EricHoefler.com

So Much Wrong

Monday, April 7, 2008

I don’t even know where to begin with this recent article from New York Magazine, “Testing Horace Mann,” about the fallout (or lack thereof) from offensive student postings on Facebook. It’s at the center of the current technology-related problems schools face. Part of this has to do with new problems the technology makes [...]

Porn in the Classroom

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

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Pornography is in the news, and the classroom, again: The Prince George’s County school system is investigating an incident in which a fifth-grade music class at Glenn Dale Elementary School caught a glimpse of a pornographic movie instead of the planned feature, “Star Wars.” Glitch Gives Kids a Peek at Pornography – washingtonpost.com From the little revealed in [...]

Privacy in a Public World?

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

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An article in The Washington Post discusses the current struggles of Allison Stokke with her unwanted internet popularity. The 18-year-old high school athlete has seen her pictures posted and re-posted, often accompanied with lewd commentary. Though nothing illegal has occurred (yet), her case still raises concerns about privacy. She’s apparently stalked online [...]

The Killer EdApp

Saturday, February 24, 2007

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This Wednesday (Feb. 28th, 2007), I’ll be talking with Paul Allison and others on TeachersTeachingTeachers.org about various CMS (Community Management System) solutions for schools. Specifically, I’ll be talking about Joomla. I’ve written some notes on Joomla before, and have been talking to a few teachers in other districts about its potential for the classroom. [...]

Quick Note on Amero

Thursday, February 22, 2007

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Thanks to Jon Robinson for leaving a comment on a former post and pointing to this information: Nancy Willard, a lawyer in the education and computer law fields, has published an analysis (pdf download) today of the Julie Amero case after reviewing all available data, including the police reports. She also discusses the map of [...]

The Bloglines Ban

Monday, February 19, 2007

6 Comments

Yesterday, Miguel Guhlin wrote a post about Bloglines’ new “Image Wall.” His main contention is that the images aren’t filtered, and so anyone using the service may be exposed to offensive material. (Bloglines does require you to accept a disclaimer before passing you on to the Image Wall.) Because of the Image Wall, Miguel [...]

More on Julie Amero

Sunday, February 18, 2007

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When I first heard about the Julie Amero case, I couldn’t believe that it wasn’t summarily dismissed. When I learned that the jury had convicted Amero, my reactions swung from outrage to depression. That verdict is almost enough, on my bad days, to make me want to throw out every computer in my [...]

Levels of Safety

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

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As a few of my former posts reveal, I’m trying to find a balance between helping my students take advantage of online technologies on the one hand, and ensuring their safety and our compliance with district guidelines on the other. (And apparently I’m not the only one, though Wesley Freyer takes things a step [...]

Never Anti-Safety, Always Pro-Empowerment

Monday, January 29, 2007

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I’ve been invited to sit in on my county’s “Internet Safety Committee,” whose purpose is to revise the Acceptable Use Policy. I hope the revisions will improve safety without severly restricting access, but I’m worried. I’ve written before about some of the problems I have with denying access to (and thus preventing instruction about) the [...]

Freedom and Safety for All

Saturday, January 20, 2007

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Last week, my creative writing students pulled out their laptops and headed over to the eStudio that I setup on ELGGSpaces (which is designed specifically with education in mind, and for which I had just spend $99 out-of-pocket to make the space ad-free.) They were going to upload some new drafts, write some blog posts [...]

This is Getting Ridiculous

Monday, January 15, 2007

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As if we needed more reasons for people to avoid the teaching profession and shy away from the use of technology: Norwich, Conn seventh grade teacher, Julie Amero has been convicted of four counts of risk of injury to a minor after her classroom PC displayed pornographic pop-ups in class. Slashdot | Teacher Found Guilty of Endangering [...]

MySpace and Parental Guidance

Friday, May 12, 2006

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Not long ago, I posted an entry in which I supported maintaining the freedom to access and share information, tools, and resources. I still agree with that. I also understand the dangers that some of the information, tools, and resources bring with them. However, I don’t believe that the right response to [...]