Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

Today I’m attending Saskatchewan Interactive. It’s a one day conference bringing together folks from a variety of industries and sectors to look at changing media and education. The lineup looks pretty good. I”m particularly interested in the Second Life presentations.  I’ll blog all the sessions.

The evening session included a history of video games with opportunity to play a number of games from pong to wi.

This song’s likely very familar to anyone from Saskatchewan. Here someone adds it to their rather uneventful drive down Main Street in Moose Jaw. I think it says something about people who can laugh at themselves. Not sure what but it says something.

[tags]moosejaw[/tags]

I received a video response today for my PowerPoint Extreme Makeover Video. Very funny.
*Note: some language may make it inappropriate for kids but the message is loud and clear.

Photo editing, airbrushing are all wonderful tools. But they do raise questions of self-image.

“Somewhere between “can we eliminate the red-eye effect?” and “let’s reshape the way your face looks,” we’ve crossed the line into creepy territory.”

After living with 4 females who watch their share of “What not to Wear”, “Beauty and the Geek”, I don’t know what to think.

 Portrait Professional
 

I’ve been fortunate over my tenure in educational technology to avoid content filtering. The school division I previously worked for never implemented any filtering software. My current division has requested we develop a policy and protocol and I’m to lead the charge.

I’ve not ignored the topic but have contributed to many bloggers struggle with the topic. I haven’t heard much in the last few months on this topic. Is it resolving itself? Are people simply accepting whatever policies have been put in place? Maybe everything’s working really well?

My opinions and beliefs haven’t changed much over time. In fact, I believe in more certainty that blatant blocking of sites just isn’t the way to go. The challenge I face is leading an entire division in creating a policy that is both acceptable to most/many and can live with in terms of philosophy. Currently, our IT department has deployed a cache logging system and has purchased a blacklist for a US source. The trick now is to determine how we will use this list. Included is the idea of weighted phrases.

I know this will be a very heated debate. I’ve already seen the varying opinions that exist within our schools. While I understand those who want to block the youtubes, and myspaces of the internet, I’m urging them to consider alternatives. Yet simply suggesting that there is a better way is not enough. I’m going to have to develop resources and a systematic approach to help folks deal with the realities of an open access to sites which contain the excellent and the obscene.

But here’s the thing. It’s just way simpler, easy to block sites that may contain potentially inappropriate material than spend the time teacher teachers and students how to deal with the information. It opens a big can of worms that some teachers may not want to address. Cyberbullying, pornography, gambling, and hate sites represent the bulk of what is considered inappropriate. Can we deal effectively with these issues without a discussion of morality? It certainly wouldn’t get to the heart of the matter without some quality discussions. Since these are the big issues of the day for many of our students, I’m not sure we have a choice…unless we hope to perpetuate schools that are not relevant.

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