Dear Head of Education: Please don't check my briefcase when I come to school

"Computer says no"

Neil Winton believes that if we were to ban most the keywords we ban on the internet we would have to remove half the school library content on the Roman Empire.

Who and why are certain sites blocked? Why in one Local Authority of 88 schools are there 88 policies on the use of technology (the Primary allows Flickr, the Secondary does not)? Filtering makes no sense, with councils even blocking their own websites, or allow WordPress blogs but block ones hosted on Typepad.com (like this one). Why can't I upgrade by Flash Player, my iTunes, play Darfur is Dying, comment on this blog or find copyright-free clipart on Flickr? Why can't Modern Foreign Language teachers access the blogs offered to them by the MFLE service of LTS?

There is a need for some sort of central organisation to provide some sort of "good practice", "correct" line to follow, "reassurance".

So what are the main issues halting progress?

1. Fear of...
   • Inappropriate material
     Yet, teachers will use Google Images (unmoderated by a community) instead of (the blocked) Flickr.
   • Time-wasting
     This is sometimes a product of the teacher's own use of ICT - at Christmas time it is impossible to find a set of computers because everyone is taking their kids to play games.
2. Ignorance of...
   • The tools
     Teachers have the vaguest of notions of what tools could empower them, normally coloured by mainstream media's own errors in the possibilities these hold.
   • And how to use the tools
   • And how to enhance and extend learning
3. Time...
   • to learn about the tools
   • to experiment
     Where do teachers get given the time to play, instead of doing other "more important" tasks, which are rarely important at all.

Neil believes LTS could lessen the fear by:

• Providing guidance for dealing with inappropriate content.
• Providing guides to emerging technologies
• Highlighting what is available
• Providing user guides and online tutorials
• Linking this new technology to current educational initiatives such as A Curriculum for Excellence and Assessment is for Learning.
• Having the courage to walk the walk - and walking it quicker than we have so far.

Some of what Neil has asked for here is exactly what Annelie, Nick and I were able to achieve with our community on the MFLE. Our blogging advice links back to Assessment is for Learning and our podcasting guides change with new content from our community - though still not fast enough! We use wikis to help build new content on complex issues such as collaborative learning, critical skills and so on.

But other parts of our content which is not strictly limited to Modern Languages is 'hidden' in the site and not replicated in other parts of the site where people would expect to find it: social bookmarking and mobile phone use, for example. That's a fault on our part - it needs some oomph from today's LTSFutures meeting to sort out the priorities of our ICT offerings.

Emerging technologies have now emerged - if we hang around any longer we will have missed it, in the same way we missed the television.

"Work as if you were in the early days of a better nation" - Alasdair Gray

Comments

[Lucy Crichton]

" early days of a better nation"

Have you read any Ken MacLeod?
http://www.kenmacleod.blogspot.com/
He writes some great (left-of-centre) sci-fi - some set in future Scotland and some in space - the one where the family from Glasgow fight for control of a vital wormhole is great!

I think it's often good for people to visualise the future...while we're not yet at the stages that Ken MacLeod describes, narrative can be so helpful for people to see how they can get from one place to another and opens their eyes and imaginations to new possibilities that they may never have considered - whether its trying blogging, taking up an artistic endeavour, going to uni, setting up a business or any other ambition they may not have considered.

LTS had a small go at using narrative as a way of prompting new ideas about the future with a story called 'The Imagineers' by Julie Bertagna in Connected a few issues ago:

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/ictineducation/connected/connected2/articles/connected13/byteback/theimagineers.asp

Cheers
Lucy

[chris]

Thanks for the link to Alasdair Gray's blog - what a find!

[David Gilmour]

Misalignment between internet access policies and educational objectives is one symptom of a deeper problem, that of aligning the bigger ICT picture with our educational objectives.

But what's the best way to do that? This is known. Put simply, it's to develop a decision-making, or governance, framework that links ICT-related decision-making and behaviours to educational objectives. See http://web.mit.edu/cisr/working%20papers/cisrwp349.pdf (18 page pdf, free registration req'd.) Maybe LTS could help with that?

That there's an underlying problem here is apparent from the many blog posts on the subject. If members of an organisation don't know how ICT-related decisions - such as internet access policies - are made, that's evidence that governance needs improved.

[Nathan Lamothe]

I've been reading here faithfully for months now Ewan. Wonderful stuff, learning something with every post you make.

My comment on this is simple, read Howard Rheingold's discussion of DIY Media and Moral Panic

[J.D.]

At work today I was able to read your blog through Bloglines, but when I clicked on the link to your actual blog our servers blocked it.

At first I thought about emailing IT and asking why it was blocked and telling them that I could still get it through Bloglines, but that kind of makes me afraid that they'd just block Bloglines.

Youtube was just recently blocked as well. That means I'll have to re-write some lessons for next year.

That is one of the worst parts about incorporating new technology. How long will it be until our IT department blocks it?

I've had to email three different people and write up a two page report about installing Google Earth. It's been two months and my students still don't have access to it (unless I log them in as me). It's frustrating to find something that really works well to later have it blocked, or have to wait forever for it to be available.

[Theo Kuechel]

Excellent analysis Ewan! Lots of layers to work on. Up in Glasgow tomorrow so I will have dram on this post!

[Robert Jones]

Here here Ewan! I guess it's maybe just another way of saying "fear", but I think excessive risk aversion is a big problem. Reading this post from the wonderful Creating Passionate Users always gees me up when I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall.

[Terry Freedman]

Hi, Ewan, I've mentioned this post in my newsletter. It sort of parallels something I wrote about, to do with teachers' reluctance to embrace educational technology -- http://terry-freedman.org.uk/artman/publish/article_917.php,
My survey indicates that support factors are a big issue, and not seeing the point of using it.

[Robert Alexander]

Ewan, I attended a lecture at Jordanhill with yourself and David Muir and was enthused by the prosepct of using technology in the classroom - how I could use the Interactive Smartboard, what could I do with mobile phones, animation in the classroom!!!! There was a whole plethora of possibilities.

I was slightly concerned therefore when I went on my first placement and there is a blanket ban on mobile phones - if they are seen they are confiscated. There is also a ban on any downloads which I believe is Local Authority policy which means it is difficult to get things for the Interactive Smartboard and there is a bit of fear in letting the pupils loose with the Internet unless under the strictest of controls - many sites are barred for a start.

I would be interested to hear your views on where I can balance the theoretical side of technology at Jordanhill with the practical side in school. I will admit to having had the pupils playing Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and booking a flight on Ryanair on the Smartboard, both of which went down an absolute storm!

[Neil Winton]

Ewan, thanks for writing this up so well. On the one hand, I find it encouraging that there is so much positive reaction to the points made, but I sometimes despair that we are not always getting the message to the people that can make the changes we would like... and I believe (as I said) that this is where LTS can make a crucial difference.

I don't know when we'll get any movement on this issue, but it will be almost impossible to implement A Curriculum for Excellence without the tools that the emerging technologies provide.

(PS: Posted from home because, while I can read your blog in school, I can't post comments because of our firewall!)

[John]

Hi Ewan,
Another great conversation. Lots of problems. IMO 3 would go a long way to fixing 1 and 2. I'd guess at Authority level those who make the decisions to block don't have enough time either.
Time for teachers to fill up those wikis to share and build practice would help too.

Otherwise we are left with subversion, workarounds: if you can't use a hosted blog, get a host, a domain and don't use the word blog in the url; build your own video player etc. Not very satisfactory on the national level, but opens the possibilities.

Or maybe some central organisation should set up a blog host for Scots Edu, I can't imagine that would cost too much? The same could be done for other things, eduTube, eduFlickr etc. Teachers could repurpose cc photos from flickr to eduFlick, upload their class videos to eduTube etc. I know glow might give us this in time, but in the meantime. These tools could be a halfway house between the 'safe' glow and the wild world?

Or maybe some decentralised disorganisation could build something for themselves?

[Ewan McIntosh]

Glow will offer some degree of sharing of (mostly text) resources. I don't think we should move away from the highly tuned and successful tools which already exist - it's vital that kids get used to working online, an area which can never be 'safe' (remember that most online problems take place between kids who know each other).

LTS is on the case and keen to look into how the latest tech can be used in the classroom for real - not in some faux-safe rehash. Just take a look at the kind of work I've been doing this week and you'll see that commitment, I'm sure.

We are also considering hosting a blog engine - take a look at what's going on in East Lothian as a basis for trying things out. I believe it's only a matter of (a little) time.

[Ewan McIntosh]

In relation to Robert's earlier comment on integrating new tech when it's difficult to do so... it might need a full blog post later, but I think it is possible, even from a 'sitting out front dimension'. The most important thing, though, is the thought that students put into work that they will undertake online. Getting that done and at least shared with the whole class is a good first step (think creative writing, making a non-linear game etc etc...)

Not enough info there for you, probably, but I try to hint at this kind of thing in the blog - thinking through is as valuable as the conversations online activity can provide.

[John]

Hi Ewan,
I wasn't accusing LTS of not being on the case, probably the opposite is now true, they are way a head of standard classroom practice. Nor was I suggesting a faux-safe rehash, edublog.org is not a safe rehash, neither would an image site for edu use be, but they might be something that could actually be used with Local Authority blessing. I realise that real tools may be more appropriate, but my Saturdays are probably better spent on creating a video blog we can use than trying to persuade my LA that youTube should be unblocked. My coding is poor but my persuasive powers are poorer.

[Ewan McIntosh]

As I've said, I don't see the value in rebuilding tools probably because my only workable skill in this area is persuasion. We are now looking at ways to promote the excellent examples where social media improves attainment and makes better citizens or makes an organisation work better. While providing a blogging tool is something we will almost certainly do we are already reaching out to those in charge of cpd and dev in schools to convince them. However, it's commercial madness for us to consider replicating tools in current contexts which could not really be made safer than they are. commercial reads public money and value.