I recently had a reminder about the need to protect our students.
I have been reading Vicki Davis’ blog for the past several months (if you have never checked it out, perhaps you should. She is an excellent source for insight and great links). I also follow her on Twitter. For the second year, she has organized The Horizon Project. This award winning program connects students from across the world:
During this project, the Horizon 2008 Report will have its trends “student sourced” as students from around the world analyze, compile information, and share their predications based on the report in a “Wikinomics”-style mass collaboration.
I think that this would be a fantastic opportunity for any student. I have started to follow the project more closely in the hopes that I could figure out a way for my students to participate in the future. With the confidentiality requirements at my school, I am not sure if this would be possible. Still, I have been trying to learn more about it. A few days ago she sent out this tweet:
We are taking sign ups for judges, sounding board classrooms and experts — See http://horizonproject2008.wikispaces.com
So I’m thinking, cool! What a great way to be involved. I go to the wiki and see that there is one topic about “Games as Pedagogical Platforms.” I use strategy boardgames with my students and have had some real successes. I follow the instructions to sign up as an “expert” for this area, mentioning my experience using board games and I get this response from Vicki:
Mark — After looking at your profile — we really are looking at online games and gaming as pedagogical platforms — it has a definite online spin.
No problem, I respond. I asked her if she had a suggestion on another way I could still participate, perhaps as a judge. I went back to the wiki and saw under the heading “Who is Qualified to Judge?”
We encourage educators interested in learning to assess higher order thinking skills to be involved. We want people who can give feedback on the methodologies employed to move towards improving our assessment of such projects.
This sounds just like me. Again, I follow the instructions to sign up. Then I received this response:
Mark –
This is the thing, we’ve never had anyone we didn’t already “know” apply to be a judge. And when we’ve had people apply that we don’t know, we’ve asked that they provide us with more information.
As you can well understand, there are many challenges with running an “open” project and we take very seriously the environment that we create for the students.
So, we have two options here:
1) You can provide us with more information — resume AND online links to your work — we have several things that our judges all have in common educationally.
2) You can just observe and perhaps participate in some of our open forums and activities later on.I hate to turn anyone down, however, it has happened sometimes when we don’t know a person. Are you on twitter or do you blog?
I have to confess I went through a range of emotions and reactions, from “are you kidding me?” to “I guess my little blog just isn’t important enough (I mean I did write about Bacon Salt!).” She was openly soliciting people to come and join the project via Twitter and her blog, but it seemed I was not good or qualified enough. I was confused, frustrated, and even slightly angry.
But then it hit me that I was just being slightly numb about the whole thing. It is all about the power of the network and protecting her students. I feel like I know her to a point, because I read her blog, follow her on twitter, even watched her Ustream a conference from Chicago. But she really does not know me from Adam. Sure, I have left a few comments on her blog, and responded to a couple of her tweets, but that is basically it. I I have only been blogging for a couple of months now, and am only starting to develop a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Why should she know me?
Here is what I realized: she is so right to question me. She has taken a certain amount of risks, both personally and professionally by opening up the project to the outside world. She said it herself in her response to me: “we take very seriously the environment that we create for the students.” All it would take for the whole thing to be shut down is one online predator or wacko to infiltrate the project and hurt a student. In my excitement and enthusiasm over the possibilities that Web 2.o presents for students, that is something that it is easy to lose sight of at times. I am glad she reminded me of my responsibility as an educator to protect students first.
So I sent her the information she requested, and even tried to leverage one of the few connections I have made in my PLN so far by giving Jim Moulton as a reference. I am still waiting for a response. But I understand and remain hopeful.
