Balancing Access and Freedom with Safety and Liability Protection

 

Most Oklahoma school districts censor and filter Internet content more strictly than the communist government of China. It is very important to protect students from objectionable content on the Internet as well as our school districts from liability risks, but it is also critical that we provide more open access to learners of all ages who are the digital netizens of the 21st century. In this session we will explore practical ways school district leaders in Oklahoma and elsewhere are providing differentiated Internet access for teachers and students, encouraging cultures of accountability and responsibility when it comes to the use of digital resources, and helping learners develop capacities for media literacy as well as the ethical use and creation of media resources.

 

This is a new session I shared at the OU K-20 Center's Midwinter Conference on 31 January 2008

  1. Presentation slides are available as a PDF file.
  2. A podcast audio recording is also available.

 

This session is also scheduled ot be shared at the Oklahoma Technology Association's annual conference on 6 Feburary 2008, from 1:30 - 2:30 pm in Spotlight room 9-11.

 

Selected Referenced Resources:

  1. Celebrate Oklahoma Voices Digital Storytelling Project
  2. Creative Commons

 

Presentation Outline:

goals for education

- raise test scores

- provide a safe environment for learning

- develop literacy skills

- develop workforce skills

-- critical thinking

-- problem solving

-- collaboration

- cultivate responsible citizens

- develop capacities for ethical decisionmaking

 

practical goals

- avoid lawsuits

- keep parents happy

- keep our jobs

 

what does the law require?

- CIPA for E-Rate

 

what is the reality?

- far stricter content filtering

- OK vs China

- high levels of cyberbullying

- genie is out of the bottle: myspace, youtube, cell phones

 

Good reasons for content filtering

- ARE lots of offensive and objectionable websites

- ARE lots of real security risks and threats

- majority of schools predominantly use the most vulnerable and malware ridden operating system in the world: MS Windows

- vulnerabilities are real

 

Good reasons for changing our filtering Status Quo

- should trust teachers more than kindergarteners

- need environments of accountability

- we should be running schools, not prisons

- people learn ethics (to make good decisions) by making decisions, not from words of the week or long AUPs

- Communicating and Collaborating Report

- need to teach digital citizenship

- World is Flat (China photos)

 

Ideas for Balancing

1- differentiated content filtering (Tulsa and Enid)

2- define, analyze, and adjust district filtering response system

3- web-based security solutions which follow the device

-- best practice: integrate with PowerSchool web interface

4- proactively solicit blogs, wiki sites and social networks to WHITELIST

5- initiate professional development for teachers AND students on digital citizenship (include iSafe)

6- involve and engage students in IT support (Gen Yes)

7- form a district digital PR storytelling team

8- form a district network security sub-committee, including students

-- security on wireless access points?

-- using virtual LANs to segment wireless from wired networks?

-- what can hackers access today on the network? (reward whitehat behavior)

9- establish moderated social networks and learning managment systems for student and teacher use (Think.com, Imbee, Moodle, etc.)

10- Create a strategic digital education plan for your school board and community leadership

 


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