In our small district, we used to block a lot of sites based upon categories, such as Games, Entertainment, etc. Over the last several years, we have opened up several categories because of the frequent requests to unblock a site to be used for educational purposes.
While we still block the obvious categories as required by law, the ones we have allowed aren't inherently anti-learning. Take "Streaming Media", for example. YouTube falls within this category and I happen to be of the camp that there is a lot to be learned from YouTube. There is also a lot that only serves to distract a person from a learning goal. Some are quick to realize this and claim that sites like this should be blocked. Why? Because we'd rather prevent all distractions then educate our kids how to focus their attention to the task at hand.
At this moment in time, the only reason we would block Streaming Media (or other high use categories) is when it becomes a drain on our bandwidth. We did this during online state testing at the end of the school year, "just in case".
The last category standing today is one called "Online Communities". Sites like Facebook and Twitter fall under this category. We have explicitly allowed access to some of these sites, upon the request of teachers, for example Twitter and Pinterist are open.
As a district, we have our own Facebook Page and, now, a Twitter account. It's a tad ironic that some of the methods we are using to connect with our community are blocked for our kids while they are at school.
As educators, we all see the result of kids using social networking in an inappropriate way. Even when these sites are blocked at school, the problems surface during the school day. If we open up social networking at school, will this lead to more of these problems and possibly put the school at legal risk? Are we able to use this access as a teaching/learning moment and show kids how to use these tools to better themselves?
I'm extremely curious what my readers (as few as they may be) have to say. Please provide your thoughts, your own experiences.
I enjoy having unblocked/filtered content personally, Once out of HS and into College I discovered something that relates to this. My first few days in college I would get on facebook and my blogs, etc all the time. Now after having access to it for so long, I've stopped going on all the time, and have started using it only for important tasks, such as scheduling, updating people on info related to class, etc. I've turned it from a outlet for boredom into an access point for all my projects and ideas. I think that Kids should be taught more about technologies like social media, and streaming media, as well as how to manage them to a business/career/education benefit! Just my thoughts :) great Post btw
ReplyDeleteI think that being able to set one's own limits on using these technologies, and learning how to manage the distractions they offer is pretty critically important to learn. I don't think you can easily learn self restraint without temptation.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if your students are using their own technology, the filters you set at school are easily bypassed. Further, with a smart phone, none of the filters you have will work anyway.
Late to the game, but I think both Luke and David make relevant points. If it's not forbidden, it's far less tempting. It is so difficult to try to create lessons that can relevant and engaging enough that students want to be 100% in them, as opposed to being entertained by social media. I used to be one of those people who got irritated by the notion that my job should involve entertainment. My God, if I had wanted to be an entertainer, I would have chosen a different line of work -- circus clown or stand-up comedian! Unfortunately, I'm not coordinated enough to juggle, and I'm more talented at sarcasm than I am at delivering a punch line. I don't know. I sit in boring PDs or PLCs and watch half my cohorts text throughout, and I'm thinking, if professionals can't withstand the temptation, how can students be expected to? Technology should force teachers (me included) to step up their game, to try new ideas and new approaches, and perhaps if teachers aren't willing to rise to the challenge, they belong in the museum with the other dinosaurs instead of in the classroom? David makes a relevant point. Didn't your district's BYOD policy turn your policy of blocking social media sites such as facebook into a dinosaur?
ReplyDeleteCAT...you would think it should have (the BYOD policy and blocking social media), but we have some hold-outs that think it would be chaos. We've polled admins this year on the exact topic...
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