Comments on teachwatts: Filtering, one step away from Censorship?

Beautifully written,Technology is constantly chang...

2009-10-28T18:35:07.643+07:00

Beautifully written,Technology is constantly changing. The W.W.W. has now evolved into “Web 2.0” and is the second wave of the World Wide Web.As parents how evolved are we in terms of incorporating technology with the curriculum? In an era of global connectivity parents should be actively involved to make the children aware of the right use of the digital tools available and how effectively they can be used for learning purposes.Such learning methodologies creates a sense of “self directed” learning and problem solving attitude among children.

This topic must work its way into many educational...

2009-10-10T08:19:19.530+07:00

This topic must work its way into many educational conversations from classrooms to faculty rooms to administrative meetings to school board meetings and parent sessions.Education and supervision must take the place of filtering. Just met a teacher whose wiki on Mobby DICK was blocked.In some schools I've been to MY blog is blocked.

I love this. You have articulated my thoughts so b...

2009-10-10T08:18:43.109+07:00

I love this. You have articulated my thoughts so beautifully.

This is definitely a conversation that all school communities should be having.

It raises the question: Do we as educators have a role to play in helping parents with their misgivings? Should we be reaching out to educate parents rather than responding with knee-jerk reactions?

As a librarian I believe very strongly in providing unfettered access to information resources and literature. We need to enable children and young adults to function ethically, safely and responsibly in the REAL world. If this means enabling the parents also, then I am happy to oblige...

Oh Dana. I love this post. You have so eloquently ...

2009-10-10T07:43:51.425+07:00

Oh Dana. I love this post. You have so eloquently reflected what I so strongly believe. This is such a huge challenge for schools and it comes up time and time again.

I think the bottom line is that most parents don't yet feel comfortable with the technology their children are using and their automatic reaction is to block (the same way my mother would say that I could go never go out with a certain group of friends). The reaction is one of control, rather than teaching and learning. Often times schools will respond to this knee-jerk reaction of parents with the same knee-jerk reaction of their own (filtering).

I've always said that the best filter is "the one between your ears" and if we don't teach our students how to use that one, they'll be in trouble more often and more quickly than we can imagine. It just takes a lot of parent, teacher and admin education to get to that point.

Thanks for starting this discussion!