The White House Asks

Posted by Kori Schulman on March 02, 2010 at 06:09 PM EST

At WhiteHouse.gov we’re always looking for new ways to engage with citizens, whether it’s through a live video chat with a policy expert or an Open for Questions event with the President. As an extension of the Administration’s commitment to making government more collaborative and participatory, we’re trying something new this week. The White House will pose a question to our more than 480,000 fans on Facebook, 1.7 million followers on Twitter and 30,000 group members on LinkedIn. Later in the week, we’ll highlight some of the most interesting responses on the White House blog.

As part of this week’s “Education in Focus” series, the White House asks:

What does a 21st century education mean to you?

So, tell us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. We look forward to your responses and want to give a hat tip to @GOOD for a good idea.

The White House blog has a post asking, "What does a 21st century education mean to you?" They're looking for responses via Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Help them out and respond! Help us out and respond well.

Spotted this post via @vanessascanfeld retweeting @douglevin

Google Buzz may put children at risk, parents fear

Kids might not know they're sharing private details with the public.

Wow, the folks in this article really don't get it. It may as well be called, "Google Buzz may put children at risk, parents fearmonger.

Kids are at risk for seeing inappropriate things when they are online; that is why we have to teach them about boundaries, and not put them into situations which they're not prepared for. Giving a 9 year old a free e-mail account (which the company only allows for kids 13 years and older) and then being shocked when the product changes over time (hello, you didn't pay for anything and you accepted their terms) is simply ill-advised parenting.

Teaching kids about being online means letting them be online in ways they can handle. 9 year olds with unfettered e-mail access is questionable at best. Some 9 year olds may be able to handle that, and some certainly can not. As a parent, set your kids up for success - if you want to teach them about e-mail, have them e-mail from your account. This way, messages come back to you and you can relay them to your child. Don't go straight to gMail, would you give your kid a car as soon as they wanted one? Start them off with a tricycle in the carpeted basement and you'll see them progress much more successfully.

Thanks to natenatenate on Twitter for sharing this video, but a wonderful example of how creative photography can be used to visualize a phenomenon - in this case how RFID signals work. Sounds nerdy, but easy to grasp and worth a watch.

Enlarge This Image

 

Joshua Lott for The New York Times

Jerod Reyes, left, and Dylan Powell use their bus's Wi-Fi to do homework on their way to school.

The New York Times did a piece on the "Internet Bus" in Arizona that allows students wi-fi access while commuting to school or going on school trips. Seems like a great way to keep students connected at times when they normally aren't.

The article however, seems lacking in all of the non-academic things kids would be using an Internet connection for. An entire bus full of kids with laptops and Internet connections and Facebook/social networking doesn't even come up once? Where are the kids who are gaming? Where are the kids downloading pirated music/TV shows? Where are the kids posting photos on Facebook? The article seems to be a looking at the bus through rose-colored glasses, but I get the gist of it.

It's a neat idea, but it's yet another space where the kids used to be somewhat offline, now turning online. I suppose that they already had their phones on the bus, so it wasn't all that offline. I just wonder if there will be any offline spaces left for them? The athletics field, perhaps? The NFL had to ban Twitter from sidelines recently.

update: I missed the line in the article that talked about the students playing games. I still think it leans way to heavy on the academic use. Unless these are kids who only do homework and nothing else, it's just not a reasonable expectation that it will become a study hall bus. It will be just like the Internet in their homes - often homework, but more often media consumption.

I, along with some of my distinguished peers, will be speaking on a panel at the Creative Commons Salon NYC on March 3, 2010. The theme is "Opening Education" and there will be folks from Flat World Knowledge, Peer 2 Peer University, and finally the educators panel (including me!). It will be in lower Manhattan, from 7-10pm. RSVP info is here.

Hope you can join!