‘Stammy’ (as he is universally known) makes some great points – in fact his paper got an ‘A’ at Georgia Tech where, as a 21 year-old, he is studying. In what follows, I’m just going to quote Stammy’s paper and join up the dots with my own thoughts…

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a maturing wireless technology with widespread uses, many of which individuals interact with on a daily basis, whether they are aware of it or not. RFID tags can make businesses more efficient through rapid inventory management, provide consumers with a faster method of checking out at their local convenience store, ensure that people are properly administered the medicine they need, and more (Bhuptani, 2005, p. 5).

Wikipedia has, perhaps, a more succinct definition:

An RFID tag is an object that can be applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radiowaves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.

Stammy goes on to talk about more of the applications of RFID:

Low-cost RFID tags have penetrated the marketplace due to their sheer benefits over traditional barcodes, which hold several limitations. RFID tags fortify the primary draw of bar codes – the ability for ordinary items to be machine-readable at a trivial cost. Where as bar codes store an infinitesimal amount of data, ranging from 8 numeric characters to 2000 ASCII characters, RFID tags may hold up to 128 kilobytes (Hunt, 2006, p. 21). However, it is the wireless capabilities of RFID tags that make their uses obvious over bar codes. Many tags may be read at once and tags need not be within line-of-sight. Their technical implementation also ensures tags are difficult to replicate (Hunt, 2006, p. 22). Even though RFID tags compete with bar codes, tags are far from being limited to similar uses. The wireless ability of RFID tags has opened the door to previously impossible applications.

Some of these ‘previously impossible applications’, however, are worrying:

The canonical doomsday scenario for RFID tags does not deal with cracking encrypted RFID tags used for payment so much as creating a global consumer database from tags in consumer purchases. RFID tags were intended, like most technology, to offer the end user a cheaper, more efficient, and convenient product in the long run. But with RFID tags, how much convenience is too much? Perhaps when it can be used to track people with any degree of accuracy. This is where item-level tagging should be used with caution. Item-level tagging is the term for the embedding RFID tags in individual products as opposed to pallets of bulk products in a warehouse. Item-level tagging is not yet prevalent but at the current pace it is expected between 2010 and 2020 (Bhuptani, 2005, p. 182).

The problem isn’t necessarily with individual RFID tags, but when the combined data from them is aggregated:

MIT Professor Jerry Saltzer once stated that privacy is a database correlation issue. Suppose several separate entities have their own databases of information from someone. Entity A might have their name and address, Entity B their name, SSN [Social Security Number] and list of recent purchases, Entity C their name, date of birth, mother’s maiden name and so on. All it takes is a malicious person with access to these databases (that may just mean access to the Internet in some cases) to cross-reference a shared term such as that person’s name and they will have a great deal of information about that person. This might sound Orwellian, but it is a real concern that should be heeded.

So, what can be done? Well, consumers could remove the tags themselves. However, some RFID tags can be smaller than a grain of salt! Another way that Stammy mentions is to apply the ‘Faraday cage’ principle and to shield the area with tin foil or wire mesh. This is not a fooproof method, unfortunately. Perhaps we need some type of standard?

Before RFID proliferation reaches the tipping point, consumers should know their RFID rights and corporations should follow them. Privacy expert Simson Garfinkel proposed the RFID Bill of Rights to serve this purpose. They include the rights to: know whether products contain RFID tags, have tags removed or disabled once tagged items have been purchased, use RFID- enabled services without tags, access the data stored on an RFID tag and know when, where, and why tags are being read (Garfinkel, 2002, p. 35). Similar to how a pack of M&M’s states they were manufactured in a plant that processes peanuts, future items containing RFID tags should make it easy for the ordinary consumer to know whether the item is tagged.

Overall, a great paper from Stammy and well worth his ‘A’. I recommend you go and read the ten-and-a-half pages for yourself and follow up some of the links in the bibliography.

Finally, then, what are we going to do as educators about this? It’s a similar problem to school libraries having the fingerprints of every pupil in the school on file. It wouldn’t be difficult for a government to build an instant fingerprint database (‘in the interests of national security’) without explicit consent. I see no practical reason why we should be tracking children using RFID at all.

What are your thoughts? :D

#getthatjob: an educator’s guide to finding, applying, and interviewing for a teaching-related job

There are a number of dark arts in the world of education: classroom management, keeping on top of marking, applying for teaching jobs, being three examples. In this post I intend to deal with the last of these. I can only speak from my own experience, although I have been fairly successful in getting interviews from my applications. Any views or additional advice in the comments section would be very welcome! :D

The things I would advise to be in any letter of application for a teaching-related job would be:

• The specific things you have been asked to include in the letter that accompanies the application pack you received
• Your academic track record
• The educational philosophy that informs your teaching
• What you can bring to the role for which you are applying
• Extra-curricular stuff you can offer

Let’s see how that breaks down.

1. Put your name and contact details at the top of your letter of application, centred (address, phone, email, etc.)

2. Address the headteacher properly (check if they’re a ‘Dr’ for example) and then in the introduction list your positive qualities and your academic achievements. I tend to start with saying something like,

I am creative and enthusiastic teacher with excellent ICT skills writing in application for the post of X at Y school.

Talk about how your studies inform your teaching, using phrases like ‘putting theory into practice’.

3. Following that paragraph I would talk about one’s educational philosophy. For example,

I believe that to be an effective teacher one must also be an effective learner, which is why I continue to develop and challenge myself.

Go on in this paragraph to discuss how your teaching is informed by various theories and what you feel the purpose of education to be. Link this to how you would approach the role to which you are applying.

4. In the next paragraph talk about specific issues to do with the post to which you are applying. Do your homework: read newsletters, inspection reports and the like to ascertain what the school is proud of and where it is looking to develop. Remember that you are trying to associate yourself with the school as much as possible, so use phrases like,

As X at Y school, I would focus on raising examination achievement whilst preparing students for the world outside the school gates. One of the most motivating ways to engage 21st century learners is through the pedagogically-sound use of ICT. Over a period of time I would aim to raise the ICT capabilities of staff in the Z department at Y to make the use of educational technology part of their everyday toolkit.

5. Next it’s the turn of non-teaching aspects. So if you’re a tutor, mention what you’ve been doing with your tutor group. Put across a picture of being warm and friendly – someone to turn to, yet someone who checks on their progress. Don’t paint it as a bed of roses: be honest if you’ve got a difficult group, but be sure that you show how you’re ‘turning them round’ through working with a team of colleagues.

6. If you’ve got other strings to your bow – sports, music, etc. – then write how you currently (or could in future) run extra-curricular groups. Have a look at the extra-curricular programme of the school to which you’re applying – are there any gaps which you could fill? Suggest them!

7. The next paragraph should talk about reasons for applying for the job. Sometimes this might be implicit – for example if you’re going for a promotion. It’s always a good idea, however, to mention why you’re applying for a job if it will involve you moving. Family ties or a pleasant place to bring up your children are always good reasons to put down. If you mention that the school sounds like a place you would send your kids, there’s extra bonus points!

8. The first and last paragraphs are the clinchers, and of those, the last is the most important. It is, after all, the one that will stay in the mind of the reader and therefore potentially decide whether you go on the ‘rejection’, ‘possibly’ or ‘definitely’ piles r.e. interviews. Always mention the name of the person to which the letter is addressed in your conclusion, always mention some more personal positive qualities, and always ‘big up’ the school to which you’re applying. If you can massage the ego of the person to whom the letter is addressed, so much the better:

In conclusion, Mr X, I would hope to add to the pool of expertise and excellent reputation of Y school through my leadership skills, innovative teaching, and infectious enthusiasm. I would look forward to teaching in, according to the recent governors’ report, a school in which pupil behaviour is ‘very good’, achievement is recognised, and I can make a real difference.

Additional tips:

• Quote what they have told you back at them in the context of your application. If they are a specialist school, talk about how this is a bonus for your position; if they are proud of the results of a recent inspection, quote excerpts back at them, and so on!
• If you feel it is appropriate, attempt to use some humour. Do so sparingly, however…
• There is a bit of a debate over which typefaces/fonts to use to influence people. After reading this blog post, I now favour Georgia over Times New Roman for both my essays and letters of application. (I’ve actually considered using it for this blog, but it would involve a whole redesign…)
• Invest in some quality paper and print onto that. Try to get heavyweight stuff with a slight texture – you’re trying to make an impression!
• Although teaching authorities have different application forms, most put them on their websites. Not only does it look more professional to fill them in electronically, but you’ve then got a copy to use if you ever apply for another job in that authority. :p
• Unless they specify that you can submit your application electronically, don’t. Even then, I would do so with caution. At present, if you send it by post there’s a great probability it will get to be read by the person who matters – and you have more control over presentation!

Here endeth the lesson. I, and others applying for jobs, would be interested in your views and advice in the comments section! :)

Images: Random Letters, old typewriter, The New School & Postbox @ Flickr

Over at dougbelshaw.com I’ve been using Twitter to keep visitors up-to-date with what I’m currently doing. The idea of the (free) web service is to answer the question “What are you doing?” – in less than 180 characters. You can update your profile via twitter.com, mobile phone or by instant message (MSN Messenger, AIM, GTalk, etc.).

I think Twitter could be ideal for reminding students about homework, trips and such things, especially as they can enter their mobile phone number to be alerted when one of their ‘friends’ updates their account. The advantage is that you don’t need to know the phone numbers of students to get messages onto their device: they are the ones who authorize their mobile phone from the website and they subscribe to your Twitter feed.

I’m going to ask my Year 10 class – you know the ones who are blogging and using a wiki already – if they see the benefit in using such a service. Most of them are great at remembering their homework, but a couple could benefit from a nudge… ;-)