Bit by Bit Podcast: 63
Bit By Bit Podcast: March 8, 2008
Show 63
Technorati Tags: bitbybit, bobsprankle, kevinjarrett, mariaknee, webkinz
Links:
- Safe Online Communities for Kids by Karen Bosch
Kevin’s Presentation: Tween Social Networking - K-20 Educators Exploring SecondLife
- SecondLife in Education
WebKinz
Horizon Report
NCTE Announcement
KinzExchange
10 comments
What fun this was! So great! My first time! Thanks for having us. Hope everyone enjoyed it and got something out of it. I loved hearing about Maria’s use of Webkinz as a teaching and learning tool. Can’t wait for the next one! -kj-
Sorry we couldn’t stick around for long, we had lots to do today. The “students” (teachers in my school) were amazed at how the tools (Skype and chat at edtechtalk.com) were used. Thanks for letting us be a part of this great learning! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
I have to search your blog to learn more about your use of Scratch in the classroom. I’ve been using it with grades five to eight in various fashions (and blogging about it). I’d like to learn more. I’m probably going to introduce it to the fourth grade in April. Thanks for another interesting podcast.
Whow – another mind extending episode of BbB. Thank you all for in my view one of the most insightful conversations regarding these matters. In particular the issues concerning schools and commercial products for kids. (Btw, I have never heard any techer be afraid that their students migh want to drink milk or subscribe to a newspaper – but that is another loooong story
(Bob, remove this paragraph if you think it is inappropriate.) I would like to add Stardoll.com to your list. Scandinavin origins and they just passed 15 million members (17 languages). Not to market them (I know a couple of people within Stardoll, but have no other interests), but because they seem to be increasingly popular, even among the moms.
I also quickly scanned your list and found that almost as a rule virtually all sites have “for parents”, but few have “for schools/teachers”. With the exception of providers that see schools as their primary market.
I wonder if you teachers have been approached by firms that sells online services to kids on a commercial basis, with questions about how they can make it less “commercial” for you. I.e. taking your considerations seriously.
/richard.gatarsk@weconverse.com
p.s. in the post the link to scratch goes to woogi world. d.s.
Bob, Maria and Kevin: This was/is a GREAT podcast and discussion. This directly impacted me and my professional development sessions with students and teachers this week on Internet Safety– I presented 2 days ago at the Casady School in Oklahoma City (an expensive, private school downtown) and used the WebKinz site to talk about Internet Safety. Some of the students shared some GREAT stories about things like password security. One of the kids had lost control of her Webkinz password for several months, and during that time someone (she never found out who) sold all her Webkinz furniture and did other things to mess up her account. The level of engagement of the students when we were discussing WebKinz was off the charts. Over 90% of the students there in attendance (there were about 60) reported that they owned a Webkinz. This provided an outstanding context for discussing Internet safety in a way that directly connected to their prior experiences, and was therefore more meaningful and potentially beneficial.
To Richard’s suggestion that you add Stardoll.com to your list of recommended pre-teen social networking sites, I STRONGLY disagree and discourage you from doing so. My 2nd grader learned about Stardoll from a friend, and after reviewing/exploring the site with her we decided to prohibit/ban its use in our home. Not only do I think the site teaches poor values (I think there are better things for my 7 year old daughter to do than clothe scantily clad barbi-like figures) the site also appears to have potentially dangerous social networking chatrooms.
Based on the screennames of users and the chat rooms they created, this looked like a place where pedophiles actually hang out. I would encourage parents to thoroughly explore the site with their kids and make up their own mind. Based on our explorations, Stardoll.com looks like a BAD place to hang out. Maybe I’m wrong here about Stardoll, but in general hanging out in chat rooms with strangers when you are 7 years old sounds like a bad idea….. I would put Stardoll in a different category from websites like Webkinz and Club Penguin.
[...] WebKinz along with a wide variety of other “tween” social networking websites in Bob’s Bit by Bit podcast #63 this week during my commutes in the car. As a kindergarten teacher, Maria described how she has [...]
[...] [...]
[...] [...]
[...] [...]
[...] a related note, thanks to Maria Knee’s suggestion in a podcast posted by Bob Sprankle last year, I used the Webkinz website several times last year in talks I shared with students about Internet [...]
Leave a Comment