Ah the internet… like a persimmon tree it has a multitude of branches we can peruse at our leisure, it can provide us with the fruit of the gods or the fruit of temptation. We navigate through it sometimes with a purpose, other times out of boredom. But we are allowed to navigate… that is, until we get to school. Then the ports of interested are (sometimes) closed. Frustration ensues as one finds themselves knowing where the desired information is, but finding a firewall or nanny program keeping us away.
Now, you might believe this attitude means I support everyone having access to everything at all times. That is not the case. There are a) limits and b) circumstances we have to keep vigilant of. Not only do we live in a highly litigious society, but as educators we have a responsibility to our students and to our community to not harm our students with information available to us by web-based resources (kind of like doctors but without the paycheck). Our chapter reading was very clear on what our responsibilities are and how we should go about attaining the appropriate results. And like most textbooks it is erring on the side of caution.
It is at this cautious intersection that I find the wisdom of Dr. Poole on the subject a bit of a calming reference. Dr. Poole’s article “Risks involved in integrating the internet into the K-12 curriculum” (2009), points to 8 risks and good, usable, school friendly solutions to these potential risks. The list includes inappropriate material, cyber bullying, and inaccurate information. It also touches on a topic that I found interesting… wasted time due to teacher inefficiency with resources… a topic I feel is the reason for this entire course.
And while I can see both sides of the coin, my gut tells me it is ethically inappropriate to cage our educators into a corner and expect them to perform their jobs while not allowed the tools and resources that are available for FREE to aid them in their quest to further the knowledge of their students! (For those of you who have taken Ethics at UCF, I’m using Dr. Nash 3rd language for this statement)
A good solution for me would be what my old job did for the staff. Everyone had limited internet and intranet access, so that they could assist customers with basic questions and they could take required tests/courses online. The supervisors were given a higher level of flexibility with in the network and were allowed access to quite a few popular web sites (YouTube, Facebook, and most emails were still off limits), and then the directors were given open access to the internet. We all had sign ins and if you were found to have broken the internet usage protocol there were a series of steps to be taken for reprimand (first an email and a meeting, then something in writing, then a downgrade in access, etc.). Why can’t we do that for teachers? Continue to keep restrictions available for students and follow Federal regulations (the funding for all public libraries including schools are tied and require there be a filter program), but allowing teachers to access the information they need without hindrance and just punish those who aren’t adult enough to follow the rules!
Plus, we are educators; we should educate our students on how to navigate the internet (Drexler’s video mentioned this, so does the PEW Institute’s research on internet usage in the 21st century, as well as the national standards for internet usage that our textbook uses as a focus). Scaffold it, it’s not an all access pass all at once – for some reason in education there seems to be an all or nothing mentality that applies to technology usage; the reality of slow and steady progression depending on age and maturity level seems to be lost once you are out of the ‘school’ level. We don’t set our kids on their feet at 6 months and expect them to walk! They crawl, they pull, they toddle, and THEN they walk… why is it so different with the internet access at school?
In the mean time, we need to make sure that we allow accessed teachers at the very least, and allow them to decide what is appropriate for their class of students. It’s frustrating when you can’t access your homework at school because your blog is blocked! If your instructor is setting it up, it needs to be available to the students… some sort of network/password protection issue maybe? Let progression come at its own pace, if we are good parents and good educators we can model good behavior for our kids and thus allow them to learn to use the internet in a productive and progressive way.
PS: I know at times this whole thing seemed a bit disjointed, but I greatly dislike the fact that as adults we are given fewer freedoms than our students. After all, they can hack the system in 5 minutes flat; we need to call IT and Congress before we can get something to work on the classroom computer! I am not condoning hacking either; I’m just not naïve enough to believe it happens ‘rarely if ever’… ha!
References:
Nash, R. J. (2002) “Real World” Ethics. Teachers College Press, New York, NY.
Poole, B. (2009) Risks involved in integrating the internet into the K-12 curriculum. Retrieved on September 20, 2010. http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/poole/poole018.shtml
Alex,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you regarding both sides of the coin being arguable. It is difficult to cut censorship out of education all together as we are, as you mentioned, responsible for what enters the minds of those students. Also, all children do NOT have good parents, so many do not come into the classroom with a prior sense of internet propriety or ethics.
Also, I thought your idea about varying access levels between students and teachers is great. I didn't think about that as an option, but if teachers and students have different log-ins, there is no reason it isn't feasible. We just have to make sure that as educators we do not choose a resource for our students to use that they cannot access through their own accounts.
Alyssa