The article “The Web We Need To Give Students” (Watters, 2019) talks about giving students access to their own domains so they can make their own space on the internet. The article mentions the legislation proposed and enacted to protect students’ privacy and guard them against unwanted advertisers and content. The article argues that students need not be safeguarded because it can hinder their access to research and learning. While I agree to some extent, I do believe minors should be protected, especially on school-sponsored digital resources.
The article cites UMW as a success story for helping students become present on the internet. They do not restrict access to the internet for their students and as a result, they have control over their learning and content discovery. This example does not translate to K-12 education, though, because this speaks to college students – students who are predominantly over 18 and have control over their content viewing choices.
In K-12, parents still have control over the content they allow their children to access. School districts are bound by the will of the parents to restrict content to only the safest possible for their children. I would argue blocking certain sites is called for especially on district devices. Some sites provide an education not appropriate for younger learners.
Do school districts go overboard with blocking sites? Absolutely. My district currently blocks sites like steam and the Fortnite servers because they do not want students playing games during class. That makes sense, but they also block sites like roll20.net which has amazing classroom applications since it is essentially a gridded whiteboard with dice. Their whole purpose is to “bring pen-and-paper gameplay right to your browser.” Gamifying lessons and teaching with role-playing games have become popular recently because it puts learning into a format kids enjoy. My district even had professional development courses on gamifying learning during our digital learning conference! But sites that could make this possible in our current environment – where half of our students are learning from home – are not accessible. Sites like roll20 are blocked because students could potentially create their own accounts giving them access to all pre-made game content, not just safe teacher-made game content.
My district also blocks incredible learning tools like youtube. I understand why. Youtube, even with its new safeguards for children, still has ads and content that could be problematic for minors. We were told we could use safeyoutube instead which was fine until something slipped through the filter on a district device and they blocked future use.
I do understand that students can access any sites they want on non-school devices. There are no safeguards on devices not owned by the district but, that control is the domain of the parents. My own children have full access to the internet. We have open discussions about what they view and what is appropriate. They are well versed in internet safety and know not to engage in conversations with people they do not know personally. Every child matures at a different rate and other parents choose to wait for their children to have unfettered access to the internet. The schools should not have the ability to overrule the safeguards a parent puts in place for their child.
I agree that students benefit from having a site of their own creation to reflect on their learning. However, I also agree that safeguards need to be in place for younger students who are not able to understand all the content they might be exposed to on the web. Students should be able to create their spaces but do need restrictions on where they can find content for their consumption.
Reference:
Watters, A. (2019, June 25). The Web We Need To Give Students. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://brightthemag.com/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713
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