Something+Extra

This page should be used for on going discussions we have in class. While we have a chatroom on oncourse, who uses that anyways. Here we can present idea's, or arguments and then debate about them. Since in class we have limited time to discuss these things, such as, cell phone use, digital cameras/camcorders, and other devices that could be labeled as technology. Honestly, i do not know how to work the discussion board... So we can try it out here...

I actually have a side question that I'm wondering about. There is a tutor from Australia putting her student's work online without the student's knowledge. Furthermore, the tutor has actually recorded the student's voice and placed that on the Internet also along with the students name (nowhere does it mention the name being made up) and personal information such as social class. How wrong is this? Is this ok? Also, the intent of the tutor seems to be malicious since she is providing the information to a message board full of people making fun of her student.

A quick opinion: Australia is not the United States. Overseas, many laws regarding freedom of speech are taken extremely seriously. Laws concerning Privacy are not (except in France where they are scared of everything). I personally do not think that putting up students' voices and students' work online is appropriate. My reasoning is because of the embarassment that can ensue from poor work and the fact that students say many things that they should not. The fact that the tutor is placing all this stuff online to actually make fun of students is a clear reason why students' work and voices should not be public save for the classroom, teacher, and parents. However, I do believe that if they parents believe that allowing their work and voices to be placed online is educational, then I am not going to argue against their wishes. Thats just a quick opinion on this topic.

I guess I never considered the fact that in Australia things might be different.

Another side question: What kind of language is appropriate from the teacher and from the students in school? "Bad" language is not what it use to be. My mother still thinks "suck" (used in a bad way of course) is a cuss word and I'm not allowed to use it in front of her. However, although "suck" might have been a horrible word 20 years ago, it is commonly used today without much thought. Instead, other extreme language has replaced those less horrible cuss words. When as educators do we allow those less horrible words into the classroom? Is it ever acceptable for a teacher to use bad language? If a teacer slips and uses a bad word, what should he or she do to correct the situation? Also, when is it acceptable for a teacher to stop a student from using bad language?