Week 1 - Blog Posting #2 - Learning 2.0

Just this morning, I stumbled on this article in Education Week:


Filtering Fixes by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo
District leaders make changes to offer greater online access to students.

In the article, one teacher remarks, "I’m a big advocate for experiential learning, but it’s kind of hard to teach Internet etiquette or rules of how to act and interact online without exposing them to the stuff that’s out there,” Mr. Jenkins said. “It’s hard to teach those things in a vacuum.”(Manzo, 2009) While the article does focus on teaching children responsible internet behavior and learning how to be safe, it does point out the penny-wise, pound-foolish policy of the use of some filters. “We believe that you can’t have goals about kids’ collaborating globally and then block their ability to do that,” said Becky Fisher, the[...]technology coordinator."

The article also shows two interesting tables (shown above this post). Classroom lessons and assignments aren't the only things that suffer at the heavy hand of web filters: in a Twitter message this morning, @wbasinger tweets: "Internet filters and old software make PD [professional development] a real challenge" (twitter.com).

Let's see if any of my sites are unblocked today.

References:

Kennedy Manzo, K (2009, August 31). Filtering Fixes. Education Week, Retrieved 2009, September 2, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/09/02/02filter_ep.h29.html?tkn=QN[FwPR%2BcQ5C163IrJXxrec3ENEZu1KEL9H9

"wbasinger", (2009, September 1). Twitter.com: @wbasinger. Retrieved September 3, 2009, from Twitter Web site: http://twitter.com/wbasinger/status/3695823916

Week 1 - Blog Posting #1 - Web 2.0

Today was the teacher's first day back at my school. It was mostly meetings, to share information we needed before the students arrived as well as notifying us of policy changes in the district.
One bit of information that caught my attention was one small line of text on the Welcome letter. It stated that the district was implementing new web-filtering software, and that we might notice some changes in which sites we could access.
Later that day, I spent some time in the computer lab going through some links on my school pages to make sure everything was accessible through the school network. My link for students to sign up for Zoho.com: blocked. My assignment calendar on Google: blocked. All of my Ning networks (I have three): blocked.
Granted, the technology coordinator assured me that, on request, sites could be unblocked; however, it called to mind echoes of the videos I watched on the FSO prompt for our blog posts. How can we engage our students with new media, and still teach them how to be responsible 'netizens', if we don't even have access?

In this excerpt from Scott McLeod's blog, Dangerously Irrelevant, the author takes an ironic, poetic look at how our hyper-vigilance is exactly what our students don't need:

Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?

dear parent

teacher

administrator

board member

don't teach your kids to read

for the Web

to scan

RSS

aggregate

synthesize

don't teach your kids to write

online

pen and paper aren't going anywhere

since when do kids need an audience?

no need to hyperlink

make videos

audio

Flash

no connecting, now

no social networking

or online chat

or comments

or PLNs

blogs and twitter?

how self-absorbed

what a bunch of crap

and definitely, absolutely, resolutely, no cell phones

block it all

lock it down

keep it out

it's evil, you know

there's bad stuff out there

gotta keep your children safe

don't you know collaboration is just another word for cheating?

don't you know how much junk is out there?

haven't you ever heard of sexting?

of cyberbullying?

a computer 24-7? no thanks

I don't want them

creating

sharing

thinking

learning

you know they're just going to look at porn

and hook up with predators

we can't trust them

don't do any of it, please

really

'cause I'm doing all of it with my kids

can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two

can you?

(McLeod, 2009)

In another post from the same blog, he cites an excerpt from a letter by a frustrated teacher about 'net restriction in school, and refers to the approach by districts as the "bomb-to-kill-flea" method (McLeod, 2008). Only a little hyperbole?

Sources:
McLeod, S (2009, August 26). Don't teach your kids this stuff, please?. Retrieved September 2, 2009, from Dangerously Irrelevant Web site: http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2009/08/dont-teach-your-kids-this-stuff-please.html

McLeod, S (2008, January 14). I'd like an idiocy filter, please.. Retrieved September 2, 2009, from Dangerously Irrelevant Web site: http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2008/01/id-like-an-idio.html