School Web Filters: Good or Bad?
It's a funny world we live when people are so worried about protecting us from evil that they protect us from the good as well.
Where am I going with this? Well, I am headed to most high school IT departments and school boards. I am talking about Internet filtering. The other day, I finally got an email from a tappedin moderator answering one of my questions and he wasn’t very happy with the filtration means that we are using to filter our email. I forwarded the message to our best IT guy and he said that he would remedy the problem ASAP. He's great, so I'm sure he took care of it...
Nevertheless, sometimes we (i.e. administrators, teachers, parents, and IT administrators) build up walls to keep the bad out and accidently keep the good out as well. I said something along those lines in my first sentence, but practice makes perfect…
Note: If I can’t use the tools then I can’t educate like I need to be educating…People are killed in car wrecks every minute, but I keep driving. The same principle applies with school Internet filtering. Use it, but don't over use it!
I copied the following post from Shawn Nutting an IT administrator that presented at the K12onlineconference and I think he is absolutely correct in his assertions…
“Isn’t the business of schools to educate? Why not allow students the exposure to these sites and then teach what is appropriate? It scares me to think people actually believe they can block the internet.”
I concur with Shawn. We simply can’t go around building walls that keeps the good out with the bad. Our first job as teachers is to educate our students and tell them what is acceptable and what isn’t acceptable. My adivice to school IT people, administrators, and others is to use our filters inteligently and to monitor your students activities for possible hazzards, rather than going block crazy.
Internet filters are like locks, they only keep the lazy crooks out…If you don’t believe me, ask some of your tech savvy students how one would hypothetically bypass the school’s filters to get to myspace or facebook…I’m not a betting man, but if I were I’d give you ten to one that the tech savvy students know how to do it at your school. I know they do at mine…I asked, and I learned about the magical world of…
Just in case some of my not so tech savvy students read this I’ll leave it out…But, trust me they know how to bypass your schools Internet filters and can do it as fast as they can type http://…
My adivice to school IT people is to use school Internet filters inteligently without going block crazy. My advice to administrators is to make sure that teachers monitor students closely while they are online...
W. Bishop
Technorati Tags: technology, filters, Internet, k12onlineconference, education, school_IT, Shawn_Nutting, William_Bishop, Bill_Bishop, Internet_filters
posted by WBishop at 11/16/2006 11:52:00 PM
2 Comments:
I agree we need better Internet content filtering policies and systems in schools than we have now in many cases. One overall goal of Internet use in schools should be helping prepare students to be responsible and accountable in a digital world. My perception is that most school districts have the same filtering policies for kindergarten students as they have for high school seniors. If you are aware of schools that are taking a different and perhaps better approach to Internet content filtering, I would love to hear about them. I think fear is the primary driver of Internet filtering policies today-- they have been mandated by CIPA, but schools are more driven by liability concerns and overall fear of new technologies than they are by a desire to help students become digitally literate. I agree that some, if not many schools appear to be acting in a way that suggests they'd like to ban the Internet forever. This is not a reasonable approach to take. Unfortunately there ARE large numbers of "threats" out there-- from malware to actual people who are predators. I think school systems are acting rationally when they broadly ban the Internet, but this is not necessarily in line with broader educational goals for students. We need better accountability arrangements so students know they are and will be accountable for the things they do in virtual spaces, just as they are for actions in physical spaces. We also need greater awareness for the pressing need our students have for digital literacy skills, and ethical decisionmaking skills in both virtual and F2F environments.
Wesley
Thanks for the great comments. You are very inteligent and insightful. Moreover, your ideologies are sound. With people like you keeping us informed our students will have a future.
W. Bishop
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