What's the Problem with Filters in Education

One of the only places student and teachers have a problem accessing the information they need is in schools. It used to be that the filters themselves were the main problem. Then CIPA came along and the problem was compounded by people using them poorly. Today, the filters have improved, but not the people. Filters are still being used poorly, if not worse. If filtering management and strategies had improved 1/10 as much as filters have improved, there would be no significant problem.

The ONLY thing CIPA requires in the way of technology is that you protect against accidental access to pornograhy, but too many schools use filters in lieu of supervision and education. The block everything from violence to nose picking. They are not protecting the children. They are trying to cover their collective asses and in the process are hindering education and access to the material that students and teachers need.

The World is Moving Too Fast for Education!

File this one under the old joke, "The faster I go the behinder I get." We are still struggling to get schools into the Web 2.0 world and now Google comes along with Wave, a new, amazing, collaborative, OPEN SOURCE product that adds a mountain of promise for the world and ocean of challenges for education.

Later this year Google Wave will be going live. It is like Facebook meets email, meets IM, meets Flickr, meets blogging, meets Google docs, meets wikis, meets Twitter, meet Survey Monkey, meets.... (Are you getting the idea?)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ

Do you have technophobes in your district? We all know that there is little chance of getting them to change. How about showing this demo at a faculty meeting and telling the staff you want students to begin using it. The fun will start as their eyes begin to glaze over. Then the heads will go down, there will be gnashing of teeth, crying, and wailing. They won't change, but they will run from the meeting, pulling out their hair, and screaming about filing for retirement.

But wait! They will be back as soon as they realize that with filtering and blocking, it's not going to happen.