The
focus of chapter 9 is in generating school policies and other forms of contract
law. These include permission slips,
policies, handbooks, and so forth. The
author points out that legal changes in 2006 now make it imperative for schools
to keep track of good electronic records for any material that may require
it. The author points out that internet
availability in schools is primarily for student education and teacher
development, and that other uses should be carefully covered in policies set up
preferably with legal council. The
author also lays out a basic plan for developing and implementing policies in
schools. Further, the teachers must be
engaged to communicate with parents about computer and internet issues concerning
the students. Finally the chapter
contains a sample acceptable use policy as a general resource to give an idea
of what it entails.
I
have not had much of this chapter apply to my experience thus far. The closest I have come is really dealing with
student releases for photos and such.
The few times we have used computer labs the networks have been set up
to automatically block anything outlandish.
Further, we only used online activities and did not access forums or the
like. I do enjoy the chapter giving me a
view into the types of things I can expect and lets me think of problems before
they occur.
It is good that you haven't had any problems, either intentional or not so far. I think that, when working with young people, it is very important to always be on the alert when they have computer access. Even with filters and other safeguards in place, some of them are so tech savvy that they find ways around them.
ReplyDeleteIt is a fear I have that students will have such mastery of some technologies that it can derail the learning environment. Luckily, with aiming for science education a lot of the neat technology we will find ourselves using may not be mainstream enough to face that issue.
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