Today I did a Web 2.0 in Education workshop for a small group of teachers in Absegami High School in South Jersey. It was NOT what I had expected.
When they originally asked me to do the workshop we discussed the fact that there might be a lot of material that might be blocked and that we needed to make sure that some of the key sites we were using would be open. The person I spoke to confirmed my fears and said that many of the teachers complained about the amount of blocking that takes place. Having done workshops around the country, I have come to see this as the norm. My expectations were set by my past experiences and while I loved the idea that they were asking for a workshop that pushed boundaries, I was a bit apprehensive.
About a week before the workshop, I sent her 7 URLs and asked her test them. I had about 30 others that we would be using, but felt that these 7 were important. I could live with blockage of the others. Based on workshops that I had given in the past, I expected that no less than two would be blocked. I was pleasantly surprised when she said that only Ning was blocked, but that she had put in a request to have it unblocked. Wow, they have an unblocking procedure that people actually use!
I learned a long time ago that when I do workshops that push technical limits or even challenge the status quo that I had better have plans A, B, C, and D in place and hope that I don't have to go to plan E. To make a long story short, I was able to go with plan A. (See me do a happy dance.)
The first thing I did was to show up an hour early so that I could test everything ahead of time. I came prepared with my material on CD, two different thumb drives, a copy that I could access online, and a copy on my own laptop. I logged in with the temporary login they gave for trainers, popped in the CD, and tried to drag the folder to the desktop, but it wouldn't let me do it. I did a quick check of My Computer, found the network directory assigned to login and dropped it there. Nice housekeeping!
The first thing I noticed was that I there weren't any speakers for my computer. I called down to the office and in 5 minutes I had two people hooking me up with speakers. During the five minutes I was waiting, I printed out a document I had forgotten to print ahead of time. The printer was on and ready for me, not something to be taken for granted.
Next I opened my presentation and began checking the links one by one. Ning was opened as per her request and the only sites that were blocked were 3 sites that expected to be blocked and would have been shocked if they were not. They were YouTube, SecondLife and Teen SecondLife. Imbee was also blocked, but that's not surprising in the least. In talking with one of the folks hooking me up with speakers, he made it clear that they try to be as responsive as possible to unblocking requests and that YouTube is often unblocked for periods of time for teacher requesting its use. Kudos to the techs and those who put the policy in place!
Ok, I was set, but how would things be for the teachers? There were about 25 computers in the lab, most of which were in sleep mode. I woke up the sleepers and turned on the others. Every mouse was functioning and only one computer failed to boot. Impressive!
I had done all of my testing and had lots of time before the workshop, so I headed to the teachers lounge. Things just kept getting better. I found vending machines with a nice selection of drinks and goodies. Not only did the machines accept my rumpled $1 bills, but the selections I wanted were in stock and fresh. Yum!
When the participants arrived, I had them go online to a survey I had posted to an Adobe Connect server. They took the survey which gave me their wants and set the priorities for the workshop. Then I asked the group how many of them felt that there were too many things blocked by their network. They were unanimous in their agreement that too much was blocked.
At that point, I let them know that I have had the good fortune of having given workshops all around the country and that they had one of the best run and most open networks I had come across. I told them that most teachers would be overjoyed to have the access that they had, but that their complaints are no less valid than the others. The more you use the technology the more access you need. The fact that they were complaining about their access told me that they WERE using the technology. That was further supported by the fact that never once throughout the entire workshop did I have to stop to assist anyone with basic technology skills. What a joy to be able to teach instead of being tech support!
One little anecdote that might give you some feeling for this group centered around our discussion of Wikipedia as a good starting point, but with the need for additional citations. One gentleman said that he and his students were aware of the problems with accuracy, but allows Wikipedia as the only citation. I was a little puzzled. It was not typical behavior to embrace Wikipedia so wholeheartedly. I asked him to explain why. He said that it's very convenient and he only uses it when he wants students to understand a general concept or the significance of the contribution of a particular person. I then asked him what subject he taught. He told me "wood shop".
No way I can argue with his logic. Outstanding and clearly not typical!
I could list a half dozen other incidents that told me folks were doing things right. Such as the fact that we had 15 minutes left at the end and no one left early. Everyone was visiting sites we had discussed and about half of them were constructing their iGoogle pages which I had introduced as a way to get them started moving to the Web 2.0 world.
Having a small group is hardly basis for judging the performance of an entire staff, but if they were representative of what is going on in the district, Absegami is doing things right.
I left the building with a smile on my face, more refreshed and exhilerated than when I had started it and decided to go another 40 minutes out of my to head to Atlantic City to treat myself and my wife to a White House steak sub!
I want to passed on my observations and compliments to the teachers, tech staff, and administrators in the district and I want more workshops like this one!
Great post! I couldn't agree with you more! I just finished a series of technology and online safety workshops and was so glad I had backups, extra cables for every possible connection, and my cell-phone based internet modem. It is so frustrating when things aren't as they were supposed to be or as I arranged. I certainly can empathize with you and appreciate the post.
ReplyDeleteArt,
ReplyDeleteYou were right nearby and didn't say hello? I'm CRUSHED! :)
Glad to hear it went so well. Can you share your slides? Would love to see what you sprung upon the good folks at Absegami and what you've been up to lately.
FWIW, we're having a blast with Google Apps (Team Edition) in our 8th grade IPS program (just rolled it out this week, just blogged about it today).
Was also happy to read about your discussions involving Second Life. Virtual worlds are big and getting bigger, and even SL's detractors know that VW technology is not going away. I'm still working with ISTE and am on a couple of different teen grid projects. Would love to tell you about them sometime.
Howsabout another afternoon luncheon sometime at the Shore Diner? Doesn't approach a White House Steak Sub, I'll admit that, but it's closer! :)
Talk to you soon,
Kevin Jarrett
Northfield Community School
This is a typical response from someone who is not involved in the frustrating process of trying to balance security and learning. You say you submitted a list of sites to be unblocked ahead of time. Did you, perhaps, confirm that this list was submitted ? Did you actually ask why some sites are blocked ? Did you bother to ask about the filtering process ? You asking about filtering is like asking a bunch of NASCAR drivers if a speed limit is fair on an interstate highway. They can go as fast as they want on the track, but once on the road with other pedestrians they have to abide by the rules of the county, state, etc. Same thing with filtering in schools. Next time instead of blogging to blow off steam why don't you ask both parties.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteDid you actually read my post? I didn't submit a list to be unblocked. I submitted a list to see if any of the sites were blocked and was very pleased to see that they had a system which recognized the educational needs of the teachers and students, but balanced it nicely with the need for security. From what I saw in my short visit, they had an exemplary system it place. It was secure and safe without being overly restrictive.
As far as my understanding of the issues go, I've been on both sides of the educational technology fence since 1981 and was involved in the setting up of networks and teaching in the classroom.
My comments on inappropriate and restrictive blocking, were not directed at this school, but were based on my experiences of conducting thousands of workshops around the country and I'm sorry to say that my experience has been that too many network admins understand the need for security far better than the needs of the teacher and students, a fact that is echoed by many. I felt that Absegami was an example of a school doing things right and that it positives such as this need to be pointed out.