[LM_NET] E

[Nancy Willard <nwillard@CSRIU.ORG>]

Source: http://edtechfuture.org

> The U.S. Department of Education is developing a new National
> Educational Technology Plan to provide a vision for how information and
> communication technologies can help transform American education. The
> plan will provide a set of concrete goals that can inform state and
> local educational technology plans as well as inspire research,
> development, and innovation. A draft plan is expected in early 2010.
> 
> The plan development team is looking for insights from the field to
> help us understand how to improve education through the innovative use
> of technology.

This is part of the message I just sent to this working group:

> Thanks for taking on this important task. However, from my perspective there
> is a very major piece that you are missing - this is the issue of real
> concerns and misperceptions about youth safety that are presenting a major
> barrier for schools to embrace 21st Century learning.
> 
> Why can't teachers and students access appropriate online resources?
> 
> Because fear that they will access porn or other objectionable material has
> resulted in the use of filtering to block everything under the sun. I just
> directed some ed tech/librarians folks to some great blogs on Internet safety
> - but I know that most cannot access these blogs while at school. Why? Because
> they are blocked because some place on some blog site somewhere, there might
> be pornography - is what the technical services people will say. There is an
> incredibly inaccurate understanding of what CIPA actually requires that
> schools block - which we may have an opportunity to remedy given the new
> request for comments on what constitutes "harmful to minors" and issues
> related to overriding.
> 
> Oh, and maybe we ought to address the fact that high school students can
> easily bypass any filter - or can just use their PDA to obtain real access.
> 
> Why can't students post material or personal images online? Because predators
> will track down the students and abduct them and rape them - this concern is
> totally unsupported by the research.
> 
> Why can't we implement Web 2.0 technologies in schools? Because the AGs have
> told us social networking sites are places where dangerous predators are
> tracking victims and there is an epidemic of students committing suicide
> because of cyberbullying. Again - not supported by the research.
> 
> And because schools are totally reliant on filtering - which is an ineffective
> tool to manage student Internet use in a web 2.0 environment.
> 
> It is my opinion that unless and until we address these youth risk issues
> effectively  - and tamp down the folks who want to fear-monger about online
> predators and the epidemic of teens committing suicide because of
> cyberbullying ­ we will not more forward to embracing the 21st Century in our
> schools. 

Which is why I am opposed to the current Wasserman Schultz and Menendez
legislation.

Nancy



-- 
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
http://cyber-safe-kids.com
http://csriu.wordpress.com
nwillard@csriu.org

Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Research Press)

Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the
Internet Safely and Responsibly (Jossey-Bass)

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