Using 21st Century Tools via 20th Century Methods

I not a sports nut, but one thing I do know is that an essential skill for learning defense in most any sport is blocking. When the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was enacted in 2001, many schools and districts around the country went into defense mode in a big way. They began acquiring filters to block sites that might be harmful to students.  We all know that no filter is perfect. Inappropriate sites get through the filter and sites that should be visible get blocked. Any decent filter will allow the filter administrator to block and unblock individual sites as needed to take care of this issue. The problem is, in many locations, the decision on what exactly to block is determined by technology staff set up and administer the filter - not by an educator. 

I hear regularly from vendors who want to come into our district to to training that when they go into many other districts to do a demo or do training that they are often unable to do what they need to do because their site or ancillary sites they use are blocked by the district's filter. It takes an act of congress to get the site unblocked so that the instruction can proceed.

More recently, as I attend various conferences, I hear presenters advocating that the teachers in attendance advocate for various web 2.0 tools to be unblocked in their district so that they can use them for instruction. But where I was most amazed, was in my recent advisory board meeting with the NC Virtual Public School (NCVPS). NCVPS uses Blackboard to deliver instruction online to students across the state of NC. The committee I sat on was looking at the web 2.0 tools they are acquiring for their instructors to use in these online courses. I had not heard of the blog, wiki, and podcasting tools they had selected and asked why those were chosen. Turns out, these particular apps were selected because they work inside Blackboard and this is necessary because many of the districts in this state are blocking blogs, wikis, and podcasts with their Internet filters. This is the work around - their way to sneak 21st century skills and tools into the online course.

But let me ask you this - if you are blogging inside of Blackboard - and the only people who can see your blog are those in your class, how is that any different that typing up your thoughts in Word and posting it in the Blackboard discussion area? What is 21st century about blogging/wiki-ing/podcasting in a closed environment? They are using 21st century tools with a 20th century audience. Don't misunderstand me, this is not the first choice of the NCVPS staff. Their hands are tied because principals and district administrators are adamant that blog, etc, will not be allowed in their schools!!!!

I left the meeting frustrated and sad. I want to talk to each and every administrator who thinks they are protecting their students by blocking these valuable tools. I wrote a poem about it. But sadly, the very people who need to read it can't, because their filter is blocking this article and my poem.

Comments

[Stephanie Sandifer]

Tracy,

I can certainly feel your pain in this post. I agree with you -- using these "safe" versions of the tools as a work-around to avoid the filters really just creates a watered-down version of the tool that strips it of its essence as a connective and collaborative tool. They might as well be using MS Word -- as you stated above.

Stephanie

[Joe]

Tracy-
I loathe filters also. It saddens me to think of all of the educators I have met who have given up on an innovative project and returned to drill-and-kill textbook instruction just because they couldn't get around a filter or figure out who to ask to get them around the filter. I always advocate for what seems obvious to me, but apparently completely ground breaking to the tech folks - filter access for students, but give teachers the ability to bypass filters when necessary with a username and password. Its very logical to me, but quite often I find myself "off on an island" with this simple suggestion.

[Jenny]

My district doesn't block all blogs, wikis, etc., but the only ones we are supposed to use with the students are the ones in blackboard. It drives me nuts. I use these various tools that way with my students, but I know how much they are missing because of it.

[Charlie A. Roy]

I believe the state of Illinois has legislated the actual ban of specific websites for social networking. It's been explained to me that in Illinois a school is legally required to block myspace. Imagine that. Maybe they will block youtube next.

All the fear mongering is really atrocious. I worry every time I walk by the office fax machine that some nasty person might fax me something obnoxious.

Our school tends in general to flaunt the conventional wisdom on such things. We even joke that if the state arrests us at least in prison we will have actual access to web 2.0 technologies.

fun fun

[Gilbert Halcrow]

Filter it all I say and burn those Elvis records as well!

M. Scott Peck in ‘The Road Less Travelled’ puts forward the idea that insanity starts with one lie and is followed by a series of lies that supplement the first; this evolves into a personal map of our experience that becomes increasingly removed from reality. It is made worse when the lie is shared by a collective who reinforce each other with their agreement.

The little lie in all of this is ‘We can control it’, from that all the other insanity evolves.

If we want our students to make wise choices then we must provide them with good and bad options to choose from. Blanketing does not protect our students (they’ll find it the bad stuff somewhere) and it does not educate them, because we have given them no real responsibility.

Perhaps we should let the filtering fanatics continue, as banning something is often the impetuous that send young people towards it in their droves – Lady Chatterley’s Lover sales trebled in the month it was banned by the Vatican.

We can argue the benefits of Web 2.0 technology, but it is just the fingernail picking away at the scab of censorship, control and neglecting to fostering personal responsibility.

As a father of 2 pre-school daughters I am deeply concerned about the proliferation of pornography and the disempowering representation of women and girls across the Internet. I will not however blanket their access; their engagement will be staged appropriately for their age and when (not if) they make bad choices they will be discussed and responded too.

Schools need to do this in concert with families and wider communities. Then perhaps we will have fewer young women appearing on ‘Girls Gone Wild 234’ and fewer men expecting that is how females should act. Most importantly their education will include a diversity of opinions and perspectives through greater collaboration with global peers.

I wonder how many of those Filter fanatics still listen to Elvis?

[Bea Cantor]

Tracy,

Sometimes, the technology department IS staffed by educators.

I commented on a previous post regarding community relations. We are here to help our students learn, but maybe we should educate their parents (the taxpayers and legislators), too. When all of us bring up this topic, we are blogging, commenting, or commiserating with our own crew. How do we get it out there, beyond school walls, that online tools are only as evil as we let them be?

[Cathy Nelson]

WOw Bravo--well said. I just really want the IT to realize that CIPA should be a catalyst for conversations with stakeholders--all of them, from the IT and admin all the way down to the lowly teacher, student, and parent. All voices of the stakeholders deserve to have input into what is filtered to protect students. Most schools' IT departments, though, have turned it into a dictatorship. Don't we live in a democratic society? Wish schools would realize it.