Comment on Connie's Blog Post Titled "Academic Integrity"

Connie,

I am writing in response to your current blog on academic integrity. It was great to read how much you valued this assignment. I am also an educator who has not had any experience with anti-plagiarism software. Like you, I didn’t realize that the software would actually catch everything that I plagiarized online the first time I submitted it and it did! It seems as though you were as surprised as I was by the results.

The story that you included about your student’s experience with copying in your class really made me speculate about the frequency of plagiarism and how challenging it is for educators to catch. One can imagine how difficult discovering plagiarized content in student work would be when you are in the position to constantly read many student compositions. I am glad that you have a new tool to utilize in the future.

Lastly, I really liked your reference stressing the importance of “prevention rather than detection”. I couldn’t agree more that focusing on this idea is crucial right now. I really enjoyed reading your blog on this subject!

Sincerely,
Seanne Danielak

Comment on Connie's Blog Post Titled "Wikiality"

Connie,

I have enjoyed reading your blog posts very much over the course of this semester. Your attention to detail in the assignment is impressive and the pictures that you use are wonderful!

I love reading about the fact that you are learning so much throughout this process, as I am as well. Implying that Madonna graduated from Delta College where you are employed was a great way to create a personal connection with your assignment. I suppose you won't ever forget this experience after that story!

I couldn't agree more with your opinion on this matter. You wrote, "In my personal opinion, the main responsibility for educators today is not to discourage students from using Wikipedia or other similar websites, but to teach them how to scrutinize information on the Web." I think you couldn't have stated that any better. There is an incredible need to encourage our students to cross-check their references, rather than continuously creating lists of what sites they should not be using.

Thank you once again for sharing!

Comment on Larry's Blog Post Titled "Technology Standards"

Let me first thank you for your service to our community. Being an officer of the law is a very admirable job. I look forward to reading more of your future posts that relate to law enforcement. Your post really caught my attention! I especially liked the comparison you made between old criminals and new criminals and how the same crimes utilize new technologies. There is a direct correlation between what you do and what I do as a teacher because I must keep up with the advances in technology to keep up with my students as you do with the criminals that you deal with. Once again, great post!

Comment on Connie's Blog Post Titled "Educating the Millennium Generation"

Once again Connie, I am impressed with what you have to say on the topic of technology in our classrooms. It is amazing how much technology advances in such a short amount of time. Taking a year off and coming back to all of those changes must have been very difficult for you. I also agree with you that there needs to be a system implemented to assess how technology is being used in our school systems. Our district has also cut technology teaching positions hoping that the classroom teachers will utilize enough of it themselves to suffice. But what if they aren't training our students well enough? What a great topic of conversation you have brought to the table here. Great job!

Coment on Jennifer's Blog Post Titled "Educating the Millennium Generation"

What a beautiful job you did outlining the importance of understanding our students' generation to educate them properly. Your reference to the fact that "the world was flat" is a great comparison to the use of technology in the classroom. Furthermore, I agree that students are lacking the basic fundamentals of research as well. There are a lot of distractions for students on the internet, and without properly knowing how to search for information, an abundance of research time may be lost. I'm sure that in your line of work your eyes are open to this concept more than most people. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on such an important topic!

Comment on Larry's Blog Post Titled "Challenges in Educating the Millennium Generation "

Excellent blog post! I like the point you brought up about attempting to find a better filtration system for students when it comes to texting inappropriate material. My daughters are still very young, but if we don't find a better system now, it will be an even bigger problem in the future when they are teenagers. The part of the post that really caught my attention was the refrerral of the internet in the classroom as being "boundless". I agree with you that it is up to the teachers to make sure that we do not limit our students when there is so much information out there that is accessible to them.

Comment on Mary's Blog Post Titled "Educating The Millennium Generation"

"Facebook Nazi"? I think "Facebook Savior" is more like it! There needs to be more educators in our schools that care as much about their students as you do! I myself strive to be the kind of teacher who is concerned about digital citizenship and the ethics of technology. Too many educators try to bypass being friendly to their students and become their friend at the expense of looking past the things that might harm them just because their comment might "hurt the student's feelings". You stated "we need to teach the rules; the students can catch up on the rest" and I cannot agree with you more. Thank you for sharing your incite on this very important educational topic.