, rather than socially damaging?
At present, we don’t have ways of thinking about, talking about or deciding on these balancing acts of freedom of expression and association online. In the offline world, people are free to say racist things to willing audiences, but suffer social consequences if they do so around people who object. As bots become more able to participate in, and exert influence on, our human interactions, we’ll need to decide who sets the standards and how, as well as who enforces them, in online communities.
Of course, there is nothing new about fake news as such – the satirical site “The Onion” has long done this. Fake news satire is part of “Saturday Night Live”‘s Weekend Update and “The Daily Show.”
In these cases, the framework of humor is clear and explicit. That, however, is not the case in social media, which has emerged as a real news source. Pew Research Center reports that Facebook is “the most popular social media platform” and that “a majority of U.S. adults – 62 percent – get news on social media.” When people read fake news on social media, they may be tricked into thinking they are reading real news.
Both Google and Facebook have promised to take measures to address the concerns of fake news masquerading as real news. A team of college students has already developed a browser plug-in called FiB to help readers identify on Facebook what is fake and what is real.
But these steps don’t go far enough to address fake news.
The question then is: Can we better prepare ourselves to challenge and reject fabrications that may easily circulate as untruthful texts and images in the online world?
As scholars of library and information science, we argue that in today’s complex world, traditional literacy, with its emphasis on reading and writing, and information literacy – the ability to search and retrieve information – are not enough.
What we need today is metaliteracy – an ability to make sense of the vast amounts of information in the connected world of social media.
Why digital literacy is not enough
Students today are consumers of the latest technology gadgets and social media platforms. However, they don’t always have a deep understanding of the information transmitted through these devices, or how to be creators of online content.
Researchers at Stanford University recently found that “when it comes to evaluating information that flows through social media channels,” today’s “digital natives,” despite being immersed in these environments, “are easily duped” by misinformation.
They said they “were taken aback by students’ lack of preparation” and argued that educators and policymakers must “demonstrate the link between digital literacy and citizenship.”
The truth is that we live in a world where information lacks traditional editorial mechanisms of filter. It also comes in various styles and forms – it could range from digital images to multimedia to blogs and wikis. The veracity of all this information is not easily understood.
This problem has been around for a while. In 2005, for example, a false story about a political figure, John Seigenthaler Sr., was posted by an anonymous author on Wikipedia, implicating him in the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy. Seigenthaler challenged this fake entry and it was eventually corrected. Several other hoaxes have circulated on Wikipedia over the years, showing how easy it is to post false information online.
Indeed, in 2007, FactCheck.org, a website that monitors the accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players, urged readers to ask critical questions in response to a false story that had been placed about House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. At the time, people were being misled into believing that Pelosi was proposing a tax on retirement funds and others to help illegal immigrants and minorities.
As we see it, metaliteracy is a way to achieve these goals.
So, what is metaliteracy?
Digital literacy supports the effective use of digital technologies, while metaliteracy emphasizes how we think about things. Metaliterate individuals learn to reflect on how they process information based on their feelings or beliefs.
To do that, first and foremost, metaliterates learn to question sources of information. For example, metaliterate individuals learn to carefully differentiate among multiple sites, both formal (such as The New York Times or Associated Press) and informal (a blog post or tweet).
Metaliterates learn to question the sources of information. Jon S, CC BY
They question the validity of information from any of these sources and do not privilege one over the other. Information presented on a formal TV news source, such as CNN or Fox News, for instance, may be just as inaccurate as someone’s blog post. This involves understanding all sources of information.
Second, metaliterates learn to observe their feelings when reading a news item.
We are less inclined to delve further when something affirms our beliefs. On the other hand, we are more inclined to fact check or examine the source of the news when we don’t agree with it. Thinking about our own thinking reminds us that we need to move beyond how we feel, and engage our cognitive faculties in doing a critical assessment.
Metaliterates pause to think whether they believe something because it affirms their ideas.
Metaliteracy challenges assumptions
Metaliteracy helps us understand the context from which the news is arising, noting whether the information emanates from research or editorial commentary, distinguishing the value of formal and informal news sources and evaluating comments left by others.
By reflecting on the way we are thinking about a news story, for instance, we will be more apt to challenge our assumptions, ask good questions about what we are reading and actively seek additional information.
Consider the recent example of how fake news was put out through a single tweet and believed by thousands of readers online. Eric Tucker, a 35-year-old cofounder of a marketing company in Austin, Texas, tweeted that anti-Trump protesters were professionally organized and bused to Trump rallies. Despite having only 40 Twitter followers, this one individual managed to start a conspiracy theory. Thousands of people believed and forwarded the tweet.
This example shows how easy it is to transmit information online to a wide audience, even if it is not accurate. The combination of word and image in this case was powerful and supported what many people already believed to be true. But it also showed a failure to ask critical questions within an online community with shared ideas or to challenge one’s own beliefs with careful reflection.
In other words, just because information is shared widely on social media, that does not mean it is true.
Developing deeper understanding
Another emphasis of metaliteracy is understanding how information is packaged and delivered.
Packaging can be examined on a number of fronts. One is the medium used – is it text, photograph, video, cartoon, illustration or artwork? The other is how it is used – is the medium designed to appeal to our feelings? Does professional-looking design provide a level of credibility to the unsuspecting viewer?
Social media makes it easy to produce and distribute all kinds of digital content. We can all be photographers or digital storytellers using online tools for producing and packaging well-designed materials. This can be empowering.
But the same material can be used to create intentionally false messages with appealing design features. Metaliterates learn to distinguish between formal and informal sources of information that may have very different or nonexistent editorial checks and balances.
They learn to examine the packaging of content. They learn to recognize whether the seemingly professional design may be a façade for a bias or misinformation. Realnewsrightnow, for example, is a slickly designed site with attention-grabbing but often false headlines. The About page of the website might raise questions, but only if a reader’s mindset is evaluative.
Becoming a responsible citizen
Because social media is interactive and collaborative, the metaliterate learner must know how to contribute responsibly as well.
Metaliterate individuals recognize there are ethical considerations involved when sharing information, such as the information must be accurate. But there is more. Metaliteracy asks that individuals understand on a mental and emotional level the potential impact of one’s participation.
So, metaliterate individuals don’t just post random thoughts that are not based in truth. They learn that in a public space they have a responsibility to be fair and accurate.
So how can we become metaliterate?
Schools need to urge students to ponder these questions. Students need to be made aware of these issues early on so that they learn how not to develop uncritical assumptions and actions as they use technology.
They need to understand that whether they are posting a tweet, blog, Facebook post or writing a response to others online, they need to think carefully about what they are saying.
While social media offers much promise for providing everyone with a voice, there is a disturbing downside to this revolution. It has enabled sharing of misinformation and false news stories that radically alter representations of reality.
As the edtech market explodes, established companies and startups are scrambling to be the first to take advantage of the “next big thing.” For many, that means entering the virtual reality market, or more specifically creating virtual reality games. With so many companies and startups developing virtual reality games, how can schools and private citizens decide what product to spend their money on? This may seem like a simple choice, but making the wrong decision can cost you a lot of your hard earned money, and stunt the user’s intellectual growth and development. As you can see, the stakes are very high, and the margin for error is minuscule.
Since we have been covering this market for several years, we feel as though we are experts in predicting what virtual reality games will give you the most bang for your buck. That’s why we decided to create a list of the best virtual reality games in education so you can make an informed decision. The games that we chose to feature are either free or low cost, and we tried to stay away from more pricey options unless their value proposition was worth the high price tag. Without further ado, here is our list of the best virtual reality games on the market.
Star Chart – with over 20 million users this app brings the universe a little closer. Students can learn about constellations by aiming their phones at the night sky. There are additional features that allow students to interact with facts about planets and space discovery.
Google Translate – while conventional Google Translate may not sound like a VR app, its new camera feature students can translate 30 languages by aiming their camera at a Students can watch in real time as the text is translated. This additional feature is great for language student
Cleanopolis– Fighting climate change becomes interactive with this app. Students learn about CO2 and battle along with Captain Clean to save the world. Not only is this a fun game but the educational quality would make it great in any science classroom.
Public Speaking VR – practice the skills of public speaking with this immersive VR experience. With photorealistic environments, students can prepare for a job interview of a class presentation.
Quiver – Watch colored in creations come to life with Quiver. Though VR technology, 2D images become 3D and “walk “ off the page. Ideal for younger students.
Boulevard – Art classes can now be supplemented with visits to some of the world’s best art museums. Students can tour six art museums, interact with famous artworks and learn about the art, all thanks to the advancements of VR technology
Unimersiv – History comes alive with the apps developed by Unimersiv. Students can explore ancient Greece, the Titanic or the Egyptian Mysteries.
InMind– Neurons and brain tissue have never looked more realistic. Travel into the brain and learn about anatomy with this great app.
Apollo 11 VR – Be part of one of the most significant space expeditions. Though VR technology, students can have a front seat in this documentary style app. This award winning app is pushing the possibilities of VR as an educational tool
Earth AR – See the globe from new unseen angles. Motion detection and zooming capabilities will make geography more interactive.
Cospaces– creating virtual realities is not as impossible as it sounds. Students are actively involved in the creation and creative process that goes into building a VR world
TiltBrush – Creating 3D paintings is every artist’s dream, and now with TiltBrush, it is a reality. Painting Is done using a handheld “paintbrush,” and the creation possibilities will be awe inspiring for any creative student.
Anatomy 4D – study the human body with clear images that come to life. Ideal for biology students or anyone with interest in the inner workings of the body.
Sites in VR– explore famous landmarks in all their splendor. With an emphasis on Islamic temples, tombs, and ancient cities, students will get to see sites that otherwise would be inaccessible
King Tut VR – Explore the tomb of the legendary Egyptian king and get lost in the secret chambers full of hieroglyphics and treasures
Flashcards- Animal Alphabet – Made for younger students, this immersive flashcard game teaches students words while bringing it all together with some colorful animal friends
Imag-n-o-tron– Stories jump off the page with Imag-n-o-tron. Downloadable content makes this app suitable for any age. Students improve their reading while engaging with complimentary images making the VR world an educational space
EON Experience – This collection of VR lessons encapsulates everything from physics to history. Students or teachers can create their VR lessons from preloaded content.
Titans of Space – This guided tour of space is both informative as it is breathtaking. With voice overs, facts and scored music it is a cutting edge VR product.
Discovery VR Discovery TV channel compiled all the content for this app. Students can explore exotic natural locations and interact with our planet in a futuristic way.
Teacher phone use: Teachers’ mobile phones should be switched off and left in a safe place during lesson times. If teachers are using their phones when pupils are banned from doing so, pupils may become resentful. Staff should not contact pupils from their personal mobile phones or give their mobile phone numbers to pupils or parents. This would help teachers maintain sound professional practice.
At present, we don’t have ways of thinking about, talking about or deciding on these balancing acts of freedom of expression and association online. In the offline world, people are free to say racist things to willing audiences, but suffer social consequences if they do so around people who object. As bots become more able to participate in, and exert influence on, our human interactions, we’ll need to decide who sets the standards and how, as well as who enforces them, in online communities.
While social media offers much promise for providing everyone with a voice, there is a disturbing downside to this revolution. It has enabled sharing of misinformation and false news stories that radically alter representations of reality.