Actually I was asked once if it was cheaper if we only published our school web page onto the Intranet. I think they meant Internet but that brings up a rather odd picture.<br><br>Our school has countless dozens of languages and I don't need another dimension to filter. Guess what happens if somebody at your filtered school enters the Arabic, Greek, Khmer words for "computer game" into Google. I dont read a single word in these languages but I can tell at a glance when somebody is off-task. I do understand the position of most schools that try to control online movement but ultimately, even good filtering tools have flaws. There comes a point where a good teacher provides the necessary guidance and direction.
<br><br>It is enough for us to set the standards, teach the desired behaviour and inspire students to do something that makes the world a better place to live in.<br><br>Regards Roland<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">
On 01/03/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Hutchison, Geoffrey G</b> <<a href="mailto:hutchison.geoffrey.g@edumail.vic.gov.au">hutchison.geoffrey.g@edumail.vic.gov.au</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Roslyn<br><br>Time you stopped the tail wagging the dog. DEMAND to have access to whatever you want!.<br><br>Also, the charging of staff per MB is absurd. Your school should not be paying anything more than 2 cents per MB download.
<br><br>Currently, I allow our students 35/45MB downloads per month as part of their school fees. The cost of staff downloads is trivial.<br><br>Do we charge students if they borrow more than 2 books per month from the library?
<br><br>Good grief.<br><br>Geoff Hutchison,<br>IT Co-ordinator/Manager,<br>McGuire College,<br>Shepparton, Vic<br><br>________________________________<br><br>From: <a href="mailto:yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au">yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au
</a> on behalf of Meadows, Roslyn M<br>Sent: Thu 3/1/2007 10:38 PM<br>To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List<br>Subject: RE: [Yr7-10it] block it all<br><br><br><br>Cameron - I agree with you that teachers should make the decision about
<br>which sites to block - and the way the pc's are configured!<br><br>After a year away from bentleigh our computers are so 'locked down' it<br>takes the kids about 8 clicks to get into their home directory. Right
<br>clicking has been disabled completely, and although we have the<br>Macromedia suite installed, I discovered today that kids cannot save swf<br>files - so about 6 of my students who had spent time doing a flash<br>animation for their website could not actually use it! I am also yet to
<br>work out how they can zip up a folder (eg a website) so they can submit<br>it electronically. Chances are they will not be able to save zip files<br>or exe files either - goodbye gamemaker???? I will be pushing to have
<br>the rules bent a little and attempt to put the onus back on the<br>classroom teachers to supervise what students are doing.<br><br>There is nothing like diligence - my students know that if they are<br>doing anything off task (even paint can be a distraction) I will just
<br>turn the computer off, they will risk losing their work, they are<br>removed from the computer and have to work from a book with pen and<br>paper. I find that once this has happened to a couple of kids the class<br>settles down and stays on task. It's a bit similar to being in a Maths
<br>class and finding a kid reading a magazine - you confiscate the mag and<br>keep an eye on him/her.<br><br>Our students are limited to educache, staff can go further but are<br>limited to $10 credit (at 10c per MB) Once a staff member has used this
<br>credit he must email the principal who will ask the library tech for a<br>printout of websites visited. I am hoping that by going to the<br>brightsparks unlimited plan (thanks Cameron) we will halve our IP costs<br>and everyone will have free access to the whole web.
<br><br>After spending the last year at a notebook school where even MySpace,<br>youtube and MSN Messenger were not blocked I feel like I have just<br>landed behind the iron curtain - although I am enjoying being back here.
<br><br>Roslyn Meadows | Information Technology | Bentleigh Secondary College |<br><a href="mailto:meadows.roslyn.m@edumail.vic.gov.au">meadows.roslyn.m@edumail.vic.gov.au</a> | ph 03 9579 1044 | mobile 0412 614<br>062<br>
<br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: <a href="mailto:yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au">yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au</a><br>[mailto:<a href="mailto:yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au">yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au</a>
] On Behalf Of victor rajewski<br>Sent: Thursday, 1 March 2007 9:09 PM<br>To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List<br>Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] block it all<br><br>Our school has just invested in NetSupport School - among other things
<br>it lets the teacher in the classroom at the time to whitelist and<br>blacklist sites as they come up - and includes the ability to easily<br>see which site each student is visiting. It is quite nice. But what<br>would be more useful to schools that can't put the money into a system
<br>like this would be a teacher-friendly interface to the proxy server<br>(such as edupass) where they can do a similar function. This wouldn't<br>be too hard to write - just needs a bit of will from the powers that<br>
be.<br><br>Even so, technical measures are not a replacement for engaging tasks<br>and knowing what and how your students are doing. They just make it a<br>bit easier sometimes.<br><br>On 3/1/07, Cameron Bell <<a href="mailto:bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au">
bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au</a>> wrote:<br>> I don't have the time to block every site that may come up as "not<br>> wanted" by staff. I tell the staff that it is their job as a classroom<br>> teacher to monitor what goes on in *their* classroom. If I see a kid
<br>at<br>> a site that is clearly not relevant, I simply tell them to get on with<br>> the work as required and follow it up by keeping an eye on them and go<br>> through the usual steps I would with any kid who wasn't doing the
<br>> current activity.<br>> The alternative is to ignore the rest of the class while I kick the<br>kid<br>> of the computer while I check the history, find the site, get the URL,<br>> determine the category, logon to the proxy, submit the filter.....
<br>> It's so much easier to say "Get on with the work or I'll........."<br>><br>> Cameron<br>><br>> Geoff Hutchison wrote:<br>> > You are being too subtle Rob.<br>> ><br>> > Reminds me of my days working at a regional TAFE -
<a href="http://VIC.GOV.AU">VIC.GOV.AU</a> was<br>suddenly blocked, classified as porn (sic). Didn't even bother ringing<br>our techs, took them over a month to unblock it.<br>> ><br>> > This blocking is just another case of the tail wagging the dog.
<br>Schools should decide what to block, and by schools, I mean the teaching<br>staff. School and dept tech support should deliver what schools want,<br>not what they decide schools can have.<br>> ><br>> > Which reminds me, Netspace is our ISP, and via an email a week ago,
<br>they informed us all that, due to many requests from schools, they were<br>going to block many 'game' sites - they would decide what amounted to a<br>'game' site.<br>> ><br>> > SIGH.<br>> >
<br>> > If schools just got off their own backsides, and instigated their<br>own filters AS THEY ARE REQUIRED TO DO.<br>> ><br>> > I could go on ................<br>> ><br>> > cheers<br>> > Geoff
<br>> ><br>> > *********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********<br>> ><br>> > On 01-Mar-07 at 3:32 PM Costello, Rob R wrote:<br>> ><br>> ><br>> >> Reading about more filtering -<br>> >>
<br>> >><br><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/youtube-ban-for-victorian-schools">http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/youtube-ban-for-victorian-schools</a><br>> >> /2007/03/01/1172338754827.html
<br>> >><br>> >> Personally, I think every student should be satisfied with 24/7<br>access<br>> >> to the official VELS site, and maybe the curriculum planning<br>guidelines<br>> >><br>
> >> What more could they ask for?<br>> >><br>> >> Google, blogs, email, flickr, and all such web 2 apps should be<br>banned<br>> >> by decree<br>> >><br>> >> They might be used to communicate - and the risk of communicating
<br>is too<br>> >> high<br>> >><br>> >> I look forward to a world in which every interesting and<br>interactive web<br>> >> site is finally blocked, and we all have handheld devices, on which
<br>we<br>> >> can access an approved list of 3 sites<br>> >><br>> >> Paper and pen might also need banning, as there are reliable<br>reports of<br>> >> these media being used for obscene drawing and note passing in
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</div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br><a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a><br><br>"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead