Did Text Messaging Kill the E-mail Star (Part 3)

A few comments:

First, it may be possible to block incoming text messages. Check with your service provider on this. The service provider that I work for (I won't disclose which one in the name of fairness) provides the ability to block from individual numbers, an e-mail address or an entire domain, such as globalspec.com. This is done through a simple tool on our web site. There may also be a way to block incoming or outgoing text messages at the network level, but this would probably require a call to customer care.

Secondly, is it fair to say that texting has "destroyed" the way kids think? If so, have we (educators and parents) failed somehow in allowing this to happen? Wouldn't it be better if the kids were able to modify they way they think and write depending on the medium? So it would be OK to have the ultra-abbreviated means of communication in texting and IM, and complete sentences when writing essays, articles, lengthy e-mails, or even responses to blogs on CR4. The human mind is capable of a great deal!

Lastly, cheating in school has been around for a long, long time. I suspect it has been around for as long as schools have been. As technology evolves, cheating methods will evolve along with them. Maybe it is time for the FCC to allow localized cell signal jammers in schools!

BP01,

Thanks for your comment. I was actually e-mailing with a colleague about the potential for a text message based writing class. All writing was done via text messages. The first rule before anyone writes anything is to know your audience, so I would agree that the one quote about destroying students ability to think is probably a little extreme. As long as they know the appropriate structure for each setting, they should be okay. But also, it is a reality that word and language usage and structure get better and better only through practice and modeling. With only shorthand and jargon, those opportunities to hone word crafting dramatically decrease.

As for cheating, it is an old occurrence. It just gets scary when the kids have a better grip on technology which is harder to detect than ever before. This is a topic I hit in an upcoming blog about filtering software, too. Keep an eye out for it.

As for being able to block numbers, that is great to know. My service provider told me that I was stuck. I guess the only problem is that once you number is out, you need to get hit with a text before you can block it, unless you are getting hit by someone who e-mails you a text message (globalspec.com, for example). That is, if I understand you correctly.

Very interesting topic, Shakespeare--although, I'm wondering if it may be more a case of text messaging as a convenient replacement of verbal cellphone calls, rather than emails...

Emails as a convenient form of computer-communication were replaced largely by instant messaging programs like AIM back when I was in college (Okay, I'm dating myself-- I've been told recently that I need to "get with the times" and use MSN). Then again, kids will jump at any form of distraction in the classroom that they can get their hands on. If they have a computer class, you'll find them sneaking on aim and myspace when you're not looking.

I won't even get into the 'why kids have cellphones in the first place' debate... 8^D

Agreed. As Kaplin stated earlier (I think in response to Part II), it is a jump from AIM to text in shorter order than from e-mail.

I am just curious as to why many people have been telling me that kids (and recent college grads) are also using e-mail less than before. It seems like they would use AIM less with texting. But now they are going days without checking it.

Once I got into e-mail I developed an addiction. If I can leave it open, I do. But I ALWAYS check it when I get up in the morning, when I get home from work, and before I go to be. Sometimes after dinner, too, depending how long between getting home from work and dinner.

When I started teaching, kids were even more dedicated about checking than I was. If I sent an e-mail at night, I was fairly assured that kids would check it before school.

Now I don't count on that at all, even if I let them know that I will be sending something out during the day and to check before they come back the next day.

In my classes I have had to have all student put their cell phones up on the desk in plain sight during tests to prevent/reduce cheating. secondly, Every single test now has to be unique. Student come in knowing the questions/answers to the tests that other students in other sections have had. So all this texting has made for more work for me to get reasonable results on tests. In part this has made me better at my job, but I do have to put more time into the job. Some students will always cheat if they can. Most are basically honest, but will fall to peer pressure. I do my best to help all students get a honest education. We as instructors do have technology we can use.

Part of our student rights/responsibilities handbook covers cheating. In there we let them know what happens to cheaters and we define what cheating is. I just put up a video camera at the back of the room and tell the students why it's there. I even turn it on sometimes. I use the camera in class on a regular basis to help all students see into equipment when they all can't get all their heads in there at once. I have gone to this because I was catching cheating in almost every class.

I don't know why but for some reason I have had quite a few students who feel they are entitled to cheat.

I don't know why but for some reason I have had quite a few students who feel they are entitled to cheat.

Unfortunately, once a culture of entitlement permeates a part of society (or the society as a whole) there seems to be no bounds in terms of what people will eventually feel entitled to.

Sadly, we value grades more than education. That is why students will continue to cheat and teachers will have to spend more time on creating unique tests and less time actually teaching.

Not to mention, my district is constantly talking about common assessments. This strategy of individualized tests, while solving the problem, would mean that student achievement would be less statistically comparable.