Social+Media+Blocking+and+Filtering

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**__Social Media Blocking and Filtering__**  ====== Does this image look familiar to you? If it does, it is one of the many difficult decisions that administrators must face today in our ever growing world of technology.

Administrators around the country are faced everyday of what can be allowed in their building without drawing too much heat from parents. The whole MySpace issues that plague the news of predators and online bullying that stem from these very websites have scared school boards around the nation to simply block the pages. It is a shame how teachers are eventually caught in the crosshairs of all this Internet filtering. All too often there are a lot of great websites that I come across at home and can’t use at school because of the filtering software. Below is an example of how this filtering process actually works.  media type="youtube" key="0B7Mp8fSvNs" height="340" width="560" align="center"

Does this seem all too common? How many of you get stuck behind the filter? Yet, the students find the backdoor and the teachers are left scratching their heads wishing we had access.

I find this as one of the biggest challenges facing teachers. My district purchased this state of the art Internet filter. It does a wonderful job blocking many of the sites that should not be viewed in a school. However, the filter blocks too many of the educational sites that could do wonders for both students and teachers. I cannot explain the amount of times that I have used websites throughout a PowerPoint in my two morning classes. Once I return from lunch, the technology department has blocked the sites that I used earlier. Who decides this? I know that the administrators are not checking my website usage throughout the day. That leads me to believe that the technology department is deciding what is of educational value. Yet, the technology people are not teachers. How is it possible that individuals without education degrees are deciding what I can and can't show in a classroom? So it leads to the question below:  How should the districts handle decisions about the blocking/filtering of websites; specifically those in the social media category: blogs, wikis, resource sharing?  I share the frustration that filtering places on teachers. You spend loads of time and energy searching for just the right resource. You plan your lesson around it. You create materials to reinforce it. Then when you get to school and try to use it: BLOCKED! Ground zero, new game! Unfortunately, filtering and blocking are realities that will not be going away. The district has an obligation to protect the student population from inappropriate content and internet predators. As a parent, I expect my children to be shielded from the evils of the internet when they are at school. It is a matter of both social responsibility and legal liability. As educators, we would never want to put children in harm's way for our convenience. We also want to be able to use resources that advance our students' content learning and technology skills. So how can teachers get out from the crossfire? I think that administrators need to trust us with the capability to bypass filters. In my district, we can send an email to the "technology powers" and request a reprieve. __They__ can allow the content through, if they see it as necessary, and they have had time to review it. By now, of course, I am frustrated and the kiddos are reading from the antiquated text books of old. There should be a way to provide us the autonomy as responsible, educated, adults to decide if this is appropriate to be shown/shared in class. I would even settle for a building level Tech God to come to my aid with the secret password if needed.

​ There are quite a few options that districts could do with handling their website policy. Instead of immediately blocking all sites, they need to create levels of access. Why not have two levels of Internet admission? Imagine if there are two separate policies protecting students and teachers. There should be another web browser or password system that will allow the teachers to access what they need. Why must there be so many restrictions for educators? Sadly, the sites that serve as educational tools that would enable student-to-student learning are blocked. If a district would implement a usage policy for blogs, wikis, and resource shareing, teachers would be able to hold the students accountable on these sites. The truth of the matter, the districts buy filters and students are able to find ways around the technology. A simple YouTube search can show people how to bypass the school's filter. By watching a one minute video, the students can access anything they want to at school, as seen below.

media type="youtube" key="4J_gbtsmo5I" height="344" width="425" align="center"

If students can bypass the filters, why bother having them?

Instead, why don't school boards and administrators trust teachers to decide what websites to use?

[|Filter Bypass]

The information above was created by William Partridge and Tammy Chiccarello. In order to distinguish between the contributions of each person, William's information will be blue and Tammy's will be red. 