In what ways can larger school districts balance security with accessiblity?

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Permalink Reply by Dave MacLean on January 13, 2009 at 8:45pm

First off, I am the building administrator. I am a strong proponent of teacher autonomy. When it comes to staff supervision, my job is to hire, support, empower and evaluate teachers. It is my job to establish a culture of trust that allows teachers to do their job without the impediments of checking in with me for every little detail. In an environment that encourages teachers to use the internet to extend the learning, to grasp the teachable moment and to take the tangent that empowers students to go deeper with their learning, there is no time to have to jump through red tape that implies that I do not trust their professional judgement. Often IT people may be "technology" experts but they are rarely "education" experts and who are they to judge the relevance of a particular website. In addition, this model encourages levels of control that often get politicized. Not to mention that many of my teachers are technological experts, especially when it comes to pedagogical uses.

As I mentioned in my past reply, our contexts are different. All but one of my classes are involved with ePals in some sort of international curriculum sharing (i.e. tracking weather around the world with our gr. 1 class). In addition, we have three classes using wikis to collectively research math concepts, the life cycle of salmon, cultural aspects of First Nation life. In addition, we have just started to explore digital citizenship with a wiki and are using Kiva.org to make a difference in the world. We have a class blog that tracks the progress of our salmon raising experience and our teachers use facebook to communicate with a number of our parents and students around several group projects. Some students are using Skype and/or iChat to interview their peers in other parts of Canada to add to their country study. (just to name a few web2.0 uses in the school). The only issue is that our teachers are using their home computers to do some of these activities outside of class time because our district has blocked Facebook and some of the other web 2.0 applications that teachers want to use.

The compromise that is being discussed right now involves progressive permissions. Whereby, our network will run a series of tests on any device seeking access to the network and as it determines various levels of security, the prohibitive filters and blockages dissipate. While this is a step in the right direction, I still don't think it provides teachers with the autonomy that they require to use the internet in a seamless manner.

Finally, a district fails in the eyes of a parent group when it fails to educate its clients. An informed and involved parent group is part of the solution rather than legal complainants. Almost all of our digital issues originate from a home computer and then spill over into the school. Very rarely is the reverse true. Parents need to be partners in guiding their children around the net so it is incumbent on us to involve and educate our parents.

And by the way, I have much love for the professionals who support our school. They help us play with learning in ways that engage students and make their work relevant. We are lucky that we don't need their permission to do this in the ways we want to. They see their role as removers of barriers and do so without questions or judgement. When someone takes advantage of this culture, I am sure they will be dealt with in the same manner we deal with any employee who acts in an unprofessional manner. But I'll be damned if one bad apple becomes the cause of a blanket policy of a security state.

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Permalink Reply by indigo196 on January 13, 2009 at 9:43pm

I have also made no argument that teachers should be 'restricted' from using content that has pedagogic value. While it is true that a filter may block valid content I would not remove the filter; I would refine the filter. Perhaps in your district all your labs are monitored, in my environment they are not. The filter is there for the students and when teachers run in to an issue the site is reviewed and the filter adjusted to allow access to the requested content.

I do not see how a teacher can plan a lesson and not make sure that the resource is available. With a little bit of effort, professionalism and communication teachers would have access to the resources they desire.

Is it not the case in your district that text books need to be approved? Is it not the case in your district that field trips need to be approved? Where is the parallel in the digital world?

Your seem to believe this is an all or nothing argument - when it is not. There can be a careful balance and a filter can be a useful tool. You will receive no argument from me that some districts / schools are over zealous in their use of a filter, but that does not invalidate the filter.

In response to "ften IT people may be "technology" experts but they are rarely "education" experts and who are they to judge the relevance of a particular website."

• They are highly intelligent people who should be part of the 'team' or 'community' that helps to raise and educate children
• They are parents
• They are just as likely to be a 'pedagogical expert' as a teacher is to be a 'technology expert'

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