by Shelly Blake-Plock
Yes or No:
It is the duty of the teacher who believes in networked learning to, if necessary, hack and proxy and to encourage hacking and proxying for the purpose of getting students into a place where they can connect freely online despite whatever institutional filters and blocks might be in place in the school, district, etc...
Sun in Sagittarius I (11/21 to 12/1/2024)
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On November 21, 2024 at 2:57 pm EST, the Sun enters Sagittarius I — The
Poison Arrow, according to Austin Coppock‘s naming conventions set forth in
36 Face...
Do I have tenure? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think we can't ignore proxies, but our real duty to students is to educate them about the risks of using them.
ReplyDeleteMost kids I teach know how to access Facebook while at school via a proxy, but don't realise they are potentially risking exposing the school network to malware, or more importantly for them risking exposing themselves to phishing.
It is the duty of the teacher who believes in networked learning to encourage an open network and real ICT education. Filtering is irrelevant now that kids can access whatever they want on their phones over 3G. We should be educating them thoroughly and providing a safe environment for that.
If the management at your school remain unconvinced, keep trying. But I think it's reckless to use proxies uninformed of the dangers, and doubly reckless to encourage undermining authority in these matters. Sure it may not 'matter' that they disobey their teachers, but if they get caught pulling that in the real world they could easily lose their jobs.
No. It is the responsibility of the teacher to advocate on behalf of the students to the powers that be, and where possible, to teach the students to advocate for themselves in a similar manner to get the institutional filters and blocks removed or modified.
ReplyDeleteI succeeded in get an open wireless network installed at school and I lost my job over the backlash to it and Google apps,still my answer is yes because every rebellion has it's casualties and I am one. My only solace, you cannot put the genie back in the bottle.
ReplyDeleteNo. We should be encouraging them to carefully read Acceptable Use Policies and other tech related paperwork they are asked to sign at the beginning of the year. We should encourage them to decide for themselves if they wish to sign it, but also be aware of the potential consequences for not signing or violating school policy. I agree with Mark in that the students must be taught how to advocate for themselves, and encouraged to do so.
ReplyDeleteNo. We should advocate for them and teach them to advocate for themselves via legal channels (I agree with Jonah and Mark). I think that sometimes we as teachers and many times students do not see the big picture. Simply ignoring the policy to achieve our small goal is not a good lesson to teach a student. Treating administration and superiors as enemies to be thwarted is a dangerous lesson. Treating administration and superiors as our leaders to be respected, respectfully protested against, and reasoned with, is a good lesson.
ReplyDeleteBritt,
ReplyDeleteI think you make a great point. Students need to understand that they have the power to advocate against what they believe is an unjust rule, and they need to know how to do it without putting themselves or the schools computers or network at risk.
And they should have a better reason than "I want to go on facebook"
Yes. Students need to learn how to distinguish their desire to "beat the system" (by accessing facebook) from their right to learn despite the obstacles placed in their way. As teachers, we have the responsibility to help students develop their own understanding of principles and values.
ReplyDeleteIt is the duty of the teacher to convince administration that what is best for students can work. It is our responsibility at teachers to teach how to successfully and responsibly use technology. I can't do that if everything is blocked by filtering software.
ReplyDeleteNope. I'm a rule follower. I think teachers should be good role models for the youth of today. They see enough rebellion to last a lifetime, perhaps seeing responsible adults following the rules is a good thing. We should never encourage our students to go around the tech department or administration to get what they want!
ReplyDeleteNo, but the teacher should have the goal to cleverly work around arbitrary and lazy roadblocks. It's important to role model that life will have obstacles that you can't attack head on...but if you accept them as a challenge, you can usually find alternate solutions.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in school, we wanted to use our free time in computer science to play games on the computer (with teacher approval), but the firewall blocked most games websites. We didn't just give up, we learned how to find online games that the firewall company hadn't found yet (often from Japanese language websites), and we eventually started programming our own games to play.
Very thought provoking article.Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete