Ideas and Thoughts» filtering

Podcast 44: Facebook, Filtering and all that

Dean Shareski — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:13:12 +0000

The question of filtering and facebook continues to be a major discussion item for schools. In my division, we do not block social networking sites and have a very liberal filtering policy compared to most. However, teachers struggle with students traveling to spaces they shouldn’t and being off task. Rather than coming at them with my own position, I decided to enlist a number of teachers to respond to the following question:

Is “off task” behaviour relating to technology an issue with your students? If yes, how do you deal with it, if no, what have and your students done to alleviate the problem?’

The following represents a request I made to several teachers in our school division. You’ll see a few different viewpoints which is what I wanted.

I see it as an issue of off-task behaviour. Every teacher deals with it differently, but for the most part, they are instructed to get off of Facebook immediately and risk losing Computer/Internet. In my Information Processing class, I allow for them to check e-mail/Facebook in the first few minutes of class. I usually need a few minutes to get myself logged in and get the projector up and running.   They will also get to class early so that they can do this. It helps. We do not worry about its use during the noon hour, except that they are asked no to use the videos because they consume band width. With special needs students, I have used it to help them develop social skills. They struggle with writing but they want to communicate with their peers (many of whom have graduated already) and I use Facebook to help with this. I use Word to convert speech into text and they pastes it into Facebook. With regards to content on Facebook, they are instructed that they are responsible for what they see and do on any site, including Facebook. I have instructed them that I cannot possibly list every inappropriate piece of content which they might encounter, but they will know it when they see it and are to immediately move away from that content.   Dwelling or calling over buddies changes everything and it is dealt with as a discipline issue..

I hope they do not use a single blocking mechanism. I can only see it going to a very locked down place. Communities would be forced to accept the values of other communities, be it too much or too little content from the internet.   Are we going to see an internet blocked based on needs of Kindergarten students? Will high schools be different? What about K-12 schools?

Given that the internet is a moving target, we need to educate. We need to educate our students, teachers, parents and administrators. Do they realize that within a couple of hours of blocking Facebook, they will need to get IT to block a proxy server? I have been so impressed with how well the filtering has worked and how helpful David has been. I hope that it does not change and that people can be educated. Easy solutions are not always good solutions.           Ed Fahl, High School teacher, Avonlea, SK

Is the Pope Catholic? Believe it or not we even have off task behaviour in the classroom! I know let’s use shock collars!

Is off task behaviour an issue? Only if you let it run rabid. How do we deal with it? Supervision, education, learning, protocol, expectations (kids can come up with and agree on expectations – our cell project proved it – I did the same with facebook, no problems yet), respect, responsibility, and the odd consequence. It’s no different than classroom management. Same startegies work in the classroom as in the lab. We need to move into the new millenium here. Planning, preparation, and management. Oh yeah, learning, engagement, and expecations.

Other solutions? Let’s start teaching and learning about technology and respectful/responsible use. We can’t put our kids in a bubble, but we can teach them how to be respectful/responsible people. This is where we are missing the boat. We aren’t going to be there to censor their activities when they are 19, so we better teach them right from wrong when we do have the chance.

I don’t know if this helps or not Dean, it’s pretty broad. All I can say, is since we have adopted the philosophy of teaching/learning respect/responsibility for technology and the net, our off task behaviour has decreased because kids can make good decisions about their learning/lives, too. Gord Taylor, Principal Craik, SK

I am struggling with this issue in my classes and in general. Usually the logical consequence for an off-task behaviour is, after a warning, removal of the stimulus. In this case it is not possible to remove the stimulus. Facebook, or any social networking tool, twitter, etc. is extremely addictive as it seems as if you are “out of the loop” you are truly missing out on something that seems impossible to catch up on at a later time. I have to admit, I have checked my facebook during work hours myself. The temptation is great. I struggle with what consequence to enforce…denial of internet access? Seems extreme when most of their classes require them to use the internet. In-school suspension? Meeting with a parent and having them promise not to do it again? How could this be enforced in any way but scanning their use logs everyday to ensure that anyone accessing off-task sites were given the same consequence.    My belief is that the temptation is great as our students are multi-taskers who are used to typing an essay, creating a spreadsheet while surfing you-tube for music and IMing on facebook. They do not see this as a distraction at all. They believe (may be true) that they can scan their facebook while doing other things and it isn’t a problem for their focus.

We have had an instance of bullying that was documented on facebook during school hours. The student who made the comment on the wall of another student did so during school hours from a study period that is “supervised” by the library technician. The issue was dealt with as a bullying issue, not a technology issue. I supported, promoted, and stand by this.

We do not have adequate staffing to supervise all students on all computers at all times in our building. We have students completing on-line courses that are, unfortunately, not always supervised. In my own classroom students are accessing off-task sites on the sly. I have 27 students and one me. They know that if I am helping students in the far corner that I can not see what they are doing on their computers in the other side of the room. These are good, reasonable kids.

In the end, when all is said and done, what I am doing in my classroom? I did my educational piece on internet, bullying, proper use of work time, what businesses expect (i.e. fireable offence to waste company time on off-task behaviour), etc. This does not seem to curb the use of facebook…I teach PAA classes and so I am allowed to assign a mark for business-like attitude and behaviours. I dock this mark for off-task time.   Does this curb the behaviour? No.

The reason that I am harping on facebook is that of all the off-task sites, it is by far the most addictive as the very social networking nature of it makes it so tempting. Games, youtube videos, etc…do not seem to be a problem. The main problem is facebook in our school. The main problem with dealing with facebook is the seemingly lack of logical consequence to enforce.            Lona Froshaug, High School teacher, Assiniboia, SK

Finally, this conversation is with Patricia Yeske, High School teacher at Riverview Collegiate in Moose Jaw,SK.

Podcast 40 Going Global, Going Public

Dean Shareski — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:36:13 +0000

I tried to record the audio from my presentation last week but I must have messed something up. It’s likely for the best since I was able to condense a 50 minute presentation down to about 18 minutes. After removing the videos, discussion and excessive rambling, this is what you’re left with; the slidecast below as well as the mp3 for the podcast portion.

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My IT staff is better than yours

Dean Shareski — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:00:23 +0000

The general consensus among educators using technology is that IT are the enemies. Obviously this is a generalization but when you listen to teachers, read weblogs, this is a clear message.

Not for me. I’ve touched on this before and am currently working with our IT manager on a presentation at Tlt in a few weeks that deals with how we work together.

Today I was trying to access the chat portion in ustream. I had mentioned it casually with our IT staff and they said since it uses port 666 which is generally used for IRC, it could be potentially a threat. Makes sense. That’s their job, to protect and insure our network is stable and safe. But I persist. Since we all use Gtalk, it’s a quick IM conversation and here it is:

me: how hard is it to open port 666? Is it like a click of a button or some weirdly involved coding? temporarily I mean
stinndler: i have to log into the firewall console
find the right access-list then add the exception to it
all so you can use IRC
me: It’s part of Ustream…lots of online presenters use it.
stinndler: how many is lots?
me: I could join one everyday
stinndler: ustream.tv?
me: yep
I’m watching this right now http://www.ustream.tv/channel/weblogg-ed-tv
It’s basically over but just curious to see if we can do it.
stinndler: so it allows you to ask questions of the presenter?
me: that and chat with participants
stinndler: checking my firewall logs it looks like it’s always going to the same server
i could potentially open up port 6667 to just that server
that would remove the risk
me: that would be cool
you rock….you knew that right?
stinndler is typing…

That’s all it took. Conversation, relationships and common sense. Unfortunately, there are not that many school districts that operate this way. We need more stories and examples of effective relationships. I’ll be sure to post our presentation and materials on May 15th.

Beatrice, you’re way off!

Dean Shareski — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:46:53 +0000

Thanks to a tweet by Clarence, I just listened to a podcast of an angry parent upset with the Langley School District for not blocking social networking sites.

The mother, Beatrice, is conceded some authority by CBC since she has a computer science background. Unfortunately her knowledge of ports and key logging software is about all she has when it comes to her understanding of social networks. Admittedly her 12 year old daughter had been to some less than educational spaces and likely was pursuing content not fit for a 12 year old or anyone. Her reaction was to block all these sites, ban her daughter from the home computer and demand the school district to install content filtering that would prohibit any access to social networks. Craig Spence, a representative from the school division gives a very intelligent response in this interview to her complaints arguing the importance of teaching students about these spaces and recognizing these spaces will still exist outside the school. This article might indicate the school district is buckling somewhat under pressure.

This parent makes a number of comments that demonstrate a lack of understanding and fuels the fire of hysteria and in my opinion, bad judgment.

She admits that living in a rural area, the internet has become “for a lack of a better term, connection” for her daughter. Lack of a better term? That’s exactly what it is…a connection. From her eyes the connection is obviously negative, but that’s got nothing to do with the technology. Her daughter’s connections will remain questionable even without the technology. Her response is to ban her daughter from using their computer until she says,”it will be safe again.” When will that be? When all the nefarious sites have gone away? When her daughter is 18? When she determines that the only value of the internet is looking up stuff?

She worries that a child in grade 3 will be online at school and will accept a date with a stranger thinking it’s another child and will be whisked away by a predator. Once again, there is no case of anything remotely like this. While I understand why she might have this fear, the facts just aren’t getting through. That’s why in part, I don’t just ignore stories like this but feel compelled to speak out. Even the reporter lacked the background information to challenge her claim. I’ve written about this too often to reprise.

She also feels schools should be teaching reading, math, science and computers (how to use a computer) but social networking should be taught in the homes. Think about that statement for a while.

For every site one person deems educational, someone will disagree. For every social network site you block today, three more will arise tomorrow. These are bandaid solutions. Being proactive, supervisory and purposeful are by far the best approaches. Teachers are our best filters at school and parents should be the best at home.

This is why it’s so critical that we continue to promote teachers doing this in Kindergarten and Grade one. At some point we won’t even call it social networking. We’ll just call it learning.

Social Learning…it has to happen but what will it look like?

Dean Shareski — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:29:49 +0000

A local principal told me today she had to suspend 20 students from computer privileges for inappropriate use of school computers. Primarily Facebook. Specifically some of these students were engaging with bullying others socializing. She also suggested most of these student’s parents do not understand the implications of their actions, let alone what facebook is or does.

While my initial reaction was to suggest alternate ways to handle the socializing, the bullying of course raises another issue. She did ask our IT guys to considering blocking Facebook. He was not prepared to make that call. We discussed it later and would certainly like to pursue educational opportunities.

I quickly fired up a tweet and received this responses(for those that do not understand twitter, it only allows 140 characters, thus the IMspeak) :

cburell @shareski I’d be interested to read a post about that. If they violate AUP, how is it different from any other misbehavior?
Durff @shareski I would revoke until they had passed bullying curriculum and parental meeting…then when they graduate from tha
kwhobbes @shareski get them to explore the effects of bullying – do some interviews with people bullied, look at bullying in the media, seek out info
kwhobbes @shareski work with them on the issue – on their own time. As for the socializing, isn’t that WHY most kids come to school?
cathyjo @shareski where else but at school in safe env can kids learn to use FB & MS SN sites. Banning not the anser IMHO. Thy’ll jst do it @ hme.
courosa @shareski: Bullying is against the law in jurisdictions, so let the law deal with, at the same time, let’s educate them, design a program.
briangrenier @shareski Take away their Math books! No that doesn’t make sense either. Have them create and post a digital anti-bullying ad.
lucychili @shareski the medium is not the message/problem
duckie @shareski teachable moment -can they regain their privileges?I’m not to concerned about the social part just the bully part
plivings @shareski – bullying .and. socialize – these 2 things should be separate and have separate responses imo
mctoonish @shareski If it was just to socialize I would argue that that could be a part of learning. The bullying part changes everything IMO

All great responses and once again, the value of the network is evident. (For those still not convinced twitter has merit, how else would you get this type of response so fast? Grant it, these are bursts of support but still they are helpful to me) Definitely these are 2 separate issues and honestly I didn’t get all the details so I’m not sure how the students were dealt with individually. The information given by the principal was limited as this was not the intent of our conversation. But I’m trying to develop a response to this for future reference.

The cyberbullying one for me is almost the easier one to deal with. Part education, part consequence, part responsibility. This may involve the law as Alec suggests but certainly requires a well thought out response. The socialization one is the tough one. As Kelly writes, that’s why they come to school. I’ve talked with our administrators and teachers about social learning and its importance. I’m sure most don’t consider the use of tools like IM and Facebook to be a part of formal social learning. The problem is the lines between personal, professional and educational socialization is blurring. Twitter for example, combines the personal and the professional as well as any tool. Even bloggers get personal from time to time and that’s a good thing. Good teachers have always understood this but today we are more compelled to figure this out. I remember spending classtime talking about their personal issues be it sports, or the current event of the day that impacted them. I also recognized that as students worked together, they would engage in conversation not directly related to the work they were doing. And yes, they got off track and had to be drawn back to focus on the task at hand. But I could never think I could eliminate their efforts to socialize.

We have to consider how to provide learning environments where students can learn and socialize at the same time. As we move to a more personalized learning model it only makes sense. How we do this and how we help teachers get comfortable with this is a challenging task. Obviously, many are not ready to shift to personalized learning. But if we continue to ban these tools be it via filtering or simply classroom rules, we perpetuate the notion of irrelevant learning.

What does a learning environment look like where students can use things like IM or Facebook or text messaging in both an educational and social context?

[tags]facebook,contentfiltering,twitter,school,education[/tags]

Having to deal with Content Filtering

Dean Shareski — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 03:15:21 +0000

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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