I have been blessed to work with such an open IT department within our school division for the last six years. When many complain about lack of access to things such as YouTube and Twitter, we can access them and we have filters that block out sites that are inappropriate (pornography and gambling obviously). I think there is a line between keeping our students safe (which we always focus on) and sheltered.
Yet often the idea of blocking sites is said to be a proactive measure to protect our kids. Now I would never question the intent of someone when doing this, but I would ask the question, “what are we being proactive of”? If a kid is blocked from Facebook and YouTube all day, and no one ever has a conversation with them at school, and then they go home, go on to Facebook and YouTube, and watch inappropriate videos, bully others, what did blocking the site help? This seems to really only be proactive for saving ourselves, not necessarily our kids. As we know, education helps to solve problems, hence the reason programs such as D.A.R.E. exist which talk openly about some of the dangers of drugs and alcohol.
We have to think clearly about our purpose with students. I want our kids to be able to use technology to not only learn, but to also give themselves opportunities that I did not have when I was a kid. I also want them to have balance in their lives which means they have to learn to have the conversation about when and how they are using social networks (which they probably are or will be using sooner or later, whether we educate them or not), while also learning to understand the benefits of having face-to-face conversations and relationships.
It is important that as we continue on this path, and we look at what we are doing with our students, we don’t create policies for the “minority”. Yes, when things are open there can be problems, but when things are closed, there can be problems as well. As a technology teacher years ago, I had a student go around every filtered site (in a heavily blocked environment) that he could find to post nude pictures into a PowerPoint. As I think back on this years later, I know that the student knew he had done something wrong, yet I also believe that we failed him. Because the Internet was so blocked, we never worried about this type of thing happening. It may have happened at home, but as long as it didn’t happen in school, why talk to him? We thought we were safe from liability but somehow shirked responsibility. That is not the “proactive” I can be comfortable with anymore.
As we look at “policies” we have to continue to create environments where are working with our kids to be safe now (in school and at home), and learn to be safe in the future. We also have to give the opportunity for our students and educators to be innovative in their work. Two options that we seem to have are either living in a culture of a fear or a culture of trust. As leaders, IT departments, schools, etc., look at how things are “run”, I think they should all look at this Derek Sivers video about some of the policies that we create when “someone” makes a mistake. Often though, we have made policies before anyone has made the mistake. Punishing all because of our own fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), is not a way to push greatness in our schools. It is a way to promote average.
Innovation and transformation are key words that we continue to say in education and should be used. We need to take the shackles off of our educators (that have been hired and are obviously trusted) and help them make this change we are clamouring to see. As Derek Sivers says, “don’t punish everyone for one person’s mistake”, yet we have to create an environment that actually allows us to have the opportunity to take (calculated) risks in the first place.
The Derek Sivers video below is definitely well worth the 2:25 to watch it.
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Hello,
I've been a regular reader of your blog for about a year now and this is the first time I've decided to comment on a posting. I'm a teacher in British Columbia and have a strong interest in integrating technology into my daily teaching practice. In British Columbia there is an initiative by the ministry of Education to create 21st century schools ( I know, everyone is getting a little bit tired of hearing about the 21st century ). Anyway, this involves integrating technology in the classroom, creating greater transparency for parents and connecting with other students around the world. As a teacher I'm enthusiastic about doing this with my students, but sometimes I get frustrated by an increasing number of restrictive policies. I agree with what you were saying in your post and the Derek Siver's video, that it's a mistake to punish everyone over a single incident. For example, a parent will complain to the school board about a situation with their child and then we are no longer allowed to create email accounts for our students or have pictures on your class blog etc. I feel that sometimes the direction they want us to move in as educators and the increasing number of policies that are being implemented are often contradictory to one another. For example, If an inappropriate comment appears on a class website or blog I think it should be treated as a learning experience and there should be a discussion with the students about what happened, why the comment was inappropriate and how to prevent this from happening again in the future. This is far more valuable than no longer allowing students to comment on other students blogs. An increasing number of restrictive policies has the effect of reducing things to their lowest common denominator. It reminds me of the expression "you don't throw the baby out with the bath water", this is where something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something that is bad.
I will continue to try and maintain my enthusiasm for blogging with my students, creating a virtual classroom, using tools like Animoto, Prezi, Glogster, VoiceThread etc. and an interactive whiteboard in my lessons. However, I'm a bit concerned about the use of technology in Education in the future. If you are interested below is the link to my grade 3 class blog. Keep up the good work with 'The Principal of Change', by reading it, I'm learning a lot as a teacher!
http://jpreshaw.edublogs.org/
In a school you have to work to create an effective context. Rather than just ban smart phones, we have "off and out of site during instructional time" rule UNLESS they are being used for learning. Our school wireless now has a partition for student access, so they can utilize the district's new "bring your own tech" program and use their phones and laptops for research etc.
When we did our grade meetings, this change was a key topic, and I made sure to emphasize responsible use, and that the wireless is intended for learning and small package downloads only, so no streaming etc. as that would gobble the bandwidth and wreck it for others. My impression after three months is that it has been a positive change for our school culture, and there have been far fewer complaints from teachers regarding phone related distractions like texting etc. while in class.
We now have a school Facebook fan page for quick reminders, and while it was accidently unblocked on the school server (rather than just on the vp's computer as intended) I had several complaints from teachers who had taken their classes to the library or labs and had to nag kids off this site as they rabidly updated their status instead of focusing on learning. This was a good reminder about the work needed to define and support this tool and its learning potential. I want to get to the point one day where Facebook and other sites like it can be used for student projects but it will require the staff to understand them a lot better than they do, and it will take a lot of work to shape the context and define what responsible use looks like. When that happens, and our learners are truly engaged by assignments that are relevant to them, the policing will become almost a non-issue. I'm hopeful, but we are not quite there yet. PJ
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Fabulous points raised here. Thank you for the discussion and insights. Coming from a relatively progressive school division myself, I am thankful for opportunities learners (including my staff) have to explore a variety of resources and to develop their own ways of approaching learning. It really does make a big difference.
Darryl Propp
Such a great post and I love the video! I could not agree more with the idea that we ban what we (as adults) are not able to wrap our heads around. Not sure how we can effectively address bullying on Facebook, just don't have it accessible in the school. I have been involved in a conversation regarding the use of social networking to communicate with the school community and ran up against how can we control the relatively small percentage of chance that someone will post something nasty. Blanket policies can become frustrating. I think your school division is modeling the kind of learning that can happen when technology is open and conversations are more important than policies. Thanks for sharing George!
I graduated high school in 2004 and the school's IT department had set up fairly rudimentary blocks on sevelar sites. Just having sites blocked made us want to find ways around them. My friends and I would devise ways around blocks and then tell others how to do it for a brief moment of popularity. I don't remember anyone ever talking to us about why those blocks were there, it was simply assumed that we knew some sites weren't promoting education and therefore we weren't to go on them. By blocking those sites without having a down to earth conversation all the administration and IT crowd did was create a stimulating challenge. The reward was temporary acclamation from our peers. The rules were practically unenforceable, so there was no punishment for our actions.Speaking as both a former student and as a future teacher I think that when a school or school district does implement blocks of certain sites, and I do believe that they should, they must have multiple clear and open conversations with the students about it. They should also have enforceable punishments for those who blatantly disregard the rules or else they simply create challenges for tech savvy students. Wonderful post.
Such a good person Rebecca.Love the information and read on Uganda and mama margaret…There should be more people like you in the world.