As you read this, please note that I’m referring to a few specific districts (unnamed) that I’m personally familiar with, not making a blanket statement about all schools in the US or even Wisconsin.
The edtech community speaks and writes daily about convincing and teaching teachers to use technology in their classrooms. In the survey I did last week, the results showed just a tiny number of all of the sites and applications that are blocked for students, teachers, and administrators in various locations. As some people have mentioned to me, things vary widely by district and even by schools within a district. Some have said that things vary day to day! This issue is being discussed widely, so I would like to bring attention to another, less-discussed topic.
In several districts that I have experience with, there is such extreme “security” that no one except employees and registered students have access to the networks. This may seem logical, but let’s think about who that excludes: Student teachers, substitute teachers, parents, visiting speakers, community members can not log on to a computer to use desktop applications or access the internet at ALL.
While there are many reasons to open up our school networks, right now I’d like to focus on the issue of not allowing student teachers full access to computers during a student teaching assignment - I have talked to many student teachers without computer access during the school day, and the overall feeling is extreme frustration with a system that mandates innovative teaching and use of technology, but doesn’t allow access to a district’s network. In other situations, the student teachers have access to the network, but not to a computer in the building (because the “teacher” computer is being used by the cooperating teacher and the labs are being used by students). In this situation, it would be wonderful if student teachers were able to bring a personal laptop and just connect to the school’s network, but I don’t know of anywhere where this is allowed, again because of “security” issues. Employees and students aren’t allowed to do this either.
Some cooperating teachers have gotten around this issue by allowing student teachers to login with their usernames/passwords, but unless the cooperating teachers have multiple login capabilities, this doesn’t truly solve the problem. Some student teachers are told to just use a student login, which isn’t necessarily a good solution either. In a perfect world, every student teacher would have network access and a computer, or at least the ability to connect to the network with a personal laptop.
I can’t even imagine starting a student teaching assignment without FULL computer access at this point and I’m seriously wondering right now how I can work effectively in a blocked and restricted environment. Right now it’s only 1/2 days and when I get home to work in the afternoons, it’s like entering a different world - one in which I am allowed to make decisions and use technology to its fullest capabilities to enrich my work and learning.
As people are asking how students feel about having to “unplug” as they walk into school everyday, why not ask how the teachers feel? If you’re a 21-year-old college student who was required to buy a laptop for college coursework, had wireless internet access in every place you’ve lived, and are carrying out much of your social and professional interactions online (and no, I’m not talking about the dirty DN phrase, I’m talking about reality on many of our college campuses where we’re supposedly training new teachers), would you choose teaching as a career if the situation I described above is the required working environment? Think of the students we’re teaching right now - as we share the power of technology with them and get them excited about the empowerment it can bring, would you recommend teaching as a career if the situation I described above is the required working environment?
I hope you’re reading this and thinking that I’m crazy because you don’t know of ANYWHERE where this is the situation - that means that my experiences are not universal. If that’s the case, what is the policy where you live and/or work? How do they address this issue?
My Related Posts
Filters and Blocks - Need Your Input!
Updates Galore
Results from Blocked Web App Survey Published
Other Reading
Letter to the NYS Board of Regents - Diane Cordell
Banned Websites are Today’s Version of Yesterday’s Banned Books - Richard Byrne
Parent Workshops - developing their 21st Century Classroom - Lorna Costantini
Content Filtration: A Little Dirt for you Health - Vicki Davis
Web 2.0 In the Enterprise - Wesley Fryer
Edited to add:
Should we filter? - Cathy Nelson (added April 11, 2008)
Excellent post about filters and the necessity of flexibility.
If you're new here (or just forgot last time!), you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
“In several districts that I have experience with, there is such extreme “security” that no one except employees and registered students have access to the networks. This may seem logical, but let’s think about who that excludes: Student teachers, substitute teachers, parents, visiting speakers, community members can not log on to a computer to use desktop applications or access the internet at ALL.”
The problem is that giving access to these non-employees and non-students would need to be done via a ‘generic’ account or by creating a real account for them.
In the case of student teachers and substitute my district does grant student teachers an account if the building principal requests it. While it may seem that they should all get them that is not the case due to access to files and licensing costs.
In the case of visiting community members and guest speakers my district does allow them to bring their own equipment and use our ‘guest access’ wireless network. This allows them to use the internet, but not access our servers.
That likely leaves the non-techie asking why a ‘generic’ account can’t be used. This is a complex answer, but generic logins are a security risk due to the potential for abuse. Imagine a situation in which a teacher is looking at porn using school equipment. If there is a generic login they would not be doing it with their credentials. Imagine a situation in which a student logs on to a computer with the generic account and then proceeds to access test files or run hacking tools. Again no way to track the credentials because they are generic. Yes good sys admins can get around that issue, but it makes the resolution more complex and time consuming. It happens; trust me.
“n other situations, the student teachers have access to the network, but not to a computer in the building (because the “teacher” computer is being used by the cooperating teacher and the labs are being used by students). In this situation, it would be wonderful if student teachers were able to bring a personal laptop and just connect to the school’s network, but I don’t know of anywhere where this is allowed, again because of “security” issues. Employees and students aren’t allowed to do this either.”
While allowing their personal laptops in is a nice idea it falls flat for reasons beyond what most think of.
There is no real way to ensure that the computer is secure, but that is not the real issue. The problem is that computer is their property, not the schools. They have the right to DENY access to their computer. Imagine again a situation in which a student teacher has been accused of improper behavior such as looking at porn. If they were using their own computer the investigation would stop at the firewall logs and could not involve the computer without the police or that student teacher’s cooperation. Think about liability as well. If the student teacher gets bumped in the hall and the laptop smashes in to the floor who would be liable for the computer? for the loss of data? Think about a student teacher who does not secure their laptop, puts it on the network and then has students access some photos of them from spring break. They then spread them through out the school. Who would be liable then?
“If you’re a 21-year-old college student who was required to buy a laptop for college coursework, had wireless internet access in every place you’ve lived, and are carrying out much of your social and professional interactions online (and no, I’m not talking about the dirty DN phrase, I’m talking about reality on many of our college campuses where we’re supposedly training new teachers), would you choose teaching as a career if the situation I described above is the required working environment?”
Do you think that people going in to other professions all get instant access to computers when they are interns? I doubt they do in many industries. Do you think that other professions do not get filtered at work? I know of several that are MUCH more tied down and restricted than teachers are. I am sorry for not agreeing with you in this case, but I can’t.
Kate:
I agree that the issue is a problem, but it is a problem I currently struggle to find a solution for in some cases. The lack of funds for spare computers and additional licenses would fix the problem, but I doubt many districts would have a cache of spare laptops ready to go for student teachers. My district tries to accommodate the student teachers and subs, but we have not been able to do so 100% across the board.
@indigo196 If teachers trying to access porn on school time is as big a problem at your school as it seems from your examples, your school has bigger, non-technological problems that need to be dealt with first.
I suppose I can understand why non-school owned laptops would be excluded from the network, but student teachers only get computer access with special request from the principal? What if they want to… type a handout or create a Powerpoint presentation on their prep periods? Has any student teacher ever been denied that request? I guess I’m wondering if it’s merely a formality or a serious decision to be made at the admin level.
@kate I teach at a school of over 3,000 students, 300+ teachers, and countless aides and paraprofessionals. We also have a smattering of student teachers on campus in any given semester. Everyone - superintendent, admin staff, teachers (including student), paras, subs, cafeteria workers (I think), custodians, etc. - has a network login, official school email address, and pretty liberal access to the Web (can’t download .exe or .zip files, but most sites you’d want to use in a school day are accessible). I’m having a hard time imagining why schools would not provide teachers (student or veteran) access to tools that help them do their jobs.
Also, do other teachers in your district feel as ‘unplugged’ as you, or do they not care (student teachers notwithstanding)? Sometimes the policy shapes the culture of a school, but just as often the culture helps shape the policy. If the ‘gates’ were flung open, would many people even care?
Guess this is something I need to start thinking about as I go on job interviews - asking about my potential employers’ “culture of connectivity”.
Damian:
“If teachers trying to access porn on school time is as big a problem at your school as it seems from your examples, your school has bigger, non-technological problems that need to be dealt with first.”
I think you are under some delusion that accessing porn has to be a frequent thing for it to be a problem. That is not the case. Districts with one instance like this can suffer tremendously in today’s litigious society. If it were not for the legal ramifications being so serious for one event then security might not be so tight.
“I suppose I can understand why non-school owned laptops would be excluded from the network, but student teachers only get computer access with special request from the principal? What if they want to… type a handout or create a Powerpoint presentation on their prep periods? Has any student teacher ever been denied that request? I guess I’m wondering if it’s merely a formality or a serious decision to be made at the admin level.”
1) Yes, only with a special request from the principal.
2) I am not sure.
3) I am not sure.
4) It is more than a formality from my perspective since creating an account for a student teacher involves the use of a license and time spent creating their account and then deleting it.
I just noticed this on the second read through:
“Some cooperating teachers have gotten around this issue by allowing student teachers to login with their usernames/passwords, but unless the cooperating teachers have multiple login capabilities, this doesn’t truly solve the problem.”
Sharing out passwords should result in discipline:
1. It is a bad practice that undermines the very things we try to teach students about on-line safety.
2. It puts the teacher at-risk if their password is abused.
3. It is a violation, in some cases, of state/federal laws.
Here are some examples that give administrative and legal staffs nightmares:
1 — http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=606348
2 — http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/06/substitute_teacher_granted_new.html
“For example, the school district’s IT director said after her conviction that the incident likely could have been prevented if the school had renewed its Web site content filtering software. It was outdated at the time of Amero’s alleged porn surfing.”
3 — http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Pop_up_Porn_Teacher_Verdict_Overturned_Geeks_save_the_day
“This is why school districts have such trouble with money. They have one obvious mistake parents get all crazy and want to school district to press charges. The School district press charges and after all the trouble they find out it couldn’t have been prevented. But now after all this she counter sues, the district looses millions and another teacher. Good Game America.”
4 — http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55675
Not an internet thing, but an example of how teachers make bad choices and cost districts big money - which takes away from the ability of the district to educate the remaining students.
5 — http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/04/04/news/doc47f5000a1a638717628294.txt
“Questioned by Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz, Pye admitted that Unit 5 found a history of pornographic Web sites on White’s classroom computer in October 2004. White was suspended with pay for five days and told to seek counseling following that incident, Pye said.”
These are just some quick examples of why things get locked down. The answer lies in the middle ground… not at either end.
Kate– I’m trying to remember, but I think when I student taught (a mere 3 years ago) I didn’t have a login, so my master teacher would log into his computer for me every morning and let me use it.
Subs not having logins has been a serious issue at my school. In the past, we had the option to sign in “workstation only” (ie, no network access) on a generic account, and subs could use that. That option is gone, which means that I can no longer leave anything computer-related for my sub to do. Even having them play a movie is problematic, as both options use the computer. (We have a library-based movie-serving system which plays on the classroom tv, but is controlled through the computer, so they have to call the library to stop/start the film. The other option is to play it through the computer dvd player/digital project (better sound and screen size) but since they can’t log on to the computer…)
You wouldn’t take all the overhead projectors out of classrooms because a sub might draw something lewd on it, so why are we preventing them from using the computer because they might surf for porn? I mean, seriously, if your subs are that irresponsible, why did you hire them?
What I am about to share has nothing to do with the edutech community, directly anyway. But, for some connective reason it crossed my mind as I was reading Kate’s post.
So, I ask: Who is in control of your school board and programs decision making? I ask this because once I was asked/volunteered to participate in a local school district’s updating of their sexual education program. After a few “meetings,” it was clear to me that some members of the board, and strong representation from some special interest groups and parent’s groups (you know the ones that are fiercely “traditional” with “values”) were trying to maintain the status quo. Upon further inspection, many members of the local government and other lofty institutions were also somehow tied into things in a behind-the-scenes silent partner way. They were also members of said extreme traditional group (exact group shall remain unnamed to protect the guilty).
I learned a lot from that participation. About who really controls what and for what interests (not education). And I heard sad stories of little kids being sexually abused by their parents. And these same kids did not have parental consent to participate in the existing school sex-ed program, because it was assumed that their parents feared that if their children had resources and information (power), that their secret little lifestyle would be exposed. Even with these confirmed stories, said traditional groups held their ground.
Some people don’t want change .. and don’t want their kids or those that they are in charge of to have access to information and knowledge. An educated child can be threatening to Status Quo-ers. I can only remember these stories and wonder why?
So, if our educational systems are limiting access to information, perhaps the espoused reason(s) are very different from the real reasons.
indigo196 » Thank you so much for all of your insight, it’s why I specifically asked you to take the time to comment today (via twitter) - although we may not always agree, I really do value the insight of someone on “the other side” of this issue. I’m going to take some time to ponder your comments, you’ve offered a lot to think about!
Damian » I’m jealous of your current connectivity situation - it must be hard for you to understand the frustration I/we deal with on a daily basis. As for the other teachers, I think it’s a good sign that so many others feel the same way and more and more are starting to. I don’t think many are as frustrated as I am, but I hope to convince them to be soon! It IS an issue to consider as you’re looking at possible employers - if all other things were equal and one district had a more 2.0 approach, I’d pick that district hands down.
Penelope » I’m so happy you brought up the sub issue, I didn’t want to write a 4 page post, but it’s something that I dealt with a LOT in my subbing experience. I fully agree with the thought of needing to trust employees, it’s an issue in so many places. As indigo196 pointed this out, the answer lies somewhere in the middle, but we need people with open minds making the decisions.
Frank’s Blog » Wow, you’ve brought up some much larger issues than simple computer access, but I completely agree with you about the people behind the decisions. I wish I had answers as to how to change the system, but all I can do at this time is obsessively consume information in my quest. Thanks for making me think about this as part of a much larger picture.
While I understand the frustrations (my sister is a high school teacher), don’t you also think it’s essential that teachers be able to address teaching their students without being so heavily depending on technology and gadgetry? Now, I ask this as someone who does believe that we can empower both teachers and students with technology, not to start a flame war :)
Also, sharing logins is problematic - it defeats the purpose of having secure logins, and is likely against school policy (though these are the same policies that make such a measure necessary). If schools were less run by private interest groups and more run by educators, much of this could likely be solved….
Our district lets student teachers have district email address, their own log in, the works. (The subs on the other hand have no access.)
When I was a student teacher back in 1998, I was very grateful to my cooperating teacher. She wanted to implement lots of tech, including weekly newsletters, web pages, and student projects. She let me do all of that, practically on my own. It was because my student teaching experience was so “tech heavy” that I am so confident when it comes to technology integration. Perhaps there should be a greater degree of preparation from the pre-service teacher’s college. Many mistakes are just poor judgment or lack of experience. If the college would help the teacher by making them understand the impact of signing the AUP, then the student teacher would be expected to handle herself professionally. The college and the cooperating school need to communicate and work out a policy for tech use by the student teacher.
Penelope:
“Subs not having logins has been a serious issue at my school.”
At my school long-term or ‘regular’ subs get accounts. It is only the ‘we-are-out-of-subs’ call a one-shot sub in subs that do not have accounts.
“You wouldn’t take all the overhead projectors out of classrooms because a sub might draw something lewd on it, so why are we preventing them from using the computer because they might surf for porn? I mean, seriously, if your subs are that irresponsible, why did you hire them?”
I am sorry that I was not more clear on this. One of the issues is that a sub might do that; I certainly hope they do not. The giving out of accounts for one-shot subs has more to do with license costs and the time it takes to setup an actual account for them. Using generic accounts just opens the door for too many abuses.
“If schools were less run by private interest groups and more run by educators, much of this could likely be solved…”
Having been a peon, a manager and now a systems administrator I really doubt that. Once an educator becomes responsible for the actions of everyone they see things from a different view. I agree that is stinks that 1 person out of 1000 can ruin it for the 999 others, but that is a fact right now due to Federal/State laws and a litigious society.
http://www.convergemag.com/story.php?catid=419&storyid=106909
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Educational_Rights_and_Privacy_Act
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/20/1232g.html
Wow! I have to take objection with Frank’s Blog comments.
Where is the problem with tradition and values? And are you saying that by the very nature of being traditional and value-driven, people are also “extreme,” and “guilty.”
While there are horror stories of children being abused by their parents, you seem to imply that this is the norm. Your research must demonstrate that the rate at which children are being sexually abused WITHIN our schools is abhorant. Just in case your studies are one-sided, here’s a link to the 2004 Report on Educator Sexual Misconduct in Schools http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2004/06/06302004.html I welcome any and all more recent research that indicates this trend has reversed.
If parents don’t instill values (yes, even traditional ones!) into our children’s moral fiber, who will. And, if not now, when?
Wow, this post has really got some heated comments since the last time I read it!!
Things are the same here in Australia- or at least at every school I’ve been a student teacher at.
I am hoping that when I do my final prac this term that I am allowed to plug in my personal computer to the projector at least… But the teacher doesn’t seem to think so.
It would be great if tech people didn’t feel like they needed to do everything, and if people are capable of responsible network access, then they should have it to make life easier for everyone.
Talia » I’m sorry to hear that you have the same problems in Australia, I was hoping that it was unique to my area and there was hope for change :-( You must be very frustrated with this since you’re so plugged in and tech savvy, I’d be interested in hearing how you’re planning on dealing with this sort of thing when you get a teaching assignment. Will your access be better with your own classroom? Are filters as much of an issue in Australia as they are in the US?
Leave a Comment