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Some Chinese school officials have gone against the wishes of the national government and removed Internet filtering software becuase it "has strong conflicts with teaching software we need for normal work." On the other hand, many public schools in the US not only tolerate draconian filtering policies, but elect to implement such policies on the local level! Why are we willing to sacrifice educational opportunities for some imagined sense of security about our children? If you haven't looked over the "Unmasking the Digital Truth" Wiki, I highly recommend that you do so. It discusses some of the common misconceptions about Internet filtering in schools and associated laws. (http://unmaskdigitaltruth.pbworks.com/)

Article about how some schools in China have uninstalled the controversial Internet filter (Green Dam), which was required to be installed on all public systems by mandate of the Chinese government.

Not sure I posted this already. This "filter bubble" as he calls it should be a concern re: Ubiquitous Learning

one of the famous TED talk. personalization of information and its potential pitfall. what is necessary for 'functioning democracy'. makes me wonder what are the risks associated with too much personalization in education too.

Thanks for sharing Drew, this is an excellent talk showing the tension between our need to balance what we want/need and reliance on a technology to help filter the results. While we need to get out of that 'filter bubble', we also need it to be close by so we don't get overwhelmed.

This is a hot topic in China last year that all computers, especially those for young kids, should be installed a filter to block unhealth contents. However, the policy turns out to be ineffective at all. At least from what I know, no one around me has actually installed the software to "protect" themselves.

better content filters needed to realize full potential of Web 2

I feel like this is one more instance of expecting schools to be everything to everybody. The filtering issue is there because of the blurring lines between student's home-life and school-life. Student's experience cyberbullying should not expect that the medium in which they are harrassed is also accessible during school hours. I agree with you Chris that filtering is ineffective but the schools are stuck. They are leaving themselves wide open to a lawsuit without it.

interesting. depending on where you live, what you are seeing will be slightly different due to filtering forces.

"The few participants who did feel overwhelmed were often those with low Internet skills, who haven't yet mastered social media filters and navigating search engine results, Hargittai noted."

''safe search for kids, by kids' - Kidrex (powered by Google). Wonder if there are any downside to using this vs regular Google in classrooms. (amount of the info limited? but safety assured due to filtering?)

Interesting - I understand the concern for safety but think that educators should also try and promote and support "safe googling" techniques. Here's a visual teachers can refer to or put up in their class (meant for older students I assume): http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/11/10-google-search-tips-all-students-can.html#.ULrCi6VRpUQ

GoGoNews, an online news resource for children, announced that OLPC XO laptops will feature GoGoNews App in the collection of default applications. Through GoGoNews app, children can read filtered headline news, as well as art, cultural science, or fun topics, and play online games.

Move toward moving away from filtering web access at New Mexico public schools.

Arizona State University is using data mining to collect information on their students and help guide them to the "most appropriate major". also, in class, using data collection methods, teachers collect information to be used in assessment Ex: "Ms. Galayda can monitor their progress. In her cubicle on a recent Monday, she sees the intimacies of students' study routines - or lack of them - from the last activity they worked on to how many tries they made at each end-of-lesson quiz. For one crammer, the system registers 57 attempts on multiple quizzes in seven days. Pulling back to the big picture, a chart shows 15 students falling behind (in red) and 17 on schedule (in green)."

wow this is kind of bothersome on some levels and kinda amazing on other levels. While I can see the benefit of understanding where and how a student is more likely to succeed, I think there are some potential dangers with such a system. There is the what I would imagine the psychological effect of such a program and I am thinking particularly about STEM fields where women are already way under-represented and often self conscious about their performance, do you really also need a system telling you you shouldn't be majoring in that as well cause you're not performing at that point....or what about a student who really wants to be an engineer but maybe hasn't been fully prepared with the appropriate math courses in high school, would he or she be filtered into another major? I understand using such a system as a means to target help for example if a student could get an assessment of where they currently are, where they want to go and how to get there....

Make your own story by filtering massive information available through existing social networking platforms.

In a world constantly inundated with information, is it valuable to step back and filter what is coming into your world? This blog sketches a framework for potential technologies to take advantage of. Give time and reason back to the people using technology. I especially liked the IDoneThis Company.

"All schools can now use the YouTube educational video site, youtube.com/education, without having to jump over Internet filtering hurdles."

This website briefly talks about Kajeet's solution to the safety and filter issues of internet use in schools that we have talked about in class.

A initiative that may support the BYOD movement.

Ideas for using texting at school.

great article. relevant to today's discussion about web 2.0 / social media. for those who didn't read it. Here's there article's list of interesting sms based tools for education use: Remind101: Remind101 allows teachers to send text messages (and email) home -- to students and/or to parents -- to offer reminders and updates for class. Remind101 allows teachers to communicate with their classes without either teacher or students having to share their phone numbers. Poll Everywhere: As the name suggests, Poll Everywhere allows teachers to use cellphones for polling in class. Students text their responses, using their cellphones to give feedback, answer questions, take quizzes. Celly: Celly provides SMS-based group messaging. Classrooms can use the service to take quick polls and quizzes, filter messages, get news updates, take notes, and organize and hold study groups. The groups can be public or private, moderated or open. StudyBoost: StudyBoost allows students to study via SMS-based quizzes. The questions can be self- or teacher-created, and can be multiple choice or open-ended.

I like Celly for its group messaging and polling applications. Note: The link to "Poll Anywhere" is broken.

banned websites issues

A study being conducted in five universities in the midwest found that students "were basically clueless about the logic underlying how the search engine organizes and displays its results." They found college students poorly filtered results and had difficulty finding 'scholarly sources.' The article also notes a rift between professors and university libraries where professors don't encourage students to seek out research specialists. I've found Gutman's research staff incredibly helpful, specifically with tips on narrowing journal searches.

Published Online: October 17, 2011 Published in Print: October 19, 2011, as When Educational Content Gets Blocked For most of last school year, Nowmee Shehab never thought twice about using school computers to pull up websites of the Trevor Project, the It Gets Better Project, or the Gay-Straight Alliance, as she searched for resources for her high school's own GSA club.