Hi all. Last week I had the opportunity to present to the Arkansas
teacher librarians - who "rock." :) (Yeah, I also had the opportunity to
purchase some great Arkansas crystals.)
I challenged them to take on two responsibilities: 1. Assume the
leadership in the provision of Internet safety education - working with
the health teachers/counselors on the youth risk issues. 2. As a state
organization, strive to address the concerns about filtering and
ineffective management of Internet use. Especially, as part of this, to
assume responsibility in deciding about overrides at a school level.
I just sent a message to Karen Cator at US DOE, Deputy Sec of Education
for Educational Technology. Here is what I said to her:
Hey Karen,
I presented to the Arkansas teacher librarians last week. Also running
up to this, I instigated a most interesting discussion on 2 email lists
- lmnet (teacher librarians) and edtech (edtech). I came upon very
different perspectives on the filtering - as you might imagine.
Here is what one tech director - with an EdD said:
> No way do I allow this:
>
> 1. I am responsible, I will control it. Most won't like this answer,
> but that is the way it is.
> 2. Generally, Tech savvy teachers are younger and do not enough
> non-tech wisdom to use it properly.
> 3. More experienced teachers, in general, have more classroom wisdom,
> but are less tech savvy.
> 4. Many teachers, not all, grew up, doing the right things in school
> and not misbehaving. They do not have the ability to think like
> students that misbehave. I do. (turns out he is a former deputy
> sheriff - whowouldathought)
>
> For example, I constantly get requests to not block image only sites.
> They just do not understand how those work, how the filter works and
> what can be on them.
>
> I do unblock sites on request. Usually in timely fashion. However,
> knowing that teachers plan their lessons ahead of time, usually weekly
> lesson plans, there is plenty of lead time to investigate sites to
> which they want access.
I asked him if part of his responsibility - related to #2 and 3 - was
professional development. <sigh> But in fact, what he is reporting is a
real problem. One that we have to address.
Some interesting insight from others:
One tech director I really like, former librarian, told me that her
superintendent asked her to run a history on what teachers were doing
online during the day. When he saw the results, he was livid -
significant playing around. I think this is the result of lack of false
security in reliance on filtering - lack of clear expression of
standards and expectations and lack of systems to ensure accountability
- like a monthly random review of history files - of teachers and
students - reported to the school - with the expectation of remedy. It
is essential that we shift from this misplaced reliance on blocking to
more effective watching - to ensure accountability.
Some of the ed tech directors are of the opinion that if the filter
allows a site, it is credible - but if the site is blocked, this is an
indication that it is not credible. This is absolutely ridiculous!
There is a significant misunderstanding of what CIPA allows. Some folks
think that they have to block Wikipedia to be in compliance with CIPA -
also all blogs, because some blog sites allow adult blogs.
The BEST insight: The teacher librarians who have achieved the ability
to override are using this ability to mentor other teachers on the
selection of credible sites. THIS is the direction we need to encourage!
I was about to present an argument that all teachers should have the
authority to override. But I have changed my mind. I think there are
significant concerns about the ability of all teachers to select a
credible site, as well as the probable inclination of some teachers to
misuse this authority.
So my new recommendations are going to be to make sure that all teacher
librarians have the authority to override - in every school building.
And if there is not a teacher librarian, then some other means need to
be found to ensure that someone with information credibility expertise
is placed in charge. THIS is really the reason why we need to make sure
we have a teacher librarian in EVERY school - they are the only
professionals who actually have training in information credibility. It
is so essential for the transformation to 21st Century education to have
these professionals available to mentor the other teachers. Recognize
that all of the other teachers were taught to teach in an era where they
did not have to have any responsibility for the selection of quality
information resources.
The other thing I have been recommending to teacher librarians is that
when it comes to the new responsibility to provide instruction in
Internet safety, they raise their hands and say "I will." I am advising
them that it is essential that they link up with the health
teacher/counselor who is teaching the youth well-being classes to figure
out how to provide instruction in the more high risk areas -
cyberbullying, sexting, and other risky relationship issues.
So my basic "plan" - as it were - is to strive to get the teacher
librarians into a position to provide strong leadership in shifting
schools to more effective use of technology and Internet resources for
instruction. I see their role as vitally important. The ed tech folks
are also important and some of them also have a background in media
literacy, so they can be even more effective. But the ed tech
professionals often do not have the rich information literacy background
as the teacher librarians - and this is essential for 21st century
learning. It is also important, I believe, to ensure that the teacher
librarians receive the professional development and support to shift
their traditional job activities into more of a professional
specialist/mentor role.
Just some thoughts on a Monday morning - well morning my time. Hope you
have a good week.
Nancy
--
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
nwillard@csriu.org
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