Most of my past experience as a classroom teacher (middle school) has shown me that instant messaging in the classroom was “evil”. I would take my kids to the computer lab to work on a project, do some research, etc… Most of my time was spent watching kids try to hide AIM in the task bar. They would talk to each other while they were waiting for the ancient machines to do anything. I never knew how to respond. When the machines were working well there was less attempts at ‘conversation’. I understood the need to talk, they are middle schoolers after all. But just downloading the program was a violation of the AUP, keeping tabs on them a distraction, and someone always said the wrong thing. IM opened a whole new kettle of fish I did not have the time to deal with.

Then Friday a very tech savvy and very forward thinking high school teacher asked me to find some IM that students had sent using the messaging feature on Moodle. We had trouble finding them until we realized that only I, as site administrator, could see them. We also found the feature to turn it off if needed, it would effect the whole site. For now we decided to leave it on. She thought that if she showed her students that we could see what they wrote, and they could not ‘take it back’ then that might keep them on the straight and narrow. She finds it a valuable tool and I agree. Her students can message each other through moodle while working on a collaborate project without using the forums. It may be just a quick question “How do I find ….?” or for project partners to discuss the assignment. I myself use IM for a variety of reasons and have found it a valuable tool.

This brings me back to a discussion a colleague and I have been sharing about how to teach and promote a positive, constructive, responsible use of such tools. She and I have met to create guidelines for teachers and students from K-12. We are using a variety of sources including David Warlick’s ethics for student and teachers to find something that will work with our age groups and district. These tools are somethings our kids do anyway, we need to model responsible use and have these discussions as we use these tools in schools.

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