If you’re very opinionated about technology and the discussions surrounding it, you might want to look into taking the Speak Up 2009 survey.

Speak Up is a program that polls students, teachers, and parents about their views on technology, and specifically, what roles technology should play in education and in the classroom today. These issues are closely related to the “cell phones in class debate” going on at Nova right now. Speak Up is one of the few survey programs that bothers to ask the students’ opinions, so take advantage of that.

The survey for high school students (9th to 12th graders) is 34 questions long and asks questions about things such as your access to computers and the Internet, what sort of technology you typically use for schoolwork, and what you wish you had access to at school. Different surveys are available for teachers, parents, and administrators, and surveys are also available in Spanish.

To enter the survey, you need the school password, “nova” (all lowercase, case sensitive). If you’re interested in taking the Speak Up 2009 survey, follow the links at the bottom of this article!

The survey is open until December 18, 2009, after which a follow-up article will be coming to the Nova Knows technology section with a summary of our school’s results. Even if you don’t have reason to help the Speak Up organization, you can take the survey for fun, and to help paint a better portrait of where views on technology lay in the Nova community.

Take the survey here: http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2009/
View a .pdf file of the questions here: http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/speakup_surveys.html

I have a quick this-or-that question for you. Would you rather have your Internet usage regulated by your ISP (Internet Service Provider), or the Federal Communications Commission? Okay, allow me to elaborate. Would you rather your ISP have the power to block sites, determining what networks or sites you can or can’t use? Or would you prefer the FCC have the power to legislate over the Internet?

This is the debate (or one of them, anyway) that is currently dividing Congress, as well as many Internet users–and even companies. John Lilly, the CEO of Mozilla, voiced support for the proposed “net neutrality” rules in a recent editorial for the Wall Street Journal (footnote 1). Sites such as SaveTheInternet.com have sprung up in recent weeks, some, including the above, collecting digital signatures for a petition to send to Congress in favor of net neutrality. In the meantime, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (of Tennessee) is presenting a House bill that would prevent the FCC from making any regulations regarding Internet services, arguing that allowing FCC to be imposed over the Internet will lead to the same regulatory level of censorship that is present in TV and radio (footnote 2).

Most of Nova is familiar with what a “non-neutral” Internet looks like. Anyone who uses a school computer (as this reporter is doing while writing this article) has probably experienced the frustration of the site you want to access being blocked. Now, at Nova, this is the filtering imposed by the Seattle Public Schools district. This may be an editorial comment, but I think most people can agree that students at a public school probably shouldn’t have access to all content of the Internet on a computer for school use. (There are some sick weirdos out there, you know.)

But imagine your personal Internet connection, at home, having “filtering,” or access blocked to certain sites. Imagine if AT&T, AOL, Comcast, or whatever ISP you use, had the power to block you from accessing sites of competing companies, or legal but generally frowned upon clients such as BitTorrent. Legally speaking, an ISP could do that right now (footnote 3). But is legislating that they can’t block access a protection of free Internet usage, or is it an imposition on the business rights of the ISPs?

I must jump in here and say that it isn’t really my job as a journalist to tell you which is right. The issue is pretty significant, though, to all frequent users of the Internet, which is most high school students today.

How does the Nova community feel about net neutrality? And, while we’re at it, the increased filtering that has been put upon our school computers this year? (Okay, that’s probably a different article.) I’d really like to start a serious debate in our Nova Knows comments section, so if you have your own thoughts on net neutrality and how much power ISPs or the FCC should have over your personal Internet usage, take a minute to leave a comment on this article!

Footnotes (sources cited):

1. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355059,00.asp

2. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2354611,00.asp

3. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2354611,00.asp

In our world here at Nova, we’ve grown comfortable with the idea of self discipline. We have been allowed the freedom at school to make our own choices in so many facets of our daily lives, one of those choices being how we use our cell phones. This topic has become a point of conflict with the teaching staff. We have never been a school where the practice of confiscation of personal belongings has been instituted, but now that students have brought socializing into the classroom in a way that is proven to detract from their learning, teachers have requested an adjustment. At what point is it okay to be lead by a minority like this? While our teachers have an undeniable case for change, is it their right to enact it?

In the most recent meeting of day to day committee, our principal opened the discussion to bring an end to this cell phone use. Mark Perry  has suggested that the topic initially be broached in coor, with a culminating all-school vote on the subject looming. Chances are good by the tone of Mark’s argument and the general agreement by at least the teaching staff present at the meeting, that privileges as they are now will not be an option. Teachers present claimed they’ve often taken the interruption of cell phones in their classes to be a disrespectful slap in the face, and there was total agreement that they are always a distraction.

Joe Szwaja commented that, “I don’t take it as a sign of disrespect, but when you’re multitasking with your phone and your work, I don’t believe you’re producing at the same quality you could be otherwise.”  There is certainly plenty of evidence to back up Joe’s theory. In fact, such topics have been the cover article of Time magazine (see the online article), and the consensus opinion is that multitasking produces mediocrity.

Students at the meeting, were not willing to simply accept the validity of these concerns at face value. Isobel Bradbury proclaimed that “I use my cell phone in class, and I don’t think its ever been a big deal.” She however went on to say that, “while I can think of a bunch of reasons I need texting for myself, I don’t see a good reason for the school as a whole.” Personal reasons have been cited in the past as an invalid argument when advocating change in Nova’s policies.

Mark’s goal is that we can get behind the idea of turning our cell phones off before every class. This strong stance was not well received, but a chord of compromise was struck with some students. “I leave my phone on vibrate when I’m in class,”  shared Shaniquequa Eakin, “It isn’t a distraction, and I can be discrete about it.”  This option, and adopting a policy of setting phones to the “all sounds off” setting were sacrifices students seemed willing to make.

This issue is deeply controversial and represents a monumental step in changing the lifestyle of the 21st century student. the deteriorating attention spans of a generation are the result of this multimedia multitasking, but with each personal freedom our school takes away, we become more and more like the authoritarian mainstream education institutions we avoided by coming here. In the end, our school is still a democracy, and you the students will have the final say as to how this topic is resolved.

Volunteering at the UW Med Center has flexible hours (the requirement is 4 hours a week for at least three months, and the Center helps teen volunteers get shifts on the weekends or after school), and is a great way to get into a professional healthcare setting. Volunteers are responsible for patients and assisting them, and the experience is very valuable to anyone after a career in the medical profession (it looks good on college and job applications, too!).

UW Med Center’s program is open year round and always accepting new volunteers. The majority of teens volunteer during summer vacation, and stop when the school year starts, so new volunteers would be very helpful to the Med Center at this time of year! Opportunities are available at both the main University of Washington Medical Center, at 1959 NE Pacific St., and the Roosevelt UW Medical Center, at 4245 Roosevelt Way NE. To sign up for an information meeting at the medical center, call Volunteer Services at 206-598-4218. Volunteer Services is open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4 pm.

The Pacific Science Center’s Discovery Corps is a program that allows teen volunteers to work at the Pacific Science Center, and gain skills useful for careers in science and career experience on a whole. There are training sessions available to join the Discovery Corps on November 7, 14, and 21, from 9 am to 5:30 pm.