Comments on: The genie is out of the bottle…

By: » What Internet do we want? ICT Futures

» What Internet do we want? ICT Futures — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:54:18 +0000

[...] as social networks and video sharing, are drivers which are creating debate in our community (eg on Andrew’s blog) on how to effectively provide for developing learner and teacher requirements by [...]

By: Elspeth Scott

Elspeth Scott — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:35:54 +0000

Catching up with this rather late…
AB says “People can, and do circumvent technological filters/barriers to get to what they want. Perhaps it’s time we put as much thought, time and finance into teaching information literacy as we do employing technological barriers to content, then we’d be in a better position to educate those in our charge about safe appropriate use of the net.”
and I totally agree. Of course, we have a responsibility to filter out the really nasty sites – but we also have a responsibility to teach pupils how to deal with the internet for themselves. You only have to listen to them talking about how they use it at home to realise that keeping them in a very protected walled garden in school doesn’t do them any favours. If pupils have signed an AUP, this can be used to deal with deliberate misuse of the system. Schools should also implement proper programmes for developing information literacy – it is now an essential life skill.
Ian Stuart says: I totally agree that information literacy is required but it has to be guided by a professional who is trusted.
Can I suggest that this is an area in which school librarians have expertise and we would be delighted to be involved.

By: LauraC

LauraC — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:40:10 +0000

Yes Ian, these devices are in our schools whether we like it or not. The students are just really good at hiding them. Why not bring them onto the desks and make them work in a positive way for learning and teaching? Why not go further though and open up our wireless networks to welcome any wireless devices, ‘Wee Pcs’, PSPs etc. If they have a bowser put them to work to support the leaner. If we put as much effort into encouraging responsible, imaginative use of these devices as some Authorities spend trying to shut them out I think the outcome will be very positive.

By: Future Technologies » What Internet do we want?

Future Technologies » What Internet do we want? — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:45:29 +0000

By: Ian Stuart

Ian Stuart — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:41:05 +0000

Is this what you mean?
http://www.vodafone.com/start/media_relations/news/local_press_releases/uk_press_releases/2007/unlimited_internet.html

By: LauraC

LauraC — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:16:46 +0000

If there is basic level filtering of the really ‘nasty’ stuff and then some background recording of internet use then we can focus on responsible use. We help our pupils know what to do if they do find something ‘uncomfortable’, how to be safe and responsible online and have the means to challenge inappropriate use.

Why not open up our networks and invite all the devices that the students use imaginatively smuggle into our schools and put them to good use for teaching and learning.

I don’t want to spend my days trying to plug the holes in the dyke, I would rather let the water pour in and let the kids show me what great swimmers they are.

By: John

John — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:51:09 +0000

I have been tempted to get one of these dongles to use as a teacher;-)
I often want to use some nice safe resource that is either filtered on uses ports that are not open at school. I’ve spent countless hours preparing and testing things at home that do not work in school due to filtering or network issues.
Teacher bypass of some sort would be a move in the right direction. I’d guess it will be a long time coming.
NB the wink above is to assure that I would not really consider bypassing the filters in such an unprofessional fashion.

By: ab

ab — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:59:35 +0000

Lynne – it’s good to hear when a system works well. I understand that ELC use websense too? It would be interesting to hear how the system of unblocking sites employed by yout IT team works in practice, and how many members of staff they have working on it in relation to the number of requests to unblock sites from staff?

Alan – personally, I don’t think there should be any filtering for staff. This would allow them to find sites/resources. Were they to access content that was ‘inappropriate’ in the eyes of the law, then they would be accountable under the acceptable use policy they signed. One problem with this model is that they would then have to check whether pupils could access the sites/resources they found, which would be a cumbersome process of having to log in with ’student’ access and then check the accessibility of the site in question.

At what point do we realise that filtering simply doesn’t work? Why is the quality of access to educational content restricted by the overbearing (and over emphasised) fear of litigation? Keeping someone safe online is not merely about shielding them from the inappropriate, but about educating them morally to decide what falls into that category.

By: Alan Stewart

Alan Stewart — Tue, 06 May 2008 23:12:56 +0000

“personalisation and trust – should both increase with the age of the student?”

Would the inverse be true dependent on the age of the teacher???

or, more seriously,

Should the age of the children being taught have any bearing on the levels of access for the staff???

By: Lynne Lewis

Lynne Lewis — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:58:09 +0000

Andrew
Your recent thoughts have made me realise how lucky I am to work in such a forward thinking authority such as East Lothian. I rarely come across blocked sites and more importantly our IT team have always ‘unblocked’ things for me immediately should this occur.
Thankfully children ( and persistant teachers) never give up and find a way eventually