The Elvis Syndrome

I've heard that when Elvis first became famous, he was a controversial figure. Wikipedia says, "To many adults, the singer was 'the first rock symbol of teenage rebellion . . . they did not like him, and condemned him as depraved.' " (I honestly was not alive then.) That seems so silly now, but we face the same attitudes with new technology.

I bought an iPhone about two months ago. I am amused at the amount of criticism I've received from others when they see it. I guess once they start paying my bills, they can complain about what I buy. Until then, I'm keeping my iPhone.

At the beginning of this week, I was in Columbus, Ohio. Even though I grew up in the state, I don't know my way around that city too well, having grown up in the rural (and do I ever mean rural!) southeastern part of the state. I used my iPhone to find restaurants and other points of interest near our location, and then programmed the address into my TomTom. (Sometimes the TomTom couldn't find the exact location without the specific address.) So yeah, I'm keeeping my iPhone.

Why I don't go to Ohio very often:

All this rambling is leading to the controversy we face about the educational value, or lack thereof, of cell phones, social networking, and other technology. Of course, as individual educators, we can't go against school system policy and decide to have the students make full use of their phones in class (and I would never suggest that), nor can we expect anything other than, "You're kidding, right?" if we ask to have MySpace or Facebook unblocked.

However, here is an interesting commentary on cell phones and social networking by Will Richardson, and a reaction to his thoughts from Free Technology for Teachers. The comments posted to Will's blog are also worth the read. The controversy charges on.

In addition, I found a fascinating article about the educational value of YouTube. Yes, YouTube, that video site that corrupts our youth on a daily basis.

By the way, educational social networks such as Ning do exist. You can create your own network and make it private. And TeacherTube is always a legal alternative to YouTube.

The controversy really comes down to what is best for the students--how they learn best.

I'm sure you can guess which side I'm on.