Should we limit Internet use in school classes? That's the debate initiated by a NYU journalism school after a college teacher forbid its students to blog or twitter her course during class.
Indeed, Alana Taylor, a young student at this school complained online about her classes for not being enough up-to-date with new media and technologies. Her article which then caused a lot of ink to be spilled on the original MediaShift Website as well as on the Web, put into question not only the simple use of the Internet during classes but also the students' rights relating to course content.
As this issue is rather new, no paragraphs have been specifically written about it in schools rules so it is often left to teachers' own judgments. But as said teacher, Mary Quigley, reminded while being interviewed following the story: “Yes, I would certainly require a student to ask permission to use direct quotes from the class on a blog written after class.”
So the real problem there was more about students being distracted or distracting others when blogging or twitting during class than the class content being used outside of school walls.
But we can still wonder how schools can teach about new media while providing a complete Wifi access to students and not expect them to use it. In the contrary, teachers should take advantage of that by creating their own online discussions or by joining existing ones to help and interact with their students directly on their current communication platforms.
Credits
* Update: According to the VirtualWayfayrer, it is OK to twitter/blog course content during College classes, as he points out that "the problem is that our education system [in the US] has not adapted to serve the population’s needs in the digital age." I invite you to read his great analysis of the reasons higher education no longer meets youngster's needs in the matter of technology.
