My favorite writer on the topic of education and technology is Scott McLeod. Mr. McLeod writes a blog and runs
CASTLE, a technology center for school leaders at Iowa State University. He recently wrote an article for
The School Administrator, the newsletter for the American Association of School Administrators, titled
“Blocking the Future”.
The article discusses how many districts are blocking websites and digital technologies. He doesn’t spend much time on the why we are doing it, but more on the impact blocking can have on the students. He states, “It is clear by now our world is becoming even more technological, not less. Technology tools such as digital software, online systems, global networks, and personal computers are literally reshaping global civilization.”
I agree with him to a large degree, however, the push to quickly accept and use new technologies is problematic. First, Saline Area Schools cannot typically afford to be the first to adopt new technology. We are getting better at finding free programs and with many of the Web 2.0 tools that are out there – these costs are then minimal. For example, we are starting to use
Moodle as a tool for our staff and it is free. Secondly, there is a operational piece, as many parents know, access to the internet is a blessing and curse. As we work with young students we find the amount of inappropriate content is staggering. Attempting to filter access to restrict the ability to locate the objectionable material is a never ending battle. Take YouTube for example – we restrict access to it due to some of the content. However, some staff want to use clips from presidential debates and I can see the benefit to our students. Additionally, several other Washtenaw County school districts allow unfiltered access to YouTube.
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. We will continue to be open to exploring new technologies and guarded about their implementation.
Deb (unauthenticated)
May 6, 2008 9:46 AM
Thank you for the link to this very interesting article. Yes, we must educate students how to use technology for learning and to be active in their education. (Technology is not solely for entertainment.)
Actually, I have a long way to go to become more educated about the potential for new ways of learning through technology.
Being able to embrace the positives and prepare our students for our world is key. Not giving students tools to use what is available is a mistake. But, at the same time we have to educate them to make wise decisions.
Whew! I agree, no easy answers.
Staci Nazareth (unauthenticated)
May 6, 2008 2:37 PM
There are ways to save content from YouTube and then play it in the classroom. We have experimented with that here at the middle school. Seems to be working.
Basically, you can search for sites that allow you to save YouTube videos. I then tell the teachers to save the video at home on their thumb drive and then they can bring it in and use it.
This way, the stuff is previewed and safe and can be saved by the teacher and added to PowerPoint, or wherever else they want.
Probably the biggest problem with unblocking YouTube wouldn't be the "questionable" content, it would probably be the fact that most people would be using it FOR entertainment and hogging up bandwidth, causing the internet to go really slow for the rest of us.
I agree that we have to prepare students to make wise decisions using the internet, BUT grabbing educational nuggets from YouTube isn't really a big problem.