Ryan CordellFeb 24, 2023
I do not know if he intended to share it with me, but our 11-yo shared a Google Slides deck titled "The New Chat Room" that is approximately 500 slides long, where each slide is students in his class posting pop culture pictures &/or memes & using the Slides comments to chat with each other about them—I knew that students used this kind of hack to get around school content filters but seeing it in action is something else
Marian T. WirthFeb 27, 2023
Show threadRyan Cordell

Last night the 11yo broke down the Google Slides middle school Chatroom for me:

1. At first they used a Google doc but the infinite scroll was too chaotic
2. In the slide deck each new slide is one “post”—some all text, some images, some both—
3. They use slides’ comments feature to “reply” to each other’s “posts”
4. This allows participants to easily flip between posts using the slide thumbnail navigation, so they can find the conversations they care about easily
5. He owns the file & if anyone spams it, deletes other people’s posts, or gets nasty, he can revert the file to its previous save state & remove the spammer’s access
6. He did share the file with me on purpose, I think because he was proud & wanted me to see what he’d made

Essentially they’ve created a chatroom with moderation in Google Slides, so they can get around the school’s ban on platforms like Discord. It’s kind of brilliant

Feb 26, 2023 at 3:18pmWeb
Show threadSam Easterby-SmithFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell absolutely love it!
Show threadSam Easterby-SmithFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell might try it at work, we are all banned from everything there.
Show threadTim KelloggFeb 27, 2023
@ryancordell @sam sounds better than Teams tbh
Show threadRyan CordellFeb 27, 2023
@kellogh @sam 😆
Show threadrhgrouls Feb 28, 2023
@sam @kellogh @ryancordell teams group communication is an absolute horror
Show threadAndy PierceFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell years ago I heard kids were using random YouTube videos for posting their conversations in the comments, but this is really quite clever! Teens and preteens will always find places for private discussions I guess!
Show threadAlistair DavidsonFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell we built a chat program in VisualBASIC when I was in school, Steve who was our ringleader got banned from using computers for a year for it
Show threadOliFeb 26, 2023
@moh_kohn @ryancordell yep, schools encouraging creativity and nurturing talent again
Show threadArthaey AngosiiFeb 27, 2023
@moh_kohn @ryancordell I admit, I'm quite curious how Steve's doing as an adult. :)
Show threadAlistair DavidsonFeb 27, 2023
@arthaey @ryancordell me too! Wish I could remember his last name...
Show threadFrankFeb 27, 2023
@ryancordell @arthaey @moh_kohn Harrington?
Show threadGerty SteinblattFeb 27, 2023
@moh_kohn @ryancordell
Typical, if anyone demonstrates an aptitude/skill in a field, then banning all their access to all resources in that field is the most beneficial educational strategy, obvs. :(
I hope Steve's excelling and contented now.
Show threadBurrito JusticeFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell this might be Google’s most popular social network
Show threadSteve PortigalFeb 26, 2023
@burritojustice @ryancordell and the one with the best UX
Show threadAllan ChowFeb 26, 2023
@steveportigal @burritojustice @ryancordell slides on Android is fantastic.
Show threadRyan CordellFeb 26, 2023
@burritojustice 😆
Show threadDreaFeb 26, 2023
@burritojustice @ryancordell 😂
Show threadveeteeFeb 27, 2023
@burritojustice will certainly be its longest lived
@ryancordell
Show threadSam Van Horne, Ph.D.Nov 11
@burritojustice @ryancordell TBF Google Wave was a low bar
Show threadDoctor MemoryFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell ⬆️ "The street finds its own uses for things." --William Gibson, "Burning Chrome"
Show threadGlyphFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell @anildash as we drift ever closer to our kid having this kind of relationship to technology, I wonder what these conversations are going to be like. Did you get their consent to post about this? If so, what was that conversation like? If not, how do you weigh the public interest in something like this vs the potential consequences, like the possibility that some other busybody parent follows you you sees this post and tattles to the administration to shut it down?
Show threadMikeFeb 27, 2023
@glyph this was my exact thought. Let's not narc these kids.
Show threadColletteFeb 27, 2023
@glyph @ryancordell @anildash No, I fully support sharing this information. So what if the school admin finds out- I think it'll drive innovation. This is appropriate stress testing for the kids' systems. (And I learned something today)
Show threadGlyphFeb 27, 2023
@collette @ryancordell @anildash I am personally interested in this and grateful to read about how it works, so on balance I am also glad the info was shared and hope there’s a good answer to these questions. My questions are about parents’ relationships with their kids and with technology and trust, not about the administration’s response. Ryan sounds thoughtful so I wanted to know how he’s thinking about it, not trying to shame him for sharing.
Show threadRyan CordellFeb 27, 2023
@glyph @collette @anildash I did make sure to ask J before posting & he let the kids on the slides know I would. I didn’t *really* think another parent would see this, but I also didn’t think it would blow up quite this much! Honestly if it gets shut down for any reason, I’m pretty confident they’d find another avenue
Show threadAlexander The 1stFeb 27, 2023

@ryancordell @glyph @collette @anildash My immediate thought was Office 365 PowerPoint slides.

Though now I'm hoping they go more esoteric and go for either Google Sheets/Excel Sheets chatrooms.

Show threadPseudonymous Feb 27, 2023
@glyph @ryancordell @anildash
Ahhh... Censorship. Helping exclude the law-abiding from public participation.
Good to see you're raising your kid right, though.
Show threadUncle 6 🌁Feb 26, 2023
@ryancordell the kids are all right, plainly
Show threadThirteenth WorrierFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell future POTUS. Marking my calendar for Nov. 2nd, 2047
Show threadRyan CordellFeb 26, 2023
@ThirteenthWorrier 😆
Show threadJeremy KahnFeb 28, 2023
@ThirteenthWorrier @ryancordell why would 11yo settle for President: if my 10yo is any indication, the high school class of 2030 or so are all ancoms who (also, paradoxically) value things in whuffie.
Show threadDisplay NameNov 11
@ThirteenthWorrier @ryancordell The election is in 2048. why 2047?
Show threadNathan PitmanFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell I think this is fairly common, my kids used the same hack at school here in the UK. Great to see tech being used and abused in such a creative manner. :)
Show threadCorsaFeb 27, 2023
@ryancordell @nathanpitman I had to live stream twitch yesterday via FaceTime because the college banned it.
Show threadwhitneyFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell this is brilliant! (And it’s kinda how I used Google Slides while teaching online with a combo of aysnchronous work and synchronous Zoom.)
Show threadColletteFeb 27, 2023
@writerethink @ryancordell I think this will help zoom collaborations too
Show threadmalteFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell amazing!!! 🤩
Show threadAvi Rappoport (avirr)Feb 26, 2023
@ryancordell When there were very few networked computers, people chatted in the Suggestions feature of the MELVYL library catalog. They’d use nonsense codes to find each other. It was amazing!
Show threadAvi Rappoport (avirr)Feb 26, 2023
@ryancordell i just saw your profile and realized what a relevant anecdote this is — I hope you can use it in your work!
Show threadRyan CordellFeb 26, 2023
@avirr oh I will!
Show threadschalkenFeb 26, 2023
@avirr @ryancordell That's amazing! It's amazing to see people figure things like that out for themselves.
Show threadgenFeb 27, 2023

@avirr
DILCUE

Signed, a student library worker

Show threadTextzickeFeb 27, 2023
@avirr @ryancordell WAH, this is brilliant! 🤩
Show threadStephFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell this genuinely sounds better moderated and less dodgy than most commercial social media tbh
Show threadBenj EdwardsFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell My kids have been using Google Slides to play “games” of pretend with their school friends for about 3 years. They will paste art and arrange it kind of like a paper dollhouse, but with many subjects like animals, unicorns, dragons. It’s multi-player and collaborative
Show threadTextzickeFeb 27, 2023
@ryancordell @benjedwards 😱👍🏻
Show threadLunar 🛸 ♾Dec 10
@benjedwards @ryancordell I used to love making point-and-click-esque adventures with PowerPoint
Show threadHarpFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell talented🤓
Show threadninavizzFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell Adults can be SO dumb. LOVE the innovation the kiddos are rising to the occasion to make happen!
Show threadbigiainFeb 26, 2023
@ninavizz @ryancordell On the other hand, once you've hit 6 or 7 thousand Powerpoint decks from cow orkers that could have been a text message, you end up with a Pavlovian reaction to slide decks and intentionally avoiding Google Slides or even pretending it doesn't exist starts to look like a decent self preservation tactic...
Show threadColletteFeb 27, 2023
@bigiain @ninavizz @ryancordell i stay away because of the color palette but will give it another look
Show threadTom HuntFeb 26, 2023
@ryancordell
20 years ago I taught middle school computer science. All the students had accounts on a Sun server running Solaris. We were a test site for Sun’s SunRay thin client in schools. It didn’t take long for the students to find the talk command originally from 4.2BSD.
That day’s lesson became file permissions and how the system administrator (me) could remove the executable bit.
Show threadStarkFeb 26, 2023

@ryancordell

How does a school ban #discord? Who is snitching on students using it?

Show threadBobFeb 26, 2023
@Stark9837 @ryancordell They first make a rule against accessing it using school devices (to include routers, etc). When that inevitably doesn't work, they'll block the domain, etc. on all school equipment.
Show threadOliFeb 26, 2023
@bobmueller @Stark9837 @ryancordell my kids know more about vpn's, tor, and proxies than i do
And of that doesn't work someone with unlimited data hot-spots their phone for everyone
Show threadGyroplastNov 11

@bobmueller @Stark9837 @ryancordell

If the blocking and surveillance becomes too oppressive, there will always be that one kid who then proceeds to WiFi hotspot its phone to the class, with a VPN and an unlimited data plan, and all your precious local controls are instantly pointless. Too bad, so sad.

I appreciate how schools inadvertently inspire future hackers' creativity, though! You can't really teach Chaotic Good. :)

Thanks for sharing, I love all of this!

And please fist-bump your kiddo once more for taking charge in providing communal communication infrastructure, and maintaining it under threat of repercussions.

Show threadmjfgatesFeb 26, 2023
@Stark9837 @ryancordell System admin removes the ability to access discord.com from inside the local network. There's a couple of layers of "oh, and disallow this TOO to prevent thus-and-such workaround" but they're all pretty well known.
Show threadGerty SteinblattFeb 27, 2023
@Stark9837 @ryancordell
The snitches are more than likely other students.