I have just been reading about Web access and so on.
I myself work in a school environment and find it frustrating at times when I go to look up a site and it has been blocked by our school filter software. Our filter seems to block us from visiting so many useful sites which makes it very limiting majority of the time. I would like to see staff members being able to control the access of these sites. I feel we have the right to check a site, if it is okay, unblock the site from the filter and the same goes if we see a site that the filter has missed, we should be able to block this site. As stated by Scot Aldred the school system block a large proportion of websites regardless of their content. (Aldred, 2009). You can also read Scot's Blog as follows:-
http://e-learning-engagement.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html
Our children need to be protected from predators and images and things on the Internet. I myself is a mother of 2 and I am pedantic about the Internet at home. I feel if our schools can educate our children better and run Safety Awareness programs about Cyber Bullying, Stranger Danger, putting personal information up about themselves. I think its a huge step in the right direction, to prevent your children from Cyber danger.
Regards Amanda
I also watched this video about Cyber Danger and found it great, unsure if it would work in Australia, but such a great program. Video is below:-
Reference
Protectkidstoday. (2010, Feb 4). New Software Protects Kids From Bullying, Sexting, Texting & Driving, Suicide, & Other Dangers [Video file]. Retrieved May 8, 2010 from
2 comments:
Hi Amanda,
I was actually talking to a Year 12 student on the weekend, and he was complaining about the filtering at his school. He said that he is doing Chemistry and he was trying to look up "fermentation". The search was immediately blocked. He said that anything related to alcohol in any way is blocked. He said that he and other students become so frustrated and give up trying to search at school. This student is fortunate in that he can search a computer at home, but imagine how frustrating it would be for students with no access outside the school.
I too believe that teachers should be able to unblock sites for students. I also believe that students especially in Year 12, should be trusted and given some responsibility for accessing appropriate material on websites.
Cheers
Meryl
Hi Meryl,
Sorry I didn't see your post till now. I feel their frustration, because I suffer the same thing on a regular basis. I can understand that we need to protect the innocence of our children but in circumstances like this, it makes it very difficult.
Regards
Amanda
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