[Yr7-10it] block it all

Thu Mar 1 22:38:12 EST 2007

Cameron - I agree with you that teachers should make the decision about
which sites to block - and the way the pc's are configured!

After a year away from bentleigh our computers are so 'locked down' it
takes the kids about 8 clicks to get into their home directory. Right
clicking has been disabled completely, and although we have the
Macromedia suite installed, I discovered today that kids cannot save swf
files - so about 6 of my students who had spent time doing a flash
animation for their website could not actually use it! I am also yet to
work out how they can zip up a folder (eg a website) so they can submit
it electronically. Chances are they will not be able to save zip files
or exe files either - goodbye gamemaker???? I will be pushing to have
the rules bent a little and attempt to put the onus back on the
classroom teachers to supervise what students are doing. 

There is nothing like diligence - my students know that if they are
doing anything off task (even paint can be a distraction) I will just
turn the computer off, they will risk losing their work, they are
removed from the computer and have to work from a book with pen and
paper. I find that once this has happened to a couple of kids the class
settles down and stays on task. It's a bit similar to being in a Maths
class and finding a kid reading a magazine - you confiscate the mag and
keep an eye on him/her.

Our students are limited to educache, staff can go further but are
limited to $10 credit (at 10c per MB) Once a staff member has used this
credit he must email the principal who will ask the library tech for a
printout of websites visited. I am hoping that by going to the
brightsparks unlimited plan (thanks Cameron) we will halve our IP costs
and everyone will have free access to the whole web.

After spending the last year at a notebook school where even MySpace,
youtube and MSN Messenger were not blocked I feel like I have just
landed behind the iron curtain - although I am enjoying being back here.

Roslyn Meadows | Information Technology | Bentleigh Secondary College |
meadows.roslyn.m at edumail.vic.gov.au | ph 03 9579 1044 | mobile 0412 614
062

-----Original Message-----
From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of victor rajewski
Sent: Thursday, 1 March 2007 9:09 PM
To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] block it all

Our school has just invested in NetSupport School - among other things
it lets the teacher in the classroom at the time to whitelist and
blacklist sites as they come up - and includes the ability to easily
see which site each student is visiting. It is quite nice. But what
would be more useful to schools that can't put the money into a system
like this would be a teacher-friendly interface to the proxy server
(such as edupass) where they can do a similar function. This wouldn't
be too hard to write - just needs a bit of will from the powers that
be.

Even so, technical measures are not a replacement for engaging tasks
and knowing what and how your students are doing. They just make it a
bit easier sometimes.

On 3/1/07, Cameron Bell <bell.cameron.p at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:
> I don't have the time to block every site that may come up as "not
> wanted" by staff. I tell the staff that it is their job as a classroom
> teacher to monitor what goes on in *their* classroom. If I see a kid
at
> a site that is clearly not relevant, I simply tell them to get on with
> the work as required and follow it up by keeping an eye on them and go
> through the usual steps I would with any kid who wasn't doing the
> current activity.
> The alternative is to ignore the rest of the class while I kick the
kid
> of the computer while I check the history, find the site, get the URL,
> determine the category, logon to the proxy, submit the filter.....
> It's so much easier to say "Get on with the work or I'll........."
>
> Cameron
>
> Geoff Hutchison wrote:
> > You are being too subtle Rob.
> >
> > Reminds me of my days working at a regional TAFE - VIC.GOV.AU was
suddenly blocked, classified as porn (sic). Didn't even bother ringing
our techs, took them over a month to unblock it.
> >
> > This blocking is just another case of the tail wagging the dog.
Schools should decide what to block, and by schools, I mean the teaching
staff. School and dept tech support should deliver what schools want,
not what they decide schools can have.
> >
> >  Which reminds me, Netspace is our ISP, and via an email a week ago,
they informed us all that, due to many requests from schools, they were
going to block many 'game' sites - they would decide what amounted to a
'game' site.
> >
> > SIGH.
> >
> > If schools just got off their own backsides, and instigated their
own filters AS THEY ARE REQUIRED TO DO.
> >
> > I could go on ................
> >
> > cheers
> > Geoff
> >
> > *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
> >
> > On 01-Mar-07 at 3:32 PM Costello, Rob R wrote:
> >
> >
> >> Reading about more filtering -
> >>
> >>
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/youtube-ban-for-victorian-schools
> >> /2007/03/01/1172338754827.html
> >>
> >> Personally, I think every student should be satisfied with 24/7
access
> >> to the official VELS site, and maybe the curriculum planning
guidelines
> >>
> >> What more could they ask for?
> >>
> >> Google, blogs, email, flickr, and all such web 2 apps should be
banned
> >> by decree
> >>
> >> They might be used to communicate - and the risk of communicating
is too
> >> high
> >>
> >> I look forward to a world in which every interesting and
interactive web
> >> site is finally blocked, and we all have handheld devices, on which
we
> >> can access an approved list of 3 sites
> >>
> >> Paper and pen might also need banning, as there are reliable
reports of
> >> these media being used for obscene drawing and note passing in
class
> >>
> >> Rob
> >>
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> >
> >
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