Here are two very thought provoking readings on the topic: of Internet filtering:
Blocking and Filtering and Lockdowns, oh my!
http://www.edutopia.org/community/spiralnotebook/?p=252
The Elephant in the Room by Mary Ann Bell
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6403250.html?industryid=47055&q=filtering
In your comments to this post, find out how filtering works at your school. Who makes the decision about blocking a site or an application like a blog? What is the process to "unblock" a site? How does this impact your ability to work as an educator?
23 comments:
I am in a school district that blocks anything deemed "not for instructional purposes." It is the end of the day on Friday now, so I can't get anyone to tell me who blocks the content on our network, but I know that all wikis and blogs are automatically blocked. I am looking at a blocked site now and it appears we use something called St. Bernard Software to do the filtering.
I have requested several times to have blocks removed and have been successful each time in getting the override approved. Unfortunately, it usually takes about a week to process so preparation is key here. I have also noticed that the approval does not come from a local source so I am not sure who actually does the "approving". (Ex. of content blocked that was overridden... examples of digital portfolios from another school, sudoku puzzles for a gifted logic lesson)
My district has not gone as far as removing Internet access or limiting search capabilities, but educational search tools like Nettrekker are "highly" recommended. While I find Nettrekker useful for some things, I have noticed that the focus is often too narrow and prevents students from really finding some great "not designed for kids" resources.
It is a shame in 2007 that we limit access to information in the name of safety. The issues here are a little different from print materials, but the fundamentals remain the same. Maybe more LOCAL (as in school level)control to overrides is the answer, as I don't forsee less filtering here anytime in the future. In fact, I am afraid it might get even worse!
I work for a technical college and occasionally find sites blocked by our I.T. "lord". As for getting sites unblocked, it is not even worth it. This I.T. person spends more time trying to make the faculty and staff look like idiots and less time doing legitimate work. It is a personal power struggle with him...his attempt is to make himself look good by making everyone else look bad. Most people that try to get his help are simply desperate. We do have some really good I.T. specialists but they are not the decision makers. Most of the public schools that I have visited have really good I.T. specialists as well so I hope that my case is the exception. It is a shame to be limited by technology because the technology "expert" is simply impossible to deal with. Fortunately, there are not a lot of sites that are blocked in my field; however, the nursing department and criminal justice department struggles with this a lot due to the nature of their research.
Our district uses websense.In my district, there are two ways sites get blocked; at the district level and from feedback at the the school level. For example, the district swore up and that MySpace was blocked. It took me a week to prove to them that I could pull it up at my school. I finally did get it blocked though.
Generally speaking, to unblock a site is generally accomplished by sending a request in through the Media Specialist.
On the flip side, I am frequently blocked from sites that I try to access as I am developing lesson plans and searching for materials to purchase for my classroom.
I am frequently frustrated by the fact that we have all this technology yet we then go about crippling it to the point where it is almost useless.
Our count line Melissa's blocks everything that is not educational. It even as somehow blocked many of them. I am not sure of the software used to block. I am home now and will check tomorrw to find out. I can't get to this site from school as well as any other site that has "blogging". I do catch my students visiting may sites that are inappropriate during class but I can't even reach sites that I have found to use in my webquests. I think that some of the sites are blocked because of their general purpose but no one takes the time to "check" out the site to see that it is very educationaly sound!
Our county uses Astaro to block sites. Our IT guy is in charge of what is blocked, and he can block sites based on certain categories. For example, he blocks all proxy sites; however, there are some proxy sites that slip around filters. Although it usually doesn't cause much trouble, he does have certain categories blocked that probably shouldn't be. For example, I have a friend who works at a salon that has a Web site, and I needed her phone number; however, the salon's Web site is blocked under the category "self help." This wasn't a big deal to me, but should we block self help? I don't think so. He also blocks using a "black list"-- anything that we just want blocked, like myspace. Usually if something is blocked that we need to get to, I just send him an email and he finds a way to unblock. The only two things he hasn't budged on is youtube and sites that make crossword puzzles. I guess "puzzles" falls under the gaming sites.
Our school uses the Barracuda filter to block websites, and many teachers have complained about their inability to use sites that they thought were of instructional value. For example, the consumer science teacher was blocked from Snapfish when she wanted to show pictures she had taken in her classroom. As pointed out in one of the articles, it is usually a "tech" person making the decisions about what is and is not an instructional website, and that is certainly the case in our district. When the teacher questioned him about why she could not access the site, he simply replied, "You don't need that." I think she finally got "permission" to use the site, but it seems to me there has got to be a better way to handle issues like this. Having had a student who was permanently banned from the Internet in his previous school for finding every pornographic site he could, I understand the need for filters. However, sites that may not be instructional in nature, but useful to classroom instruction, should be available to teachers. If I came across a site I wanted to use and it was blocked, I think that is a battle I would fight. Like reading books, we have to give our children some credit when surfing the Net. And I do think it's part of our job to help them "surf responsibly."
I am in the same system as Beverly, so our school has the same filter as her school. One man is the head tech guy who is responsible for blocking sites. Teachers can request that a site be unblocked, but you have to venture through a serious paperwork obstacle course to be able to use it. Some teachers just bring their own labtops to avoid this process altogether.
Something interesting, though, is that our filter was recently updated. Apparently this was not completed over spring break, so the updating was done once we returned. To update the filter, the current filter had to be removed. Literally, it took minutes for students to figure out the filter was off. We have students who have lost internet privileges because the filter was off, and they chose to attempt to get into a site like MySpace or a "games" web site.
At my school, we have Websense that automatically filters inappropriate sites according to the settings by the technology department at our BOE. (Might I add here that the technology department has nothing to do with curriculum!) At our school, if we discover an inappropriate site that is not being filtered, we have to contact the tech dept and they manually block the site. The tech dept determines if the site should be blocked or if it has educational value. My MS said that no one has ever asked if a site could be unblocked; however, blog/wiki sites are not blocked at our school. Our system has no policy in writing about filtering internet sites, which does not surprise me after reviewing the selection policy/media center policy handbook. It sounds like other systems are much more strict with their filtering than ours is. I have never run into the problem of not being able to access a site that I needed to use for a class.
I would like to add that those D & F students that never can seem to get their work done and spend the majority of their time on the internet to the point of actually failing a course are the very one's that can figure out how to bypass the filters and get to the blocked porno sites anyway. They are just not good at utilizing the brain that the good Lord gave them to actually get their schoolwork done. Maybe there is a career out there for these guys...they can work for the filter creating companies as testers.
I really enjoyed reading The Elephant in the Room! Our system lets our Technicians block sites. When I created a Internet Scavenger Hunt for another class I really wanted to use it with my students. I created the assignment at home but I was sure that all of the sites would be accessable at school because the were informational, they were not shopping, gaming, or even "X"-Rated in any fashon. Needless to say when I was attempting to work on this assignment I was so disappointed because over 1/2 of the sites were blocked. I submitted a "form" to my tech guys asking for permission to visit or have access to these sites, this took 2 weeks to finally gain access. The next day I tried the assignment and it failed again! I called over to tech and they told me that the software that blocks the sites updates about 3 times an hour and blocks access to these sites again. They stated that I needed to let them know ahead of time! I thought to myself that that "I did", but by this time I was frustrated and just put the assignment aside. Times like this will frustrate you! Our media specialist has no decision making when it comes to blocking!
Our county uses Lightspeed to filter and block our sites. The software itself blocks material and if additional sites come to the attention of teachers or our tech dept they will place a manual block on that site per the technology director. If I went to a website that I wanted to be unblocked Lightspeed allows me to send a email through the program to our tech people and they review my request once they get the email. I asked one of our techies what the chances were of me being able to have a classroom blog, so that the students could post to the blog for an assignment (like we are doing). He said it was very likely that I would be able to do this.
We are very lucky to have a great tech department at my school. I have heard horror stories from other counties and on this blog about how awful some can be. It really make life easier when you try to incorporate technology into your classes.
I'm not sure who we contact to have a block removed... it was guessed that it was out IT person, but no one was sure. I guess that question hasn't popped up yet. The other weird thing is that some teachers can access some websites that others cannot... also, some email is blocked, but with others it is not. I have been able to access the blog site at school, but I won't try it anymore because a new message came from our principal that we shouldn't use the net for anything unless it is school related.
Our school system uses Websense Enterprise to restrict our Internet use. Some sites are totally restricted, while other sites give us 60 minutes of quota time. I asked the media specialist how these restrictions were decided, but she was not very helpful other than saying if the site is not school related, we can't access it. The MS is the person who can override the restrictions by logging in as an administrator. That happens very rarely.
Our school system is currently testing a new filter - Sonic Wall. It has been set to block most anything that is not directly related to education. The process for unblocking is basically painless, but it has to be done often because a lot of useful sites are blocked. First, you have to have the web address, then you send it to our tech guy. He previews the sites and unblocks it. He has unblocked every site that I have requested. He's pretty reasonable. The ironic thing is that sites that are vastly inappropriate are still getting through - Google image search! - and the high school kids found a way around it the first week!
Our system usess Dans Guardian. The technology director sets up parameters for filtering. Sites that have questionable key words in their descriptions are blocked. Anything that can be downloaded is blocked (music, videos, etc.). If I want a site unblocked, I email one of the network technicians, give him the URL and a reason for needing it unblocked and within a few minutes (sometimes an hour), it's been unblocked.
I haven't experienced needed something unblocked in order to complete a lesson.
I work in the same district as Bev and some others....I haven't tried to "breakdown" the new filter. With the old filter, the students taught me that if I just keep going back and forth trying to get into a blocked site, eventually the filter would fail and you could get onto a blocked site. I understand there needs to be filters and blockers. The kids are sneaky. But, the filters also stop a teacher from being able to get information or show things. In one of the class in the ITEC program we learned how to take a website and download it onto a CD. If I am wanting students to go to a website that is blocked, I download the site and then upload it to some of the computers in the library. Of course I search through the site to make sure that there really isn't anything bad on there!
Mickey summed it up well for our school. There are lots of “I don’t know” answers when we ask questions. I do know that we use Barracuda, and it’s pretty restrictive but not always consistent. I don’t like it at all. I just can’t believe that there is school that won’t even let teachers use the Internet, as stated in the Elephant article! I don’t know what I would do! I use Google Images a lot with my EIP reading group because their vocabulary is so poor. They often need a visual to understand what we’re discussing. Just as the article said, we need to help our students learn how to use the Internet responsibly since it’s a skill they’ll definitely need in their future.
The county in which I work uses websense to filter for blogs, MySpace, any email besides the BOE email (Yahoo!HotMail, etc.), gaming sites, and many more. Our MS said that the data processing department monitors which sites are visited most often, then tell the tech people to block the sites that they deem inappropriate.
When we came back from Christmas break, we discovered that the email sites had been blocked. I'm surprised you didn't hear the screams from our county! When teachers tried to get their email back, they were told that they didn't need anything but the BOE provided email and it would not be unblocked.
My MS said that she did not know of any special paperwork to fill out to get a site unblocked. She also said that she was told no sites would be unblocked because it would set a bad precedent. I figure that that translates into there is no policy in place for a challenge.
When I contacted my "insider" downtown, she confirmed that there was no official policy to get sites unblocked.
Our school uses SonicWall filter service, which blocks many site where you can place orders. I was trying to order materials from The Academic Store a few months ago, and it wouldn't let me go to this site. My media specialist told me to email our tech-person to request an override for this site. I sent a short email naming the site and purpose for ordering from this site. It was approved within a couple of days.
I have not had many problems when search academic sites, but when students are searching they have still come across some questionable sites. I still like providing my students with specific search tools or sites I recommend.
In response to Jessica's post....
We are in the same county and I too get the same answer, "I don't know." I agree with you about the article related to no Internet. In the age of using technology in schools, I can't imagine not using the Internet in your classes. How would you even be able to teach some of the standards without the Internet? I use the Internet almost daily in my room. As a teacher for only 6 years, in college we were taught to teach with the Internet. I can't imagine teaching without it!
In response to manderson...
My first year of teaching in Texas, the filter was the same. I could access yahoo.com but I couldn't access my yahoo mail. But, teachers knew that ahead of time. It wasn't the same as in your case that the block came midyear. I most often sign up for school related things using my yahoo mail account simply because I am able to check it from home. Until recently, I couldn't check my school mail from home. I can't imagine coming in after winter break and finding that I couldn't get to my email!! I think I did hear the screams. Do you know what the reasoning behind blocking the email was?
I have unfortunately run into the blocking wall numerous times in Savannah-Chatham. This year, we got a new filtering system and it's been horrible. They have blocked all sites that contain games, personals, most blogs, etc. Right after the new block, my students could not access multiplication.com, aaamath.com, etc because the system considered these games. When a site is blocked, the WebSense window pops up explaing why the website is not appropriate. It then explains the steps on how to send in a request. I sent in a request for a website once, and it was granted within 30 minutes.
Although we have a very strict policy about visiting "bad and inappropriate" for teachers (many teachers lost their jobs last year), there always seems ways around websites. There are websites dedicated to getting around filters. You type in one website, and it will connect you through them to the one that is blocked. I figure that many students and teachers get around restrictions this way.
Post a Comment