Module+3+Reflection


 * __Reflection Prompt __****: **Describe a technology experience you had this week.

**Description: ** I did not have an ‘aha’ moment with regards to my technology experiences until I was reading ISTE’s Technology Facilitation and Leadership book. I’ve always been shocked at the strict protocol that our school has for online media considering that it is a virtual school. This week’s reading made me realize why my school has such strict policies in place.

**Impact: ** I have always considered myself cautious where the internet and information was concerned. However, with the technological demands society places I have found myself becoming a little more lax. When I began working in an online environment I was shocked that most online media was severely restricted, in contradiction to my ‘lax’ state. For example, in ClassConnect our students are not allowed to exchange phone numbers, photos, facebook pages, etc. To me this was like telling a student in a brick and mortar school “hey no talking about anything personal to your friends.” After all, to our students these are their friends, teachers, and everyday activities. It made no sense to me, but I endorsed it anyway. I was further thrown for a loop when I approached my Lead a few weeks ago and proposed creating a Wikispace for a class assignment. I was told “No we don’t do that. We have enough tools available.” Simultaneously, I was thrown for a loop as I did basic image searches (to integrate into PowerPoint presentations) and continually received pornographic images on my laptop despite the highest censorship settings allowed on my computer. Surely an educational Wikisite would be safer than a Google Image search. Hence my naivety had a reality check concerning online safety as I was reading and was forced to once again realize the importance of cautious internet use. I did not realize that about 9% of reported schools had a breech in data security (128). This made the FERPA training hit home. Every time I access student records on my laptop I am putting my students’ personal information at risk, not just their last test grade. Furthermore, I had realized that pedophiles use social networking to target teens and children, but for some reason when I was reading I realized that a lot of the times //the other teen is the perpetrator// not some weird adult sitting in their dank basement. This is why our school offers a monitored social network called the BigThink. Finally, learning about CIPA brought this experience full circle. Our student’s internet usage for school has to be contained because if we direct them off of our sites there is no large server firewall blocking inappropriate images. If my students typed in “phase change” for states of matter as I had they would see the same pornographic images that were returned in my results. Our strength as a school (being virtual) is also a weakness. Now I understand our need for fully filtering all videos, websites, and related pages before introducing it to our students, even in a web touring environment.

**Intent: ** As a result of my experiences and reading this week I have resolved to do and improve upon many things. I will continue to enforce school policy, but with a voice that will show my new resolve instead of just parroting school policy. Additionally I will further investigate how to improve filters on personal computers and make an effort to create a document to share with my students’ Learning Coaches and other faculty. I also need to double check my home network’s security settings and will follow strict FERPA and school protocol when working remotely away from home. Finally I will write to my legislators and those in other states to encourage them to up hold school districts’ decisions implementing filters in accordance with CIPA. I recently became aware of the ACLU’s “Don’t Filter Me” legal initiative in which the ACLU is threatening lawsuits against school districts’ filtering of internet materials. The ACLU claims that filtering images is in violation of the First Amendment and that even pornographic images are protected and should be accessible in our elementary schools despite its direct contradiction to CIPA legislation. (For clarification, the ACLU states that the initiative fights schools’ unfair restriction of LGBT sites in the ‘sexuality filter,’ however with further digging it is revealed that the ACLU //has acknowledged// that removing the filter will also expose soft and hard core porn sites to students which they claim are also protected by the first amendment. Why don’t they seek an alternative, and allow us to protect our students and children?). Other educators and parents need to be aware of this battle. I for one will let my voice (and money, when able) be heard on behalf of the innocence of our students.