Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Barriers to Technology Use in Schools
I have found that a large barrier to using technology in schools is safety. No school wants to introduce technology to students at the expense of their safety. However, I feel one of the most important skills a student could posses would be to know what is safe and how to keep themselves that way. Blocking websites and restricting use is one way a school protects students, but on the other hand as I have seen in this class sites such as youtube could be used in almost any classroom, but many schools block it. Instead of blocking sites such as these I feel that teachers should be more vigilant when a student is using the internet in their class so that these sites can be utilized. I have also found that if a student really wants to see something they know a way around the blocks, this just illustrates how important it is to watch what your students are doing on computer as in most cases they are going to do it whether the school wants them to or not.
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Safety of our students is the most important thing when it comes to technology. I believe we need to do a better job in preparing our students to protect themselves when they are using this technology. Educating teachers would be the first step. I love what this class is introducing us to. The power of this digital knowledge will only help us to become better teachers. This knowledge will help us open up communication with students which can lead to a teaching moment.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to be discussing this in greater detail in another few weeks, but I agree with you. This information is available to students once they leave the walls of the school (and sometimes even when they are in school as most can figure out a way of getting around it). How will they learn to make judgments? Should schools say they can't teach that skill because it might be unsafe or should they help students learn to be safe in an environment with guidance? There are some schools that are beginning to address this or offering access to limited versions of web 2.0 tools, but we really do need to get the conversation going on this.
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ReplyDeleteOur district had some major technology upgrades in the last couple of years. Before that nothing was really blocked or quite honestly monitored. I took the times that students were places they weren't suppose to be as teachable moments. I do wish that less was blocked. For one, students are finding ways to see it anyway. And more importantly, it would give me the opportunity to teach students what to do when they get to a site they shouldn't be on, and what questions to ask themselves in helping to make that determination.
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