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I think this discussion would be more helpful if it separated the concerns of middle and elementary schools from secondary schools. I think they are very different. I also think there are problems created by lack of transparency, which are completely unnecessary unless someone is on a power trip. And that includes knowing how a commercial filtering services determines what sites are blocked - or changing services. I firmly believe we are about the education of the students entrusted to our care. That is the bottom line in our decisions, not the convenience or fear of individuals who are not in the classroom, and are unaware of the standards that our students are expected to achieve. Obviously we need some filtering, and not the least of our concerns, in the real world, is bandwidth. If the technical staff is committed to enabling teachers, including working with them so that technology is effective in the classroom, some of the worst examples might be eliminated. (Many of us remember the horror story of the school where all the new computers were locked in a closet so nothing would "happen" to them.) Possibly, if your local tech staff is fearful of wikis, blogs, podcasts on the web, they might be willing to set up a Moodle site for your school, to provide access to those tools in a more sheltered environment. If the tech staff sees themselves as charged with being part of the solution, they might avoid being seen as the problem by the educators. Judith Claire Robison St. John's Catholic Prep Director of Technology --- Edtech Archives, posting guidelines and other information are at: http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~edweb Please include your name, email address, and school or professional affiliation in each posting. To unsubscribe send the following command to: LISTSERV@H-NET.MSU.EDU SIGNOFF EDTECH
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