PBS高端访谈:为什么说数字化教育是一把双刃剑?

 GWEN IFILL: But, first, school districts across the country are going high-tech¹, incorporating educational apps and digital programs into the classroom.

But fears about the privacy and security of students' personal information are on the rise.

Special correspondent John Tulenko of Education Week reports as a part of our Tuesday night series, Making the Grade.

JOHN TULENKO: Miami, Florida, is taking on one of public education's oldest problems: With so many students, how do you personalize instruction? One answer is with computers.

At Miami's iPrep Academy, one-size-fits-all lessons are a thing of the past.

NICOLE RASMUSON, iPrep Academy: We all started at the very beginning, and then some just took off.

JOHN TULENKO: Nicole Rasmuson teaches math, using innovative² software.

NICOLE RASMUSON: It's about 70 percent online. And it's a smart program, and so it checks, are they understanding, are they answering questions correctly right away? Are they struggling? Is it taking them a long time to answer questions? Do they keep making mistakes?

JOHN TULENKO: All the while, the computer is crunching³ and storing data about the students and sending back customized lessons.

NICOLE RASMUSON: It'll ask them, what are your interests? And so, in the word problems, it'll — if one kid's really interested in food, it'll talk about cookies and that kind of stuff. It'll even ask them, what are your friends' names? And then it'll put their friends' names in the problems, too.

为什么说数字化教育是一把双刃剑?

JOHN TULENKO: All that gets uploaded, along with student schedules, grades, discipline records, homework and even e-mails, the makings of what some have called a digital profile, that privacy expert Joel Reidenberg fears could someday be used in unauthorized ways.

JOEL REIDENBERG, Fordham University: We're going to have a lot of data floating around, with a lot of very detailed⁴ information that can be quite surprising.

One example: What a child eats in the school cafeteria is collected, using a student I.D. card. We can envision a day, for example, that a health insurance company wants to see what they ate when they were third-graders to decide how they were going to underwrite insurance. Is it farfetched? Could be. We don't know.

JOHN TULENKO: Already, students' data has been misused⁵. Google was recently sued for scanning students' e-mail accounts in order to build advertising⁶ profiles. The tech giant has since stopped and pledged, along with 214 other companies, not to use student data for commercial purposes.

But there are a whole lot more companies out there.

SUZETTE LOPEZ, Parent: I'm trying to protect my kids, and there's so much data collection that's going on right now that we we're not even aware of.

JOHN TULENKO: Suzette Lopez is a graphic⁷ designer who sends her children to Miami public schools.

SUZETTE LOPEZ: It's these third-party vendors⁸ that are what we're partnering with, that we're bringing them in. But then, how much oversight⁹ really is there with these partners? Who's keeping an eye on that data?

ALBERTO CARVALHO, Superintendent¹⁰, Miami-Dade County Public Schools: I think that's absolutely a legitimate¹¹ concern. But I think responsible school systems that have the appropriate policies and safeguards, quite frankly¹², reduce that threat.

JOHN TULENKO: To protect personal data, Miami Superintendent Alberto Carvalho requires that teachers and students use a web portal. All the apps and software inside have been vetted¹³, and the companies must sign contracts that prohibit any unauthorized or commercial use of students' information. These rules are strictly¹⁴ enforced.

ALBERTO CARVALHO: I can tell you, the penalties that we apply in Miami when private companies default on their contractual obligation, which is we bar them from future business with the school system.

JOHN TULENKO: So far, the district says, the tech companies have stuck to the rules. But at iPrep, teachers say they go outside the portal to use unregulated apps everyday. And they're not the only ones.

I would love to go around this little group and ask you to name some apps that you have downloaded on your school computer that are not part of the portal.

STUDENT: I have downloaded ooVoo, Skype, Spotify, Octagon, so just the basic stuff.

STUDENT: Yes, I found, like, several very easy reach-arounds to the school Wi-Fi and the different barriers they put up. They're pretty easy to go around. It's not the most comprehensive barriers in the world.

ALBERTO CARVALHO: Isn't that the definition of true human ingenuity¹⁵? And there is no gadget¹⁶, no amount of technology that stands up to the ingenuity of a kid.

But that's where the social and behavior teaching come in. That is the most important thing we can do, is actually teach students responsible use, liabilities, but also the benefits of using this new technology in this new environment.

JOHN TULENKO: Even if students took those lessons to heart, their personal data, including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers can still be compromised. It happened in the case of Pamela Rhim-Grant.

FRANK MADERAL, Assistant United States Attorney: Pamela Rhim-Grant was a food services manager at the Horace Mann Middle School here in Miami, and she was found to have been stealing student identities from the Miami-Dade public school computer system.

JOHN TULENKO: In 2014, Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Maderal prosecuted¹⁷ Rhim-Grant for stealing Social Security numbers from 400 students and using them to file fraudulent tax returns.

Exactly what did she have to do in order to walk away with a child's Social Security number?

FRANK MADERAL: Login, access the information, print it out.

SUZETTE LOPEZ: My son's social security was stolen. So, he was stolen and it took three years to clear up and three years to keep on telling the IRS that my son was my son.

JOHN TULENKO: Lopez's family was victimized in 2008, well before the Rhim-Grant case, but the effect was the same.

SUZETTE LOPEZ: I went to go file my taxes, and I couldn't. I'm extremely protective and I'm very careful about stuff, and for his number, which is not readily used, was shocking.

JOHN TULENKO: Miami school officials say hackers¹⁸ on the outside have never successfully broken in and stolen student data. But the growing amount of sensitive information stored electronically has driven lawmakers in at least 15 states to restrict what companies can collect and mandate¹⁹ steps to protect it.

That heightened security could put a damper on digital tools that personalize learning.

In Miami, Florida, I'm John Tulenko of Education Week reporting for the "PBS NewsHour."

1 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

2 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

3 crunching   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• The horses were crunching their straw at their manger. 这些马在嘎吱嘎吱地吃槽里的草。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog was crunching a bone. 狗正嘎吱嘎吱地嚼骨头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

5 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

7 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

8 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

10 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

11 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

12 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

13 vetted   

v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的过去式和过去分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• The recruits were thoroughly vetted before they were allowed into the secret service. 情报机关招募的新成员要经过严格的审查。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All staff are vetted for links with extremist groups before being employed. 所有职员录用前均须审查是否与极端分子团体有关。 来自辞典例句

14 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

15 ingenuity   

n.别出心裁；善于发明创造

参考例句：

• The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
• I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。

16 gadget   

n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿

参考例句：

• This gadget isn't much good.这小机械没什么用处。
• She has invented a nifty little gadget for undoing stubborn nuts and bolts.她发明了一种灵巧的小工具用来松开紧固的螺母和螺栓。

17 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

18 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

19 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。