How do we teach kids to cross a busy street?

It seems that everywhere I turn lately, I find educators struggling over how to responsibly move forward with the use of Web 2.0 tools in an educational setting. Ed-tech leader, Ed Barry, recently asked Vermont colleagues to share what PROCESS they use in deciding which tools to allow in their schools? Most of the answers offered referred to the school’s Acceptable Use Policies, with many of us agreeing that our AUP’s need updating. I walked away from this meeting eager to research AUP’s that supported a School 2.0 environment and the process used to design them. The insightful post and comments I collected on the topic, left me with more questions than answers. So instead of a summary, I offer you a list of questions that these writers touch on, and invite you to peruse their insight and share your own thoughts.

• How do we teach kids to cross a busy street?


• How can we support an institution with desires to seek innovation in teaching, learning and research; willingness to innovate & a growing culture of sharing?


• How can schools ensure that they are fulfilling their duty of care to ensure safe environments for their students?


• How do we promote a culture of social responsibility?


• Must we reach beyond Acceptable Use Policies?
  


• How do schools make and enforce rules when students are not on school ground or acting as part of a school function?


• Should our AUP’s reflect understanding of changes in our culture?
  Should AUP support us to change our culture?


• How do your AUP's integrate IT policies with Institutional policies?


• What key principles are your AUP’s based on?


• What is the best approach to deploying risk assessment and risk management ? What legal risk do schools face?


• Is your AUP used as a control mechanism to prevent usage which IT staff may frown upon?


• Does your AUP work on behalf of your organization in helping to ensure the effective use of IT by its users?


• Why do we hide behind AUP’s?Where did our policy come from? Is it infallible?


• What mechanism do you have for changing your AUP and engaging your users in that change?


• How does it take into account the facts that technologies change, usage changes, and culture changes?


• Is your AUP simple or sophisticated enough to accommodate for technical and organizational complexities we face in the 21st century?


• Should we wait to evaluate and master immature technologies before permitting them?


• How can we provide safe environments, minimize risk, allow learning and encourage enthusiast?


• How can we develop policies around technologies that are a massive productivity enhancer and also a great time sink?


• How can schools fulfill their duty of care to ensure safe environments for their students?


• Can AUP’s guide us towards an agreed role and agreed manner of operation for that role?


• Can AUP’s keep up with the fast pace of emerging tools and uses of these technologies (i.e. recording capabilities of cell phones and other economically accessible tools)


• Should time tested principles such as ETHICS be at the center of our acceptable use policies?


• How do we involve students in the process of updating AUP’s?


• How do we promote a culture of social responsibility? Must we reach beyond Acceptable Use Policies? (repeated for emphasis)
  
  Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ereiam_j_h/354525742/

2006's Top 5 Interesting Bits for School 2.0

G'Day fellow Year-End Revellers,

In the spirit of re-capping 2006, I'm weighing in with quirky twists that I think portend the end of "school-as-we-know-it." Certainly the biggest story of 2006 is the emergence of Web 2.0 (audio discussion) and the flourishing that followed Tim O'Reilly's What Is Web 2.0.

But I like to get a feel for the littler moments within the grander sweep to sense which way the wind might be blowing for education. With that in mind here are my top five interesting bits for 2006.

1) Early in the year the Wikipedia vs. Britannica battles began. The skirmish was well-documented with a little fudging room on either side of the debate, but the key point for me was not the 162 versus 123 flaws in Wikipedia and Britannica, respectively, but that within a week, Wikipedia's errors had been corrected. How long before the next edition of EB?

2) Biting the hand that feeds them... When a UK security firm discovered a high frequency tone that drove away teen-aged loiterers, the teens turned the annoying sound into the Mosquitone, a ringtone that only youths can hear. When asked what schools should do about the scenario of kids phones going off in class and teachers not being able to hear it, one said, "hire more young teachers." Ouch, but true?

3) Corruption as a sign of maturity... Most commentators are anointing You Tube as the big story of 2006. I'd point to a sign of its maturity even within its short lifetime. As Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth gained traction world-wide, a PR firm working for energy producers got caught when they used YouTube for “Astro Turf”, the false presentation of what appears to be a "grassroots" up-rising. To me this is just one more padlock on the gates of the Factory School. Inquiry always trumps "information."

4) Mashup as Art... Another popular sensation this year has been the emergence of Mashups. The most well-known examples often include Google Maps and other databases (wikis, classified ads, etc.). One that is close to my sensibility is Jonathan Coulton’s “Flickr”, a song that seems to begin like any other alternative folk song and then morphs into a post-modern collage of images drawn from people's Flickr galleries. Here's the kicker for education: what grade would you give this song if a student turned it in?


5) The New WWW & addiction... Finally, I've been predicting / watching the development of new forms of addiction as we enter into an era of the New WWW (Whatever, Whenever, Wherever). An archetypal example this year wasn't when a hardcore World of Warcraft leader abdicated, but the 234 pages of heart-wrenching comments that followed the post. No wonder some call it “World of WarCrack”. Our task isn't to bemoan, but to model what it means to be happily human. Not always easy, is it?

That's it for me. I hope you all have a great holiday season and a terrific 2007.

Tom