6.1-Define digital citizenship and explain the importance of incorporating the concept into future teaching.
6.3-In this article, digital citizenship is addressed. Along with that comes the topic of digital rights and responsibilities. According to the reading, digital citizens have the right to privacy, free speech, and so on. What would be some of the positive things that come along with these digital rights? What about some negative things? As future teachers, do you believe students should have complete digital rights in a classroom setting? Why or why not?
6.4- How do you feel about the fact that schools have many blocks and filters in place on their computers? Do you agree or disagree with the author who believes children will find the information we are trying to block no matter what we do?
Hey gang! I'm not seeing much action here. :) Let's get some chit-chatting going. You don't like our blog? :P
ReplyDelete6.4 I believe that it's alright for elementary and middle schools to have blocks and filters. There's a lot of stuff on the web thats distracting and uneducational. By high school i think the blocks should be lifted. Kids in high school can find ways to use things such as facebook to work on projects.
ReplyDeletegood job nick encouraging people to post, it's a shame your group members don't have that type of enthusiasm :P
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: Digital Citizenship is displaying responsible behavior when using or dealing with technology. This day and age technology is such a huge part of everyone's life. Digital Citizenship provides us with reasoning of why we should becoming familiar with technology. Our class represents future educators and digital citizenship will enable us to easily communicate with students, parents, and other faculty.
ReplyDeleteDigital Citizenship will help us as teachers to introduce technology to our students, and appropriate ways to use it. To often technology is abused intentionally or unintentionally. We as the future educators will be able to put a stop to that and work together to make everyone technology friendly.
The nine common themes of digital citizenship is a break down what is essential to know about it.
Great posts so far! John, do you think the blocks and filters will effectively stop younger children from seeing the material we want hidden or will they find it on their own? Or is the most important part that we don't help them find it whether they find it or not?
ReplyDeleteGood point Brittany. As future teachers, we will have the responsibility of making our students technology friendly. Can you think of any activities we could use in the classroom to help our students become more involved with technology?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2:
ReplyDeleteFreedom of speech, right to privacy, and other digital rights are important to recognize. It is always important (digitally or not) to have the right to freedom of speech as well as right to privacy. The right to privacy has been shown through the use of passwords and privacy settings on social networking sites. To keep your personal websites private (i.e. e-mail) you make passwords for each website. Whether you use the same password everytime (to remember it) or use a different password everytime, it is your own creative idea. This helps prevent others from being able to access your private accounts. Also, another example of right to privacy is the way in which you can set your facebook to be very private. This way, people you don't know cannot view your pictures, profile, etc.
Freedom of speech is important, but can also be a negative thing on the internet. The way in which it can be negative is some people may take advantage of the idea of freedom of speech, and express their opinion online in a very offensive way. Everybody has the right to their own opinion, but some opinions should not be viewed by children. For children who are constantly accessing the internet, and are very impressionable, the idea of freedom of speech can cross the line. There are things that children should not be exposed to at a certain age.
It is important to know that children of this generation are very technologically savvy, and as adults we should know what they are accessing on the internet. I know that a lot of schools have blocked certain websites due to their content. This is an example of adults taking control of the situation in the schools.
Children should not have COMPLETE digital rights in a classroom setting, but should be aware of their rights. Children should be using technology in the classroom for learning purposes. There are things on the internet that should not be seen by certain aged children.
Erin - if set up properly, the filters should effectively work. Younger children will have a harder time finding proxies and backdoors to the sites. I also think it's important for the school to not be responsible for children finding material that isn't appropriate. Say i mom sees a child on an inappropriate site at home and he says his classmate showed him the site in school...then you get questions as who was watching them, why wasn't the site blocked, etc.. this can lead to problems for teachers and adminstration
ReplyDelete6.4-I feel that it is necessary for schools to have many blocks and filters in place on their computers. I agree that children will find a way to get information that we try and block from them anyways yes, but as teachers I feel it is part of our job to be sure we are doing what we can at least to ensure that students are not using technology for inappropriate reasons in school. Having blocks and filters can also help students stay focused on what is going on. Without access to certain sites, students will be influenced to follow along with what is going on in class rather than searching the web and being off task.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you all are saying but there is a fine line when talking about filters. For example, many teachers use youtube for educational clips. Although this is a great resource, youtube has some inappropriate clips. What could you do about this? Should it be blocked or just monitored?
ReplyDelete6.4- I feel that schools should have filters on their computers. Technology has made many advances, and with that there are many things on computers that children should not see. With these technological advances when you search something on the internet, you get results that are not always what you expected to see. As teachers we are considered to be the students guardian for the amount of time they are in are class. So I would want to filter the information that is out there on the internet just as much as their parents would want it filtered. I disagree with the author that children know we do not trust them when blocking things on the computer. I think that it is not that we do not trust the students, it is that we do not trust the information other people are putting out there on the internet. I do agree with the author that occasionally children will find information out there that should be blocked. But I feel that as an educator we should do our best to keep that information filtered to the students. I feel that certain sites should be blocked from the internet in schools. With access to certain sites children could get off task doing other things on the computers. I personally feel that filters and blocks on school computers are necessary.
ReplyDelete6.4- How do you feel about the fact that schools have many blocks and filters in place on their computers? Do you agree or disagree with the author who believes children will find the information we are trying to block no matter what we do?
ReplyDeleteI personally feel that it is appropriate for schools to have blocks and filters in place on their computers. I disagree with the author when they state, “Filtering and blocking suggest that we don’t trust teachers. Filtering and blocking suggest that we don’t trust students.” Because in my opinion I do not think it is a matter of trust, but a matter of asking ourselves, what is the intention that the school computers are used for? The school computers should be used for educational purposes and if certain websites and programs do not pertain to that goal, what is the need for there to be access to them? I absolutely agree with the author who believes that children will find the information we are trying to block no matter what we do, however I feel it is irrelevant to the matter at hand. The intention of computers in school is for one purpose, to aid in students learning and I feel that there is no need to have certain websites and programs that do not support this.
6.4- How do you feel about the fact that schools have many blocks and filters in place on their computers? Do you agree or disagree with the author who believes children will find the information we are trying to block no matter what we do?
ReplyDeleteI can remember in high school that certain websites were banned from the school computers because for one reason or another they were inapporpriate. Inapporpriate meaning not school related. These websites were myspace or facebook, those kinds of things, which are pretty harmless maybe distracting but it's not like the students are sitting there looking at porn. Porn is one thing that should be filtered. But for everything else I don't see the point in the blocks. I personally think if a student want to see or do something they will. Why cause more of a hassle?
6.4- How do you feel about the fact that schools have many blocks and filters in place on their computers? Do you agree or disagree with the author who believes children will find the information we are trying to block no matter what we do?
ReplyDeleteI completely understand the reasoning behind censoring some material on the Internet. There are many things that younger children should not be viewing. However, just like the article mentions, “what about educating?” I agree that it’s much more important to teach children how to use the Internet. As a teacher, that’s the job. Teach the children about the possible dangers available through the Internet so that they can control themselves. The quote that it’s “…better for a student to learn about the dangers of life among peers in the safety of the classroom…rather than in the darkness of a bedroom alone in the glow of the computer screen” is scary. Children are going to explore the Internet at some point. It’s smarter to expose them to it in a safe environment than to let them experiment and possibly become involved in something dangerous. Also, filtering and blocking parts of the Internet definitely sends the message of distrust. There’s also a very good chance that trying to protect by blocking will have the reverse effect. It might send the children home wondering about what else is out there that they “aren’t allowed” to see. In my future classroom, I would like to explore the Internet WITH my students and make sure they know how to use it appropriately. It’s better to be honest with children instead of treating them like they are unable to understand and don’t deserve the opportunity to make the right choice.
6.4- How do you feel about the fact that schools have many blocks and filters in place on their computers? Do you agree or disagree with the author who believes children will find the information we are trying to block no matter what we do?
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone who said that filters should be in school. I think that children would feel safe using the internet knowing there are certain things they cannot access (not untrustworthy as the article suggests). The only internet sites that should be blocked are porn and sites that have vulgar language. Other than these two, children should have free access to the internet.
Like anything else children will find a way to do something if they want to. As long as the students trust and respect the teacher, they should not want to see what is blocked. I also think students and teachers should talk about why certain sites are blocked. This will hopefully get rid of any impulse the students have to unblock the blocked material.
6.4 – I think that using blocks and filters in school is necessary in many circumstances but in some circumstances, it is not. It is important for inappropriate things to be filtered from school so that if students perform a search on google or on youtube something that is not appropriate will not turn up. This is important especially in elementary schools because young kids do not realize that the words that they type in the search may give them unexpected and inappropriate results. I understand what the author is saying about the “tendency of human nature to try to filter or block what makes one uncomfortable”. The students very well could do the same research at home on their own computers and find the things that were filtered out in school, so that may somewhat defeat the purpose of having the block in the first place. However, in a school setting I think it is appropriate to place a blocker or filter on what the students can see. I don’t necessarily agree with the author when she says that blocking the information is because we are scared of what students will do with access to the truth. Certain things must be blocked because they are not appropriate for school, just as certain issues aren’t discussed in classrooms because they are not appropriate. Students may find things on their own at home and communicate with one another about what they have found, but those things are found outside of the school walls where the school is not responsible. If the students find things that are not appropriate in the school it could lead to many problems including pointing fingers at the teachers and principals.
ReplyDelete6.4- I feel that schools should have many blocks and filters in place on their computers. Schools should put blocks on them because they should not be on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, or whatever else, during school hours. I semi agree with the author when she says, children will find the information no matter what. If they are not monitored at home, they can and will find the information. However, I do not think that it should be on school grounds. It is the parents' job to monitor what their children are watching on television, listening to, and doing on the computer, and when the children are at school it is the teacher's job to monitor the students. Unfortunately, many parents do not monitor their children so they are going home and maybe looking at inappropriate shows, or listening to inapropriate music, but they do not have to do those things at school. So at least for those 6 or so hours, they are not exposed to all that nonsense.
ReplyDelete6.1-Define digital citizenship and explain the importance of incorporating the concept into future teaching.
ReplyDeleteThe phrase digital citizenship represents the correlation where both digital natives and digital immigrants can respectfully utilize technology in regards to behavior. As mentioned by Brittany previously, I think that digital citizenship is a growing phenomenon that is attempted to be practiced more frequently within the profession of teaching. I feel the incorporation of this specific concept is extremely important because it allows educators and future educators to teach and practice, what exactly needs to be done in order to become a fluent user of digital technologies. Many students, in this day and age are accustomed to innovative technologies within the classroom but that does not necessarily mean that those students understand and practice the proper technological etiquette. That is why I believe that teachers, students, parents, and technology users alike all should be well acquainted with the nine elements that make up digital citizenship. The nine elements aid in assisting with better understanding the process of digital citizenship and create a greater respect for the technology society.
For those of you who think that filters should be put in place should they block facebook and myspace as well? Roberta said that when she was in school they were blocked because they were not school related. While these are not inappropriate sites for students they have the ability to distract our future students from their work. Is it our job to block students from sites that may distract them from work or just those that are inappropriate for them?
ReplyDeleteGreat post Ashley! The nine elements of digital citizenship are a great set of guidelines. This being said, how could you as future teachers make students more aware of these elements? How could you implement them in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteGreat posts by everyone so far! I think the majority feels that filters and blocked sites are appropriate in a school setting, yet kids usually can find away around it.
ReplyDeleteAnna- you made a great statement when you disagreed with the author on why certain sites are blocked in schools. I agree with you that it is not because we are scared of what children will find and how they will use that information, it's really that it is inappropriate for school classrooms.
Evelyn-I agree with you that even with blocked websites at school, some children are still allowed to find these websites at home because they are not being monitored by there parents.
Keep up the good work!!
Evelyn, good point about how it is the parents jobs to moniter what their children are doing on the internet at home. The fact that there are some parents who are not monitering what their children are doing is a very big issue today. Some parents just don't care, or others are not home enough to be involved in their children's lives. That is why it is so important that we as teachers work as hard as we can with parents. I think a good way of getting parents involved is through newsletters or class websites, like we have been doing in class. Does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions that we could do to get the parents more involved in their children's lives at home?
ReplyDeleteI think that the nine elements of digital citizenship could be incorporated into the classroom not only by word of mouth but also by demonstration. If teachers are following these general guidelines than students can/will follow by example. Also, it would not be a bad idea to post the nine elements onto a poster and hang them in the classroom, therefore they are easily accessible and anyone can refer to the guidelines at any given time.
ReplyDeleteDigital citizenship is learning and understanding how to use different types of technology respectfully. As said by others who answered this same question, digital citizenship is a concept that is continuously growing. I believe that is is incredibly important for teachers to incorporate digital citizenship into their teaching. If there is no clear understanding set for students on how to appropriately use technological devices then there will be a plethora of children who will misuse technology. It is our responsibility as teachers to incorporate the use of technology in our teaching. Without being taught how to properly use technology; students will not be able to fully benefit in their practice. I strongly agree with Ashley DeVito saying that we, as teachers, can demonstrate how to properly use technology. To students, we are role models who need to set excellent examples. Digital citizenship is a must, not only because it demonstrates responsible behavior, but it will also help users benefit fully as they use technological devices.
ReplyDeleteFor question number two only Becca has replied. She has brought up many good points. One of them being that “Children should not have COMPLETE digital rights in a classroom setting, but should be aware of their rights”. How do you feel?
ReplyDelete6.4- How do you feel about the fact that schools have many blocks and filters in place on their computers? Do you agree or disagree with the author who believes children will find the information we are trying to block no matter what we do?
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of other posts when they say that filters are appropriate in some areas. Anna makes a good point when she states that it "is important especially in elementary schools because young kids do not realize that the words that they type in the search may give them unexpected and inappropriate results". However, in other cases certain sites that are educational are blocked. In my placement I was looking for geographical websites for the students to use, and one site that I normally go to was blocked by their system. I can remember in high school as well I would be able to go to websites at home and then go to school and they would be blocked, and there was nothing wrong with them! The article makes a good point in saying "We hear of the threat of sex, drugs, violence, and profanity on the Internet. We are told that we have a duty to keep students safe. We are told that filtering and blocking is the only way." Haven't we been learning about self-discipline in Finucane's class! Shouldn't we allow students to make their own decisions, after all as the article suggests "our students are going to get the information one way or another". Do schools think that students and teachers are not to be trusted and will spend all their time going to "bad" websites? As Kristen says in her post we should "teach the children about the possible dangers available through the Internet so that they can control themselves." There are some students and even teachers that will come to school and abuse their computer privileges on sites that are inappropriate for school, but as the article suggests "filtering and blocking has produced not merely an inconvenience to technological integration, but a block to teaching and learning." What about if a biology teacher finds a good video on YouTube that is educational and appropriate to viewers in school, it would be blocked, and that technological integration would not happen. In some cases blocks and filters are good to have, but they have become extreme to the point of having almost everything blocked. I do agree with the author when they say that children will find the information we are trying to block no matter what we do, because for an example if a parent tells a teenager not to do something, they will want to do it even more. Not every single student is coming to school to go to inappropriate websites, and a lot of websites that are good educational learning tools are blocked in schools.
Very strong points in this post Becky. It could prove to be very frustrating for teachers to be blocked from helpful sites such as Youtube. Such filters and blocks hinders the expansion of Web 2.0. Can anyone think of a way to customize the situation of filters so that it is not such a burden on the classroom, while at the same time preventing students from finding "bad" sites?
ReplyDelete6.4- As well as many other students, I also believe that filters are appropriate in some cases. Schools and teachers can not always see what every student is doing in their classroom and therefore can not always watch what they are looking at on the internet. I believe that yes, students will find the information no matter if it is in school or not, but does that mean as future educators that we should allow it? Some websites are very inappropriate for a school setting, including some pictures, facebook, etc. These internet sites will only distract students from their work, and maybe even influence them somehow. If students were to find an unacceptable site at home, and come to school wondering about that site, or whatever they found, then yes as a teacher I would be obligated to educate them on what it is they want to learn. School is a place for learning and growing, but I believe that some internet sites will only negatively effect a students learning by distracting them. So I disagree with the author when he say's that we should get rid of all blocks and filters from schools.
ReplyDeleteNick- Maybe the teacher could have a password to enter if they want to get on a website such as YouTube, and every site that the teacher entered with the password could be flagged for review from the administrator to make sure that students and teachers are not going into "bad" sites.
ReplyDelete6.4- Schools should have filters on the internet, especially at the elementary level. The primary level is where the students start to discover new things as they explore their surroundings. They are more interested in expanding their horizon at an early age. Without blocking certain information they can access, I feel that it will raise many conflicts between parent-teacher relationships. The most common question parents ask their children at dinner is what did they learn at school today. If a child came home and shared with their parents that they learned something inappropriate, the parent will lose trust in the teacher. Now days anyone can put whatever information they want on the internet and some of that information children at an early age should not be exposed to. If they discover new inappropriate things at school, do you think that the children will remember the normal curriculum taught that day? Do you think that they will tell their parents what they learned in science or what they learned from exploring the internet? To prevent parent-teacher conflicts, we need filters in our schools. If the children learn it from somewhere else, let the parents deal with that situation.
ReplyDeleteThe only other thing I can think of Lori is a newsletter through an email to parents. I think a website is a great way for the parents to check up on what their children are doing in school and make sure they are keeping up with their homework assignments and projects. Becky, I agree that many educational sites are being blocked, not all of them are bad. I think Becky’s idea of a teacher password to override the block is a very good idea, I wonder if some schools already have that setup. That way, the websites that the teacher does enter a password for can be evaluated by an administrator.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think schools should have blocks and filters on the internet. It is very easy for inappropriate content to come up on the web. These blocks will help ensure that students do not stumble upon these sites while in school. I think that it is important to block gaming sites because it can distract students from their work. Web 2.0 might begin to serve some purposes in high school settings. In the upper grades it could be used to complete group work and other assignments. There should be monitors on this however to ensure that there is no harassment occurring. School is a place where learning should occur and the technology in the classroom should be used for these educational resources. I do agree however that students will come upon these blocked sites regardless. I just do not think that should happen in school. There would be too much controversy with parents and negative consequences for the schools. This would distract from the schools attention to creating life long learners and direct it towards unnecessary drama.
ReplyDeleteDanielle, you make some great points. What if the reverse situation occurs- where a student comes to school asking questions about something they found on their home computer? Do you think you would addresss the inappropriate material and make it a teaching moment or contact the parents and have them handle it? Anyone can weigh in on this!
ReplyDeleteAnna, thats a good idea. E-mail is a great way to get in touch with many parents, especially in our society today.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree to a certain extent with having filters on certain websites in schools, but I was also going back and forth with whether every "bad" site should be blocked. I think Becky's idea about a teacher password for some sites is a great idea. Can anyone think of types of sites that would normally be blocked in schools, but that you might allow in your classroom for educational purposes?
6.4- How do you feel about the fact that schools have many blocks and filters in place on their computers? Do you agree or disagree with the author who believes children will find the information we are trying to block no matter what we do?
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that schools have blocks and filters on the computers. Schools even have books that are banned from the school so some web-sites and things should be blocked. I agree with the author that children will find the information we block no matter what. The difference is that they don't find this information in our schools. Let them find it out but let them find it out through family preferably or even the media now. Kids can ask their parents. They will find the information out the difference is where they find it. School is not a place for them to find out information and we now live in a world of law suits. Schools could face a lot of punishment from parents if kids find stuff that they don't want them to know yet on the schools computers.
6.4
ReplyDeleteI think that it is necessary for schools to have blocks on internet websites, especially in elementary school. I can remember being in elementary school and hearing my older brother talking about things and when I got curious, I would run to the internet to find out what it is. Nowadays kids are advancing faster than when I was in school and they are exposed to so much more, so it is important to block certain websites from student use. Anything that is not considered educational should be blocked. I feel like when it comes to high school that it is not so necessary to block as many websites as younger grades. Many kids in high school are more mature and should know their limits with the internet while in school. It is important to block websites that are harmful to children and that don't contain educational materials, certain websites should require a password so that teachers can access material when needed. I feel that even if children cant access the information in school that they will be able to when they go home, but it will no longer be the schools responsibility to watch that child. So by blocking websites in school doesn't leave the school responsible for anything the child sees that is inappropriate.
Erin, I would probably do both. I would want to address the issue and make it a teaching moment because if a student shares something inappropriate to other students in the classroom, the word is going to get out and there will be more concerns with other parents. I would handle the situation appropriately at that current time and then probably contact the parent later with concerns on what their child is discovering outside the classroom without passing judgment that they have bad parenting skills. Parent-teacher communication is very important in this case because if the parent did not know that this was going on in their own home, they might think that their child was learning it in the classroom so the parent needs to be informed one way or another.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure why my user name is showing up two different names. I changed it a while ago because there are two Danielle's in our class. Sorry for the confusion.
ReplyDelete6.4- How do you feel about the fact that schools have many blocks and filters in place on their computers? Do you agree or disagree with the author who believes children will find the information we are trying to block no matter what we do?
ReplyDeleteI agree that there should be certain blocks placed on some websites such as facebook and other inappropriate sites. There is no need for a student to have access to these sites during the school day. However, I also believe that we should teach our students to respect their privledge to the internet. Sites like youtube could be very educational. I believe that if we teach our students what is appropriate and inappropriate during the school day. As a future teacher I plan on using youtube to emphasize what I am teaching in class. I would be very disappointed if youtube was blocked to my students. I believe that if a student is knowledgable about the internet, they will use it for the right purposes. I think that if the use of internet is monitored correctly, there should not be an issue.
I think that certain websites should be blocked for elementary, middle, and high school because if the schools do not block websites, it makes it easy for the students to get off-task and easily distracted. For example, if the students have access to their MySpace, Facebook, and AIM, they would be on it the whole time and not be doing schoolwork. In addition, I feel that if schools did not block certain websites, children will take advantage and abuse the privilege. I do not think that websites such as these are appropriate during school hours. The school computers should be use for educational purposes only--children are in school to learn, not to be social networking with their friends. If the children want to go on their MySpace, Facebook, or chat on AIM, they can wait and go on it when they get home. Another advantage to blocking websites is that the school will not be responsible for viruses. There are a lot of dangerous websites on the internet and I feel that it is the school's responsibility to block them so that the children do not have access to go on them.
ReplyDeleteI think that schools should most definitely block some websites. Websites that are inappropriate for school should be blocked with out a doubt and websites that have the ability to distract students during class time should also be blocked like social networking sites or websites that have addicting computer games for example. I do also think that students in the higher grades such as high school, will be able to bypass the possible filters but it should not be easy for them to do so. Overall, students have to realize that school is school and websites that they use frequently at home should be done so there and not during the school day.
ReplyDelete