“The Threat of Security”
By: LeAnne K. Robinson, Abbie Brown, & Tim Green
The article begins by describing a teacher who was reprimanded for the inappropriate use of the Internet on school grounds… No, no… it’s not what you are thinking. He simply placed a flower order online after spending his Saturday getting ready for Back to School. Because the teacher’s use of technology was not school related, the personnel director reported to him, explaining that he was being watched. To make matters worse, the school has made it impossible for the teacher to burn CD’s. He simply wanted to burn a CD of a PowerPoint presentation for his class, and was told that it was not allowed because the teachers may break the law when it comes to copyrighting issues. Because of these negative experiences, this particular teacher finds it too difficult to incorporate new technology in to the classroom. He states, “It is much easier to continue doing what I know works than to attempt to use technology that is riddled with roadblocks.”
Even a teacher’s school district e-mail account is under thorough investigation at all times. The authors explain that there are three rules pertaining to email use on school property. No teacher is allowed to transmit material 1. “that promotes violence or advocates destruction of property including, but not limited to access to information concerning the manufacturing or purchasing of destructive devices or weapons; 2. that is not related to district educational objectives; 3. that contains pornographic, obscene or other sexually oriented materials.” The authors note that while they agree with points 1 and 3, point 2 is a hard one to follow. For example, if a teacher wanted to converse with a colleague about weekend plans, this would not be an appropriate subject for email conversation, according to these rules. The combination of high restrictions and a watchful eye, cause many teachers to not want to risk getting into trouble. It is easier to simply not use the technology.
Although we are significantly advancing technologically, the threat of security is a major issue in practicing new uses of technology in schools. The authors conclude, “we… must find ways to create environments in which the potential dangers of the tools are minimized without minimizing teachers’ opportunities for professional growth.”
Question #1 What is your experience with new technology in the classroom? Did you find the restrictions too difficult of an obstacle to continue using the technology?
I am not a teacher yet, so I do not have any insight from a teacher’s perspective. However, I do have experience being a student when a professor has incorporated the newest technology in the classroom. Fall semester, 2005 I completed my final classes for my Bachelor’s in Business Administration. Ben Cherry was my HR professor. He did a great job incorporating technology into the class. We would begin every period with a discussion of what was going on in the world. He encouraged us to bring our laptops to class so we could be discussing the latest news that pertained to our class discussions. Ben was also the professor who introduced me to Pod-Casting. He would record his lectures in class, and put them online the same night. It was a great study tool. One restriction Ben had in using the Pod-Cast was that he wasn’t always able to use everything we discussed. He would sometimes say, “OK, well that won’t be on the pod-cast tonight” if we maybe went off topic. Other than that, I did not perceive any other sorts of restrictions.
Question #2 As a teacher, what would you do if there were too many strong restrictions when wanting to include technology in your classroom?
As a future teacher, I plan on doing my best to give my students knowledge to use the latest ideas in technology. If there was a rule that restricted my use of technology in the classroom, I would do my best to work around it. I certainly would not give up on the idea because technology is just too important to the future of my students. For example, the article discusses the teacher who was not able to burn a CD of a PowerPoint presentation for class. If this had happened to me, I would find another way to present that information. I could email myself the PowerPoint, and open it up during class. I could save the presentation on a disc or a zip. I think it is important to not let the restrictions hinder our use of technology in the classroom.
By: LeAnne K. Robinson, Abbie Brown, & Tim Green
The article begins by describing a teacher who was reprimanded for the inappropriate use of the Internet on school grounds… No, no… it’s not what you are thinking. He simply placed a flower order online after spending his Saturday getting ready for Back to School. Because the teacher’s use of technology was not school related, the personnel director reported to him, explaining that he was being watched. To make matters worse, the school has made it impossible for the teacher to burn CD’s. He simply wanted to burn a CD of a PowerPoint presentation for his class, and was told that it was not allowed because the teachers may break the law when it comes to copyrighting issues. Because of these negative experiences, this particular teacher finds it too difficult to incorporate new technology in to the classroom. He states, “It is much easier to continue doing what I know works than to attempt to use technology that is riddled with roadblocks.”
Even a teacher’s school district e-mail account is under thorough investigation at all times. The authors explain that there are three rules pertaining to email use on school property. No teacher is allowed to transmit material 1. “that promotes violence or advocates destruction of property including, but not limited to access to information concerning the manufacturing or purchasing of destructive devices or weapons; 2. that is not related to district educational objectives; 3. that contains pornographic, obscene or other sexually oriented materials.” The authors note that while they agree with points 1 and 3, point 2 is a hard one to follow. For example, if a teacher wanted to converse with a colleague about weekend plans, this would not be an appropriate subject for email conversation, according to these rules. The combination of high restrictions and a watchful eye, cause many teachers to not want to risk getting into trouble. It is easier to simply not use the technology.
Although we are significantly advancing technologically, the threat of security is a major issue in practicing new uses of technology in schools. The authors conclude, “we… must find ways to create environments in which the potential dangers of the tools are minimized without minimizing teachers’ opportunities for professional growth.”
Question #1 What is your experience with new technology in the classroom? Did you find the restrictions too difficult of an obstacle to continue using the technology?
I am not a teacher yet, so I do not have any insight from a teacher’s perspective. However, I do have experience being a student when a professor has incorporated the newest technology in the classroom. Fall semester, 2005 I completed my final classes for my Bachelor’s in Business Administration. Ben Cherry was my HR professor. He did a great job incorporating technology into the class. We would begin every period with a discussion of what was going on in the world. He encouraged us to bring our laptops to class so we could be discussing the latest news that pertained to our class discussions. Ben was also the professor who introduced me to Pod-Casting. He would record his lectures in class, and put them online the same night. It was a great study tool. One restriction Ben had in using the Pod-Cast was that he wasn’t always able to use everything we discussed. He would sometimes say, “OK, well that won’t be on the pod-cast tonight” if we maybe went off topic. Other than that, I did not perceive any other sorts of restrictions.
Question #2 As a teacher, what would you do if there were too many strong restrictions when wanting to include technology in your classroom?
As a future teacher, I plan on doing my best to give my students knowledge to use the latest ideas in technology. If there was a rule that restricted my use of technology in the classroom, I would do my best to work around it. I certainly would not give up on the idea because technology is just too important to the future of my students. For example, the article discusses the teacher who was not able to burn a CD of a PowerPoint presentation for class. If this had happened to me, I would find another way to present that information. I could email myself the PowerPoint, and open it up during class. I could save the presentation on a disc or a zip. I think it is important to not let the restrictions hinder our use of technology in the classroom.
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