- I read this post earlier and missed the opportunity to express my opinion that teachers need to be proactive with the people who control school information technology departments. Find out who is in control and build a case for less restrictive filtering. Use Animoto as an example of good things that are being excluded. Do a demo, get an exception for one class if necessary.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Filters: If not me, then who?
I just re-read a post from one of our classmates complaining about the lack of "flash" software on school computers which essentially blocks the use of ANIMOTO. The overzealous use of filtering is a fairly common problem for teachers. Here is what I suggested to our classmate:
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At my school we can't even use google images.... :(
ReplyDeleteWhy the "Flash" software always blocked on school computers anyways?
ReplyDeleteWe can access Animoto on our school computers. There have been filter issues in the past. I have found that it is true if you talk to the right people and have a good case they most often will make exceptions to the rules.
ReplyDeleteI can access Animoto at my school but there are many other sites that would be useful that I cannot. However, many teachers have been proactive when they have a website they would like to use that is blocked. Several times the IT department has unblocked it. It never hurts to ask!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ben. It never hurts to ask. Several of the sites that were blocked in our district last year have been opened to teachers only this year (these sites are still blocked to our students and the computers they have access to). A lot of this was done because the teachers simply asked. It never hurts.
ReplyDeleteSchool filters have been a big problem for me this quarter. I like to work through my lunch hour and after school because the building is quiet and I feel like I can get things done. However, I have not been able to access the blogs, open Google docs, work on my web page, or send email from my personal account without finding a web based server for my account. Contacting the tech department seems like a very daunting challenge. I wrote earlier that administrators block what they don't understand, and forbid what they don't know. Of course these blocks are present to keep students from accessing inappropriate web material- material they can freely access from their phones. But wouldn't it be great if there were a system to email a list of websites that a student has visited on their school account during the day, to their parents and teachers, with explanations of what type of content is on those sites? Of course explicit and known inappropriate material would always be blocked, but could that help the district limit what students see, as much as blindly blocking the web? If it worked as a kind of tattle tale web service, would that help students to be more responsible?
ReplyDeleteI had more difficulty with the filters when I was student teaching and subbing for Worthington Schools than I do with my own school district. It is interesting to see what one district considers a need to block and another allows full access. The main filter issue I have with my school is that Google images and You Tube are blocked. The tech coordinator for my school informed me that MSN images is not blocked (go figure?). Also, those who are wise in the ways of technology (ie. anyone who is still a teenager) are able to tell me an entire list of websites that can be used to "unfilter" blocked sites. Since I consider the vast majority of teens to be web savvy, are we really doing anything by having the filters???
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