Parents, colleagues, students, community members,
If you have interacted with students since we implemented our 1to1 computer initiative in the high school this year, you surely have encountered student frustration about websites being blocked and you yourself may have encountered blocked content while using the school network. There is a concept bandied about in education blogs called Digital Citizenship or Netiquette. Basically, this is the idea that instead of blocking social media sources, blogs, and other valuable resources online, the school makes them available while simultaneously modeling and teaching appropriate online behavior.
There are obviously a wide range of opinions about and
approaches to internet safety but the purpose of this blog post is to share with you the following: Based upon conversations with other teachers observations of and conversations with students, I have developed the opinion that the current method of internet filtering in our school is actually
inhibiting student access to valuable resources, discouraging the development
of self-motivated student learning and inquiry, and, perhaps the most egregious of all, creating student
contempt for technology. I realize there is some strong wording in this statement, but there has to be a way of running our network that is an
improvement upon the existing practices.
So, what do you think? Let’s start having this conversation in the comments below with an eye on improving our practices to lead to improved student achievement and attitudes!
Here are a couple of blogs and resources to fuel your
thinking:
- Is your school’s “digital citizenship” practice a pass or fail? - http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/3658
- Dispelling Myths About Blocked Websites in Schools - http://goo.gl/fMHJp
- What to do if your school bans useful websites - http://goo.gl/tBA8P
- 4 Guiding Questions For Your IT Department - http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/8009
- Blaming students and technology instead of us- http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2012/07/blaming-students-and-technology-instead-of-us.html (The comments stream on this post is wonderful)
- See No Evil? - http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/3731
Great idea to get a conversation started. I checked out the third URL you posted, "What to do if your school bans useful websited." The second-to-last bullet in the list stood out to me, "Kids need to be taught to be digital citizens." It's a well-worn idea, but I think the use of "need" is really powerful here. Giving students a chance to use the internet freely (within reason of course) while in a controlled environment that can help guide their learning is an opportune way to teach digital citizenship! I honestly think this would help at least reduce a lot of the trolling out there. Students already make plenty of ridiculous decisions online when they get to college because suddenly the filters are gone. Why not help create more positive reminders of how to "behave" online?
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