Admittedly, I don’t think kids should be graded harshly for grammatical or spelling errors on math papers, computer program comments (I actually had a teacher that took off points for not having complete sentences in the comments for a program), physics, art, etc.  Now all bets are off when it comes to English class, because that’s what it is all about.

However, if you publish a game, write a paper about your physics experiments or create anything that is made for general population I would suggest making sure your grammar is correct in the final product.  Trust me, it’s tough for me and I’m just waiting for someone to point out a mistake on this post.

Prime examples of when it is important to use correct grammar:

1. When you are trying to make a point or trying to sound intelligent.  See
   http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=274685879861 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=260098416437
   and the list goes on I’m sure.  In fact I had great fun pointing that error out to my son when he joined the group “Parents call it talking back, we call it telling them there wrong”.
2. When you are trying to sell something.  This is what originally prompted this post and I want to make it clear I have *nothing* against these guys or their site (notice I used the correct version there).  I was reading about Blue Collar Bobbers when I ran across this quote. “and ride into the sunset with there comrades”.  Now for some reason, this just glares at me.  Maybe it because I’ve struggled with it myself so I’m hypersensitive to the use of “there, they’re and their”.  Does that mean I won’t buy from them? No, but it does give a certain impression of the type of people running the store.  I’m also going to make the assumption that, based off of the design, they didn’t do the work themselves.  Chances are someone just wasn’t fully awake and didn’t catch the typo, let’s hope so because I’d hate to be paying someone for a finished product that wasn’t correct.

So, having said all that, I would suggest a remedial course.  If you don’t want to do that, how about spending a little time to get it straight in your head in whatever manner works best for you.  There’s even web sites out there to help.  I googled “there their they’re” and the top hit was a wikihow page, how convenient!

Up next is a rant about “you’re, your and yore”… no, not really, but I’m sure there are plenty of examples of that as well.

–servergoon

So what is the importance of this? Well, I’m taking classes that are based on technology and education.  Part of those classes focus on social media and how the youth of today are more “wired” than ever.  With this wiring, comes this chance for addiction.  We are so concerned about drug and alcohol use in the youth of today, but what about internet use?

The youth of today run the very real risk of being socially dysfunctional when it come to interacting with with real people in real time.  They’ve all got lots and lots o’ friends online, but when it comes to preferences some would rather use the computer as an interface to interacting with their friends than face to face.  Of course, this is just based off of casual observations of my son and his friends.  Even when friends are over their interaction tends to be around the computer or game console.

And it’s not just the kids.  About a  year ago CNN published “Five clues that you are addicted to Facebook” http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/23/ep.facebook.addict/index.html and that’s not the only danger.  I’ve seen stories of kids being left alone while parents played online games.  Kids left alone to the point of being considered child neglect or abuse.

So, does that mean we should all become unplugged?  Nah, but if you can’t be “disconnected” for a day or two without starting to twitch, you may want to take a serious look at your usage.

–servergoon

In this case I made a statement, sent it and after the fact I thought, “yeah, that’s really it.  Isn’t it?”.  It was a revalation that came out of a simple conversation but upon reflection I realized it held more.

The following conversation took place via text messaging.  The friends name has been changed to protect their innocence.  Well, with this friend, not innocence, but a sense of respecting his privacy.

Friend1: it’s funny.. the tech program does seem to provide a much greater sense of accomplishment than my masters program did
Friend1: it just feels like there’s a lot more substance there
ServerGoon: I was thinking of the learning process for me this quarter it was “here’s what you got to do, here’s what you need (materials) to do it. Now go do it. Oh, and if you have to learn something extra along the way, do that too!”
ServerGoon: as opposed to the class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), TEST class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), class (spoon feed), TEST
Friend1: yeah
Friend1: it’s definitely for adults hah
ServerGoon: personally, I was a little irked that he assigned aspects of web site design that involved Flash, podcast, etc.. technologies that some have not had a class in yet, but hey, that’s life. Sometime you don’t always know what you need to know when you start a project.
Friend1: well, it’s also indicative of when you have an instructor rather than a professor, i think

“Sometime you don’t always know what you need to know when you start a project.”

I look back at that statement and realize that’s where the learning comes into play for me.  It’s not sitting in a lecture covering what was supposed to be read.  It is being told here’s the end product, here is some material to help you along the way, the rest is up to you.  I feel fortunate that I was able to spend some time and pick up what I needed to know (mostly) to complete the projects and I feel for those poeple that are learning multiple technologies at the same time, that can be very rough.  But as my friend said “it’s definitely for adults hah”.  Speaking of which, I’ve got a project due and I should be working on it instead of writing about this.  But this was one of those moments that I thought I should share.

–EdTechGoon aka ServerGoon

It’s not a new story by any means. Student and teachers see each other on a daily basis. And, when the age difference between the two can be as little as four years, it only seems normal that hormones could come into play.  It’s been in the news, teachers crossing the lines with students.  Add to that the prevalence of social networking and the fact that a teacher entering the workforce now has always had Facebook and MySpace, both launched in 2004 and you have a whole new venue for potential trouble.

Does that mean as a teacher you shouldn’t be on MySpace or Facebook?  I don’t think so, but I think it is important as an educator that you think about the potential implications of being friends with students on such social networks.  Additionally, as an educator, if you were to see students engaging in illegal activities on a social networking site, would you be required, ethically, to say something?

Even now, college students are finding out that employers are looking at social networking sites before hiring an individual.  Don’t think it’s true? I can tell you that I personally check facebook when considering student hires.  The same would be true for a full time hire.  It would be the same thing as checking for published papers to see what an individual’s perspective is on a particular subject.  So, just remember, that keg stand you did in college could come back to haunt you in the end.  Social networking, while great for keeping in touch with friends, can be a double edged sword.

So what is the answer?  Where are the lines drawn?  I don’t know.  I think the area is just going to get grayer…. just like my hair.

Well, I already have a blog, I like it, I like the name, so I’m starting a separate “category” within the blog for Technology in Education.  Anytime you want to see what’s new in “Technology in Education”, at least from my viewpoint, you can visit http://blog.servergoon.com/categories/TiE.

Welcome to my musings and feel free to comment.  Please note that I have all comments on approval.  So, I’ll be looking at them for true content as opposed to some spam bot.  What this means to you is the comment has to pass my version of the Turing test which means “meaningful, constructive comments” vs “wow, great post” or “get cialis now! here’s how”.

–SG