Comments on: The Law (And Education) Can’t Keep Up With Technology http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:37:15 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Rachel http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/comment-page-1/#comment-3313 Rachel Thu, 05 Oct 2006 02:50:07 +0000 http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/#comment-3313 Hi Graham - long time no talk - I have had my head down for quite some time lately but just coming up for air now - its our holidays over here :-) We need to get together on this one because i believe we all use the same SINA filtering system and we do have control over it - i think??? Here many of our schools are SchoolZone schools that use the SINA internet management tools filtered through securecomputing.com. Schools can individually unblock sites or categories of sites and we can also ask the SchoolZone governance group (VEN) to unblock sites nationally on the whole SZ network. How do you have control over the filtering in your schools? I believe their needs to be some internet management system in place in schools to protect our kids from the nasty stuff but this has to be balanced against allowing freedom of access to all the cool stuff and teaching our students how to walk confidently, critically & safely in our digital world. Hi Graham – long time no talk – I have had my head down for quite some time lately but just coming up for air now – its our holidays over here :-)
We need to get together on this one because i believe we all use the same SINA filtering system and we do have control over it – i think???
Here many of our schools are SchoolZone schools that use the SINA internet management tools filtered through securecomputing.com. Schools can individually unblock sites or categories of sites and we can also ask the SchoolZone governance group (VEN) to unblock sites nationally on the whole SZ network.
How do you have control over the filtering in your schools?
I believe their needs to be some internet management system in place in schools to protect our kids from the nasty stuff but this has to be balanced against allowing freedom of access to all the cool stuff and teaching our students how to walk confidently, critically & safely in our digital world.

]]> By: greg carroll http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/comment-page-1/#comment-3300 greg carroll Tue, 03 Oct 2006 08:03:10 +0000 http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/#comment-3300 So we agree ... where's the fun in that :-) I do have an issue with teachers relying too much on filtering though .... do an image search on 'bikes' for the 8year olds who need a photo for their poster, or better still 'jugs' for the Y5/6 girls looking for a picture to go with their work on making ginger beer. Or then today the conversation I was having with a principal who is increasingly frustrated with the default filtering on his ISP stopping many of the things he is wanting to do - like tag to del.icio.us! We need to find a happy medium somewhere don't we... My concern would be that we err on the side of 'safety' and the most conservative and cut out most of the things that the creative teachers are wanting to do. So we agree … where’s the fun in that :-)
I do have an issue with teachers relying too much on filtering though …. do an image search on ‘bikes’ for the 8year olds who need a photo for their poster, or better still ‘jugs’ for the Y5/6 girls looking for a picture to go with their work on making ginger beer.
Or then today the conversation I was having with a principal who is increasingly frustrated with the default filtering on his ISP stopping many of the things he is wanting to do – like tag to del.icio.us!
We need to find a happy medium somewhere don’t we…
My concern would be that we err on the side of ’safety’ and the most conservative and cut out most of the things that the creative teachers are wanting to do.

]]> By: Graham http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/comment-page-1/#comment-3299 Graham Tue, 03 Oct 2006 06:40:23 +0000 http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/#comment-3299 Greg, I couldn't agree more BUT our teaching force has to get up to speed quickly. A filter system also has the unforunate side effect of giving teachers a safety net impression - "I don't have to worry because the filter will keep the nasty content away." - and consequently, their own skills in dealing with the internet atrophy. If they are active users of the internet (as we know that a large majority of our students are) then they will want to use these tools for learning and call for the Filter Iron Curtain to be lifted or modified. The cries of protest are still too few and scattered across the education sector - hopefully we will be reaching a "tipping point" soon where teachers will be forced to engage with read/write technology to be relevant to today's learners. But while the filters are still in place, maybe ignorance is still bliss to the average classrom teacher. Students know that filters are hackable, work around-able but I think that too many teachers still think (hope!) that the protective system is infallible. I worry also that programs like <a rel="nofollow" href="//www.netalert.net.au/">NetAlert</a>, as good intentioned as they may be, still sell a story of the internet as a place to be feared, instead of the greatest learning innovation and opportuniy of our time. Greg, I couldn’t agree more BUT our teaching force has to get up to speed quickly. A filter system also has the unforunate side effect of giving teachers a safety net impression – “I don’t have to worry because the filter will keep the nasty content away.” – and consequently, their own skills in dealing with the internet atrophy. If they are active users of the internet (as we know that a large majority of our students are) then they will want to use these tools for learning and call for the Filter Iron Curtain to be lifted or modified. The cries of protest are still too few and scattered across the education sector – hopefully we will be reaching a “tipping point” soon where teachers will be forced to engage with read/write technology to be relevant to today’s learners. But while the filters are still in place, maybe ignorance is still bliss to the average classrom teacher. Students know that filters are hackable, work around-able but I think that too many teachers still think (hope!) that the protective system is infallible. I worry also that programs like NetAlert, as good intentioned as they may be, still sell a story of the internet as a place to be feared, instead of the greatest learning innovation and opportuniy of our time.

]]> By: Greg's Weblog http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/comment-page-1/#comment-3295 Greg's Weblog Mon, 02 Oct 2006 21:58:47 +0000 http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/#comment-3295 <strong>Power of Web2.0 and Social Networking...</strong> how cool is this ..... So i just love this story. High school kid in Minnesota makes kitschy video series about the importance of wearing seat belts. Calls himself “Buckle Boy.” Exhibits a certain, um, charm that is, um, endearing....... Power of Web2.0 and Social Networking…

how cool is this ….. So i just love this story. High school kid in Minnesota makes kitschy video series about the importance of wearing seat belts. Calls himself “Buckle Boy.” Exhibits a certain, um, charm that is, um, endearing…….

]]> By: greg carroll http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/comment-page-1/#comment-3294 greg carroll Mon, 02 Oct 2006 20:01:54 +0000 http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/10/02/the-law-and-education-cant-keep-up-with-technology/#comment-3294 Hi Graham There are many schools using Web2.0 tools as integral parts of their classroom programmes - blogs, wikis and podcasting in particular. The interesting thing about filtering is the almost default way you can get around it. I have seen instances of the image search in Google being blocked yet a simple word search with images in the search terms is allowed. While I absolutely agree that we need to both keep children 'safe' inside our schools and teach them the ways of being safe in the wider environment, lets hope the knee-jerk DOPA type reaction never takes off here! Isn't it David Warlick who recently described ICT's as the 'pen and paper of our times'? Access to the 'net is a part of this I would argue... The issue is how we manage these things in our increasingly letigious and protective society. Please lets keep the focus on the incredibly positive difference these tools can make for kids .... and not on wrapping them in cotton-wool, just in case ... Hi Graham
There are many schools using Web2.0 tools as integral parts of their classroom programmes – blogs, wikis and podcasting in particular.
The interesting thing about filtering is the almost default way you can get around it. I have seen instances of the image search in Google being blocked yet a simple word search with images in the search terms is allowed.
While I absolutely agree that we need to both keep children ’safe’ inside our schools and teach them the ways of being safe in the wider environment, lets hope the knee-jerk DOPA type reaction never takes off here!
Isn’t it David Warlick who recently described ICT’s as the ‘pen and paper of our times’? Access to the ‘net is a part of this I would argue… The issue is how we manage these things in our increasingly letigious and protective society.
Please lets keep the focus on the incredibly positive difference these tools can make for kids …. and not on wrapping them in cotton-wool, just in case …

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