[Note: I thought the last graph in this article is particularly interesting where schools are purusing MySpace and Facebook accounts of potential employees to help make hiring decisions...]

An ethics poll points up disturbing findings for hiring managers.
By Garry Kranz
[online@http://www.myragan.com/_forum/index.php?sub=1361&cat=331&threadnumber=535018#1

Generation ‘Why Not?’: Exactly what are young people learning prior to entering the workforce? Namely, that unethical behavior is justifiable in pursuit of their goals. According to Junior Achievement and Deloitte, nearly three-quarters of teenagers say they are fully prepared to make ethical decisions once they land a job. Yet nearly 40 percent of the same group “believe it is sometimes necessary to cheat, plagiarize, lie or even behave violently in order to succeed.”

Hiring people who condone this behavior poses a threat to corporations’ integrity and reputation, researchers say. The Junior Achievement/ Deloitte Teen Ethics Survey collected responses from a diverse group of 725 U.S. teens ages 13 to 18. Among the more alarming findings for hiring managers: Nearly 30 percent of teens claim that it is unfair for employers to suspend or fire employees for unethical behavior that occurs in their free time. Nearly the same percentage can’t decide (26 percent).

Similarly, nearly six in 10 teens surveyed oppose the right of employers to base hiring and firing decisions on material that employees have posted to the Internet. And in a finding that has implications on the honesty of future workers, nearly half the teens say it is OK to illegally download music online without paying for it, and 5 percent say it is acceptable to steal items from stores.

• 71% feel prepared to make ethical decisions when they start working. (I don’t know if this is good news or bad news).




• 24% think cheating on a test is acceptable; 54% of those teens say their personal desire to succeed is their rationale.




• 23% think violence toward someone is acceptable in order to settle an argument or take revenge.




• 27% don’t think it’s fair for an employer to suspend or fire a worker for behaving unethically outside of work.




• 57% don’t think it’s fair for employers to make hiring or firing decisions based on what employees or job candidates have posted on the Internet.

From: www.cio.com
– C.G. Lynch, CIO

February 27, 2008

The increased use of Facebook and MySpace has caused some companies to reassess their electronic use policies, with some organizations banning social networks outright over worries about security and drags in productivity, according to several IT executives contacted by CIO.

[Oh how i wish this was NEA!]

From: www.cio.com
– C.G. Lynch, CIO

Teach for America (TFA), the nonprofit group that helps place college graduates into teaching jobs with low-income communities, will adopt social networking for its 5,000 members this spring to share information with one another about best practices, job opportunities and other career interests.

Blogsters and Websters Unite!
April 5, 2008

Learn new ways to communicate your union message via technology. In this session, you will learn what software is available for online surveys, blogging, and web development and maintenance. In addition, you will learn about the impact technology has on members through current online sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube.

[view presentation]

THE Journal (4/16, Nagel) reported that teachers are increasingly using "web-based collaboration tools" in order "to supplement instruction, engage learners, and encourage their students to become producers of information, as well as consumers of it."

The article explores some of the more popular free tools being used, dividing them into three categories. Regarding the first type, digital media sharing tools, THE Journal noted TeacherTube and SchoolTube, as they allow the posting of educational content but are regulated, thereby avoiding student access to inappropriate content contained in sites such as YouTube. Such sites also help teachers avoid "potential copyright issues." The second type of collaborative tool is the online learning community, sites that "focus not so much on digital media as on education tools in general -- including assessments, learning/course management, textual materials, and other resources."

The article lists a number of communities providing different types of content. The third tool is Wikispaces, which "offers free services for teachers who want to host classroom wikis, including the ability to create private wikis viewable and editable only by members of the teacher's group."

THE Journal
About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
[online@http://www.thejournal.com/the/printarticle/?id=22456]

While most districts are still tackling Web-based collaboration tools from pedagogical and security perspectives, a large number of teachers are already out there using these tools to supplement instruction, engage learners, and encourage their students to become producers of information, as well as consumers of it. In other words, they're experimenting. And here are some of the free tools they're using to do it.

HSTA hosts YouTube channel to showcase efforts to honor members...

HSTA members not only appreciative of their association's hosting of "Annual Teacher Appreciation" event, but also, for the easily accessed record of the event on YouTube.

WTG HSTA!

[HSTA YouTube Channel]

April 2008 – March 2008 shows 45% increase in visits to the Gateway over March 2007. The Gateway community keeps growing and growing as Web 2.0 empowers collaboration!

This update contains information about the consortiums intent to significantly upgrade GEM to support engaging its millions of return visitors by leveraging the latest in social media tools--e.g., "Digg."

Teach for America is attracting a record number of applicants this year. The program recruits top college graduates to spend two years teaching in low-income public schools. At Dartmouth College alone, 11 percent of the entire senior class has applied.

[Listen Online]

Digital Culture

[Listen Online]

Millions of Americans are checking their math and their Internet connections to file taxes online.

[Listen online]

By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 28, 2008; Page A01

[online@http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/27/AR2008042702213.html?referrer=emailarticle

Public Profiles Raise Questions of Propriety and Privacy

It's almost like Googling someone: Log on to Facebook. Join the Washington, D.C., network. Search the Web site for your favorite school system. And then watch the public profiles of 20-something teachers unfurl like gift wrap on the screen, revealing a sense of humor that can be overtly sarcastic or unintentionally unprofessional -- or both.

A first year teacher who is a member of NEA/OEA/Tulsa Classroom Teacher's Association has developed an incredible website for his students.

This is one of a plethora of members who is leveraging social media tools in the classroom to engage and benefit students.

[visit www.afterschooltoday.com ]

Overdependence on e-mail for collaboration in the enterprise has led to inbox overload, version control frustrations and a lack of transparency within teams. Fortunately, Web 2.0 applications such as wikis, blogs and social networks as well as technologies such as RSS are addressing many of the shortcomings of e-mail for collaboration, idea sharing, content creation and content distribution.

[Read this Whitepaper]

What do u thk of this lede? Should u write this way in yr job? Do u thk it matters?

Teens write a lot, but they do not think of their emails, instant and text messages as writing. This disconnect matters because teens believe good writing is an essential skill for success and that more writing instruction at school would help them.

FYA -- For Your Amusement Biz Texts
BIB - Boss is back
ADAD - Another day, another dollar
SLAP - Sounds like a plan
DYOR - Do your own research
@TEOTD - At the end of the day
LMK - Let me know
WIU - Wrap it up
AAK - Asleep at keyboard
GJ - Good job
NFS - Not for sale
AYEC - At your earliest convenience
OOTO - Out of the office
OTL - Out to lunch

[Check out PEW/Internet & American Life's "Writing, Technology and Teens" Study]

The following request for CAC materials for the month of April:

Shipped or packed for staff distribution:

Events/Campuses:
Indiana State University
U of Maine (Greene)
U of Maine (Auburn)
Mark Smith (don’t remember the event—a regional event)

TOTALS
800 pamphlets, bracelets, stickers, Facebook/Myspace flyers
32 CAC T-shirts (various sizes)

The use of social media gains a greater foothold in teen life as they embrace the conversational nature of interactive online media.

The use of social media – from blogging to online social networking to creation of all kinds of digital material – is central to many teenagers’ lives.

Some 93% of teens use the internet, and more of them than ever are treating it as a venue for social interaction – a place where they can share creations, tell stories, and interact with others.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that 64% of online teens ages 12-17 have participated in one or more among a wide range of content-creating activities on the internet, up from 57% of online teens in a similar survey at the end of 2004.

[View Pew Report]

Many teenagers avidly use social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and employ a variety of tools and techniques to manage their online identities.

Online social networks are spaces on the internet where users can create a profile and connect that profile to others to create a personal network. Social network users post content to their profiles and use tools embedded within social networking websites to contact other users.

Young adults and teenagers are among the most avid users of such websites.

Much of the media coverage surrounding young people and online social networks has focused on the personal information teens make available on these networks. Are they sharing information that will harm their future college or job prospects? Or worse, are they sharing information that puts them at risk of victimization?

A new survey and a series of focus groups conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project examines how teens understand their privacy through several lenses: by looking at the choices that teens make to share or not to share information online, by examining what they share, by probing for the context in which they share it and by asking teens for their own assessment of their vulnerability.

[Read Report]