FERPA - funny name, serious discussion

This is a response to Dr. Terri's blog post:
This recent post in another's blog discusses the issues of the Family Educational Rights Protection Act. Which protects students' privacy when it comes to academic records.  Read the article (and perhaps refer to the links on what is FERPA at the bottom) and develop a plan for having students share content in online format like blogs and wikis. 

If FERPA limits the amount of information that schools can share concerning student records, the first question that comes to my mind is, "What CAN be shared?" The blog's article stated that certain personally identifiable information or pictures can be open to the public. Another aspect that concerns/interests me is that online social media "may not be FERPA-protected because it has not been received and therefore is not in the custody of the university, at least until the student submission is copied or possibly just reviewed by the faculty member” (NC State FERPA Guidelines). Does this mean that blogs are not protected unless they are graded? Or unless the professor posts feedback on the blog itself? I'm a little confused about this, so any insight is greatly appreciated.

With the information and current understanding I have, here is my plan for students:

1. Get parent permission to use a blog, and, with it, give a description of information that their student is not allowed to publish. Give them information about what a blog/wiki is, what it means for the classroom, and the ways in which students' information will be kept private. Additionally, I feel like the parent waiver should include a section on what the teacher will and will not be held responsible for in the case that a student posts personally indentifiable information.
2. Have at least one class that covers what students are and are not allowed to publish on their classroom social networking page. This includes information on netiquette, as well as what personally identifiable information to avoid posting.
3. Have students sign a waiver that says they have participated in the training lecture and that they understand the guidelines for the site.
4. Maintain an updated rule page that students can access anytime they are online. The rules would cover the types of information that would be considered personally identifiable.
5. With the students, develop a plan for how to respond to a violation of the rules. Some students/classes may decide that a violation would result in the site being shut down. Others may think that too harsh and have a warning process instead.
6. Continue throughout the year reviewing the guidelines and reminding students of their importance. As a reminder, provide another waiver for parents and students at the beginning of the second semester. It may also be beneficial for parents/students to have a way of anonymously reporting violations. That way, they feel like they have some participation in the process.

Question #3 - Snow Days

Here is the question from Dr. Terri's blog (1/30/11):

As the weather is looming, I wonder, how could schools be using technology in more meaningful ways to avoid snow days?
Here is an article from the Washington Post about one school that is doing this.
What kind of skills or training might teachers need? What about the digital divide?  

Response:

The first idea that comes to my mind to reduce the number of snow days is using technology like Skype. If a school has laptops that the students can take home, the school can send them home with students the day before a forecasted blizzard. Then teachers, during their regular hours, would teach from home. I believe this would work better in smaller schools or schools with block scheduling. The problem is that this method would be very confusing to students and teachers. Another idea, to avoid this confusion, is that teachers could post 30-minute long YouTube videos over that day's content. Students are expected to watch these videos at any point during that school day. Finally, I would suggest teachers updating on a class blog with the day's assignments.

Other than training for the technology itself (such as posting to YouTube, updating a blog, etc.), teachers would need training for pedagogy and technology. Distance education requires different instructional methods, and many teachers do not know how to change a lesson plan to fit the medium. Oftentimes, teachers just upload the in-class notes/PowerPoint online and call it a lesson. An important aspect of distance learning is motivation. Teachers must know how to motivate students who are not sitting directly in front of them.

As mentioned in the article, some students do not have access to a computer or the internet at home. This can occur in low SES urban neighborhoods, where families cannot afford the technology, or in rural areas, where internet is not accessible. I mentioned previously that schools could loan computers to students the day before a possible snow day. Similarly, teachers could have "snow day packets" that they prepare at the beginning of the school year to give to students. There could be one for December, January, and February . They could include DVDs of lessons, CDs with music/podcasts, printed articles, and assignments. Since teachers often know the subject that they will be teaching during certain times of the year, they can prepare the packets to fit that subject area. Additionally, each packet could be divided by the number of days off up to three, since that is difficult to determine in advance. So, students only do the Day #1 portion if schools are closed one day, the Day #1 and Day #2 portions if schools are closed two days, and Day #1, Day #2, and Day #3 if school is closed three or more days.

I'm not a teacher, so from a teacher's perspective, I would love to hear what you think about the snow day packets. Do you already do that? Is it possible for the elementary school level?