RR#3 loosen the reigns

Should we loosen the reigns on the availability or access to everything on the internet? Part of the learning process includes giving students and teachers the necessary tools they need to be successful and hopefully they have the ability to make good decision when trusted with these tools. If we shield or protect our students from everything that is out there we are not giving them a true leanring experience. When asked the question of ethics and access to the internet, my stance would place me with those that believe it is unethical to deny students/teachers access to instructionally-relevant Web-based tools and content?

After much thought of all the "bad" things that are out there, my feelings of how much "good" is taken away because of this bad outweighs the "bad". I think it was best stated by Thornbugh and Lin in their study on Youth, Pornography, and the Internet. "Swimming pools can be dangerous for children. To protect them, one can install locks, put up fences, and deploy pool alarms. All these measures are helpful, but by far the most important things one can do for one's children is to teach them to swim."http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309082749 With that said, I feel a great deal can be taught to our students about what is educationally relevant and what is not.

After researching a bit more, I found that school districts hire private companies that filter web material and it is these companies that make decisions on what is censored and list is usually kept private. I do agree that some degree of filtering is necessary, especially for younger children, but in my experiences too many sites that are educationally relevant are blocked. For example, students and teachers have access to Teacher Tube, but not You Yube. Many valuable learning videos that are out there are not accessible on Teacher Tube, but they are available on You Tube. Filtering has to be done because it is the law. Chapter 8 talks about the Children's Internet Protection Act and how this directly effects the classroom. This act protects children against inappropriate materials on the internet and protecting the safety and security of our students on the internet. I do agree with the group that opposed this law because students are in fact, denied viewing appropriate material from being viewed.

The internet is great tool that should be accessible in almost any arena. We teach our students what they need to know and hopefully offer them an authentic learning environment. If we restrict access to the internet even after educating them on what types of information they should obtain, we can't ensure that they will not make mistakes. We have to allow students to make mistakes and I don't think it is any different for an internet use policy. If they are accessing websites that are inappropriate then I think to a degree they are learning. Not speaking of the extreme, like pornography, but they may find themselves learning something new from a site that a private vendor says is inappropriate.

Lin, H. & Thornburgh, D. Youth, Pornography, and the Internet. 2002. National Academy Press. Washington, D.C. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309082749