I first want to say all the presentations were awesome on Wednesday and Katie I was only talking because Sharda kept whispering stuff in my ear. I really enjoyed the presentation on filtering content on the Internet and in our schools. I don't really have a solution for this problem. I think students shouldn't be filtered but monitored instead. This way students are trusted with access and they will feel like their being treated like adults. Little do they know, every site they look at is being monitored that way you can catch them off guard! Seriously though students will feel like there being treated like adults and you can deal with the students that go on inappropriate sites.
Also on Wednesday, Dr. Glen Gatin came in and showed us more information on Second Life. I am still not sold on it. I just don't like the idea of students walking around have the capability to talk to anyone. I see the potential of a lot of phone calls from angry parents asking why their children playing video games in school. I do however see some benefits with it. For example students think there are playing a video game in reality they are learning. I would like to try this in the classroom but not until I have a secured teaching position because I can only imagine what some parents might think.
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Hey Riley, and yes i do love to blog! I also found the presentation on filtering to be interesting. It is hard to know what is best for schools to do when it comes to filtering because there are pros and cons to any choice schools make. I like the idea of keeping most sites available to students, but yet having the ability to monitor each student's account which gives a list of the sites the student has visited. This program could be expensive but I think it would be worth it. One point that was made during the presentation was that students cannot be protected from every "bad" thing. I agree with this, and think that students should be mature enough to know which sites to not visit... i also know that many students are not... which is why a monitoring program could be a good idea.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I agree that the better option with filtering is to open things up and treat people like adults. Students should be monitored on an individual bases and disciplined if the visit sites that are innapropriate. Blocking sites like YouTube take away from student learning and ultimimatly limit teachers ability to infuse technology into the classroom.
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