[Advisory] After #Naace2010
Doug Dickinson
doug.dickinson@ntlworld.com
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:19:21 +0000
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Totally agree with the comment about the Twitter wall ... Twitter is
intended as a back-channel, not as a running commentary for all ...
found myself tweeting my thoughts as i would normally but then felt
that I was being disrespectful ... didn't feel good
Doug Dickinson
Independent E-Learning Consultant
doug@dougdickinson.co.uk
Tel: 01509 265653
Mobile: 07889 712 208
Skype: dougjdickinson
Web: www.dougdickinson.co.uk/blog
-------
The creative spirit is a wild bird that will not sing in captivity -
Van Dearing Perrine
-------
"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a
butterfly."
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change
something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
Buckminster Fuller
------
This message is confidential. You should not copy it or disclose its
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this message. If the e-mail has come to you in error please delete it
and any attachments.
On 20 Mar 2010, at 18:44, Leon Cych wrote:
>
> Brian,
>
> I would agree with some of these points but not others.
>
> Certainly Ofsted's lack of direction came into high relief in
> relation to the Twitter Wall. But somehow I felt it unfair to have a
> Twitter Wall running when someone was unaware of the comments going
> on in the room.
>
> With Ofsted the problem has always been bean counting - they need to
> shift up a gear if they are not going to be marginalised in the
> future. Yes they still have power to determine the parameters by
> which to judge a school but I think they are beginning to woefully
> lose their way judged by the other key note contributors to the
> conference have outlined the way things are going.
>
> What happens currently is that head teachers are given pages and
> pages of questions they have to answer which are then summatively
> judged against those frameworks.
>
> What isn't there?
>
> 1) Any formative system of assessment that could offere positive
> management solutions - having an inspection force who are merely
> observers is not good enough - they need to be made to engage as
> part of a professional assessment system - not just be number
> crunchers.
>
> 2) No aggregation of meaningful data that would prove useful to
> schools is held in any way that could be useful on the Ofsted site.
> If you are going to bean count then why not make it more
> transparent. Have a useful search function that aggregated subjects,
> schools, data, outcomes, school meals (:)) so it can be compared
> like for like - where's the data back engine to do this - well
> overdue I would think or is it merely just to be hidden and
> proprietorial so that dictats can be issued once in a while for the
> media. There is no commutativity of data and sharing of data - no
> desire to engage other than measure by fixed parameters which, as we
> see, are a retreat into the dark ages.
>
> Try and search the PDF database and find patterns of inspection -
> why is this not made more transparent?
>
> So now we are expected to take the communication out of ICT because
> "We do that well" and concentrate on a curriculum inspection that is
> in retrograde at the moment as far as I'm concerned.
>
> So we go back to a set of parameters that appear to be a comfort
> zone and schools will be judged against them. An immutable tail
> wagging a particularly dozy dog. When the dog wakes up as it is
> doing in the teaching force or the people observing activity around
> the teaching force, then things begin to happen. People start to
> question the traditional models of planning, assessment and
> examination.
>
> I guess it is to be expected Ofsted and QCDA appear to not seem to
> be aware of the possibilities of more recent social media or the
> disjunction between what is now happening in the home and the
> school. This gulf will only grow wider - the school population and
> parents become increasingly disaffected as technology will become
> more ubiquitous and broadband more available.
>
> If you want more girls to do ICT then change the exam - make it more
> relevant and interesting - personalise it - make sure people engage
> not just have to do these increasingly disaffecting exams - for that
> surely is what they are if 50 per cent of the pupils are using
> walking away. It just isn't working - saying people aren't engaging
> should tell you something...
>
> Sometimes unintended consequences cause the education and insight
> you are looking for. With programming it was the coming of the early
> personal computers and the games written by amateurs at home off the
> back of that. Some marvellous programmers emerged from that - al lot
> of them bypassed exams and started their own companies...
>
> That whole industry still isn't acknowledged by government in terms
> of tax benefits even though they make more than the film industry in
> this country. Most of those companies have gone to Canada ... yet
> another opportunity lost.
>
> If you want people to do stuff that aids the economy and uses
> imagination to do it, then devise something more than just husks of
> proprietorial fence jumping for individuals. Bring in collaborative
> exams where people can explore and work to their talents - make peer
> assessment and personal responsibility ways in which you can assess.
> Anyone tried thinking of that one yet? How about a vibrant,
> imaginative, "fun" curriculum completley contextualised and relevant
> to the ways we live our lives now. Guess not - oh dear - yet another
> fail...and for the country as a whole as well...never mind the banks
> are beginning to be back in profit not that any of them will pay
> back in terms of social capital what they ruined as a knock on in
> terms of culture and education although they are more than morally
> bound to do so...in the meantime we'll be expected to pull in our
> belts and intellectually too I would hazard a guess...
>
> The one big topic I took away from the conference is that we need to
> think very carefully about assessment and exams - in some cases they
> are getting in the way of actually adding to the country's economic
> well being because we lack vision in the way we can educate for the
> 21st century.
>
> The system we have at secondary level is enabling people to teach
> more and more efficiently about less and less relevant things when
> it comes to what people need in jobs and creative endeavor in some
> cases. It's not fit for purpose - people are retreating into
> 'curricular comfort zones' that are cul de sacs when it comes to
> moving this country on.
>
> Sometimes I feel if someone doesn't do something soon we are going
> to be mired in confusion and failure to respond to the 21st Century
> and all its challenges.
>
> And I'll ask it again as I have done over the years:
>
> Where is the vision and where is the courage to follow that vision
> when it comes to Education?
>
> The next few months will see cutbacks and all sorts of
> justifications for a retreat into more cost-effective models of
> "delivery" - Education isn't ring-fenced and that is a tragedy
> because it will enable all sorts of justifications for paucity of
> vision - if people don't stand up and say these things - well we
> have ourselves to blame in the long run...
>
> Leon Cych
>
>
> --- On Sat, 20/3/10, Brian Smith <brian@briansmithonline.com> wrote:
>
> From: Brian Smith <brian@briansmithonline.com>
> Subject: [Advisory] After #Naace2010
> To: advisory@talk.naace.org
> Date: Saturday, 20 March, 2010, 16:35
>
> Following this year's conference, I'm struggling to find solutions.
>
> Clearly Ofsted is still counting that which can be counted and nit-
> picking over whether data-logging is being 'delivered' or not. In
> the meantime the world's children are disengaging from education en
> masse. (If they need datalogging they can pick it up in an hour -
> and probably most do when they buy some technical Lego or a similar
> toy).
>
> The pressure to break the mould and throw out the Victorian
> curriculum with its deliver-and-test regime is building towards
> bursting point. Too many bright people are saying it: Ken Robinson,
> Don Tapscott, David Puttnam; their numbers are growing and their
> voices getting louder almost daily.
>
> And finally, Lord Puttnam's film showed that increasing global
> problems mean that if we don't create a 21st century curriculum -
> and quickly - there may be no need for five A*- Cs because there'll
> be no world to live in.
> See what he showed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRi8_fXz1D8
>
> So what's the solution?
> Needless to say I haven't a clue.
> But I do find that Web 2.0 technologies open the ability to problem-
> solve and debate.
> Twitterfall at conference added a dimension and a global audience to
> our sessions.
> You do realise, don't you, that Chris Smith was participating in
> Thailand and many comments were being retweeted to a global network
> of people by an educator in Ecuador. That's just two examples.
>
> TeachMeet was real chalk-face practitioners turning their back on
> Government and Ofsted and getting together to share innovative ideas
> - and their sessions were streamed on Ustream to a global audience.
>
> This global dimension is almost totally lacking in the average
> classroom. In its place we have locked-down systems which wouldn't
> allow my photos from BETT to be viewed by Pete Rafferty (@raff31) an
> innovative Year 4 teacher on Merseyside. No, he didn't have 8-year-
> olds accessing Twitter - this was his own account on his own laptop
> which he was using to receive news from professional educators
> attending the BETT Show. Nothing reached his children without being
> filtered by him - yet even he, as a teacher, wasn't given this
> freedom because Twitpic is blocked.
>
> How can children become the "people we need" when even their
> teachers can't show them the benefits technology can bring?
>
> Unlock the Web
> My instinct is to unlock the web and let teachers use Web 2.0 with
> their classes but that ignores Internet safety issues.
>
> The more I think about it the more I know that it depends on age.
> But the starting point should be open access and then lock down only
> as much as necessary.
>
> Consider nursery and reception children for example. Open access
> would be so wrong for them. Yet a primary teacher who can't put
> Twitterfall on the whiteboard is surely damaging the children's
> prospects.
>
> So how about this.
> Consider the roads analogy.
> We wouldn't let five year olds roam freely on the roads so we keep
> them shut indoors or safe in the garden with the gate shut.
> But we also go out onto the roads with them so they learn road safety.
> We do it by constantly explaining and demonstrating.
> Not incessantly, just every time a road needs to be crossed.
> In between we are talking about everything else.
>
> A suggestion:
> On the net, then, I think we should direct young children to safe
> sites for specific activities and have filters in place so they
> can't go ANYWHERE else.
>
> But not a county filter or even a school filter. It needs to be a
> class filter because the seven year olds will need a bit more
> flexibility and the 11 years old a lot more.
>
> AND, the class filter should be only on the children's access
> points. The teacher should have unfettered access so if she wants to
> use Twitter or any other social networking site - or MSN - or Skype
> - or Ustream - she can. Because she won't let the children on that
> computer and she'll only ever access these sites as part of a
> lesson. So she might have Twitterfall on the big screen for a
> particular purpose during a particular lesson, perhaps with a TA
> monitoring content in the seconds between receipt and display.
>
> Thus the children are safe but they also learn to communicate and
> collaborate as the teacher holds their hand.
> Just like on the road.
>
> As they grow older the filters come off but only with adequate
> internet safety training.
>
> And on that subject, see these two articles::
>
> A school that's praised for less filtered access with good safety
> training:
> http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Use-online-tool-nets-school-E-Safety-mark/article-1812042-detail/article.html
>
> Managed rather than locked down:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8505914.stm
>
>
> So those are my fairly random thoughts so far, two days after
> conference.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Brian Smith
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
> Disclaimers about how this is intended for you and if you aren't
> you, let me know.
> Oh and by the way, the content *is* my opinion.
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<html><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; =
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Totally agree with the comment =
about the Twitter wall ... Twitter is intended as a back-channel, not as =
a running commentary for all ... found myself tweeting my thoughts as i =
would normally but then felt that I was being disrespectful ... didn't =
feel good<div><br></div><div><div><div apple-content-edited=3D"true"> =
<span class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"border-collapse: separate; =
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; =
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; =
letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: =
auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; =
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; =
-webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; =
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: =
auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style=3D"word-wrap: =
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: =
after-white-space; "><span class=3D"Apple-style-span" =
style=3D"border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: =
Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; =
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; =
orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; =
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; =
-webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; =
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: =
auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style=3D"word-wrap: =
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: =
after-white-space; "><span class=3D"Apple-style-span" =
style=3D"border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: =
Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; =
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; =
orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; =
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auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style=3D"word-wrap: =
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: =
after-white-space; "><span class=3D"Apple-style-span" =
style=3D"border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: =
Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; =
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; =
orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; =
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; =
-webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; =
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: =
auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style=3D"word-wrap: =
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: =
after-white-space; "><span class=3D"Apple-style-span" =
style=3D"border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: =
Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; =
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; =
orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; =
widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; =
-webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; =
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: =
auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style=3D"word-wrap: =
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: =
after-white-space; "><div><div><div><div>Doug =
Dickinson</div><div>Independent E-Learning Consultant</div><div><a =
href=3D"mailto:doug@dougdickinson.co.uk">doug@dougdickinson.co.uk</a></div=
><div>Tel: 01509 265653</div><div>Mobile: 07889 712 208</div><div>Skype: =
dougjdickinson</div><div>Web: <a =
href=3D"http://www.dougdickinson.co.uk/blog">www.dougdickinson.co.uk/blog<=
/a></div><div>-------</div><div>The creative spirit is a wild bird that =
will not sing in captivity - Van Dearing =
Perrine</div><div><div>-------<br>"There is nothing in a caterpillar =
that tells you it's going to be a =
butterfly." </div><div><br></div><div>"You never change things by =
fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model =
that makes the existing model =
obsolete."</div><div><br></div><div>Buckminster =
Fuller <br>------</div><div> </div><div>This message is =
confidential. You should not copy it or disclose its contents to anyone. =
You may use and apply the information only for the intended purpose. =
Internet communications are not secure and therefore the sender does not =
accept legal responsibility for the content of this message. If =
the e-mail has come to you in error please delete it and any =
attachments.</div></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></span></div>=
</span></div></span></div></span> </div><br><div><div>On 20 Mar 2010, at =
18:44, Leon Cych wrote:</div><br =
class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type=3D"cite"><table =
cellspacing=3D"0" cellpadding=3D"0" border=3D"0"><tbody><tr><td =
valign=3D"top" style=3D"font: inherit;"><br>Brian,<br><br>I would agree =
with some of these points but not others.<br><br>Certainly Ofsted's lack =
of direction came into high relief in relation to the Twitter Wall. But =
somehow I felt it unfair to have a Twitter Wall running when someone was =
unaware of the comments going on in the room. <br><br>With Ofsted the =
problem has always been bean counting - they need to shift up a gear if =
they are not going to be marginalised in the future. Yes they still have =
power to determine the parameters by which to judge a school but I think =
they are beginning to woefully lose their way judged by the other key =
note contributors to the conference have outlined the way things are =
going.<br><br>What happens currently is that head teachers are given =
pages and pages of questions they have to answer which are then =
summatively judged against those frameworks.<br><br>What isn't =
there?<br><br>1) Any formative system of assessment that could offere =
positive management solutions - having an inspection force who are =
merely observers is not good enough - they need to be made to engage as =
part of a professional assessment system - not just be number =
crunchers.<br><br>2) No aggregation of meaningful data that would prove =
useful to schools is held in any way that could be useful on the Ofsted =
site. If you are going to bean count then why not make it more =
transparent. Have a useful search function that aggregated subjects, =
schools, data, outcomes, school meals (:)) so it can be compared like =
for like - where's the data back engine to do this - well overdue I =
would think or is it merely just to be hidden and proprietorial so that =
dictats can be issued once in a while for the media. There is no =
commutativity of data and sharing of data - no desire to engage other =
than measure by fixed parameters which, as we see, are a retreat into =
the dark ages.<br><br>Try and search the PDF database and find patterns =
of inspection - why is this not made more transparent?<br><br>So now we =
are expected to take the communication out of ICT because "We do that =
well" and concentrate on a curriculum inspection that is in retrograde =
at the moment as far as I'm concerned.<br><br>So we go back to a set of =
parameters that appear to be a comfort zone and schools will be judged =
against them. An immutable tail wagging a particularly dozy dog. When =
the dog wakes up as it is doing in the teaching force or the people =
observing activity around the teaching force, then things begin to =
happen. People start to question the traditional models of planning, =
assessment and examination.<br><br>I guess it is to be expected Ofsted =
and QCDA appear to not seem to be aware of the possibilities of more =
recent social media or the disjunction between what is now happening in =
the home and the school. This gulf will only grow wider - the school =
population and parents become increasingly disaffected as technology =
will become more ubiquitous and broadband more available.<br><br>If you =
want more girls to do ICT then change the exam - make it more relevant =
and interesting - personalise it - make sure people engage not just have =
to do these increasingly disaffecting exams - for that surely is what =
they are if 50 per cent of the pupils are using walking away. It just =
isn't working - saying people aren't engaging should tell you =
something...<br><br>Sometimes unintended consequences cause the =
education and insight you are looking for. With programming it was the =
coming of the early personal computers and the games written by amateurs =
at home off the back of that. Some marvellous programmers emerged from =
that - al lot of them bypassed exams and started their own =
companies...<br><br>That whole industry still isn't acknowledged by =
government in terms of tax benefits even though they make more than the =
film industry in this country. Most of those companies have gone to =
Canada ... yet another opportunity lost.<br><br>If you want people to do =
stuff that aids the economy and uses imagination to do it, then devise =
something more than just husks of proprietorial fence jumping for =
individuals. Bring in collaborative exams where people can explore and =
work to their talents - make peer assessment and personal responsibility =
ways in which you can assess. Anyone tried thinking of that one yet? How =
about a vibrant, imaginative, "fun" curriculum completley contextualised =
and relevant to the ways we live our lives now. Guess not - oh dear - =
yet another fail...and for the country as a whole as well...never mind =
the banks are beginning to be back in profit not that any of them will =
pay back in terms of social capital what they ruined as a knock on in =
terms of culture and education although they are more than morally bound =
to do so...in the meantime we'll be expected to pull in our belts and =
intellectually too I would hazard a guess...<br><br>The one big topic I =
took away from the conference is that we need to think very carefully =
about assessment and exams - in some cases they are getting in the way =
of actually adding to the country's economic well being because we lack =
vision in the way we can educate for the 21st century.<br><br>The system =
we have at secondary level is enabling people to teach more and more =
efficiently about less and less relevant things when it comes to what =
people need in jobs and creative endeavor in some cases. It's not fit =
for purpose - people are retreating into 'curricular comfort zones' that =
are cul de sacs when it comes to moving this country =
on.<br><br>Sometimes I feel if someone doesn't do something soon we are =
going to be mired in confusion and failure to respond to the 21st =
Century and all its challenges.<br><br>And I'll ask it again as I have =
done over the years:<br><br>Where is the vision and where is the courage =
to follow that vision when it comes to Education?<br><br>The next few =
months will see cutbacks and all sorts of justifications for a retreat =
into more cost-effective models of "delivery" - Education isn't =
ring-fenced and that is a tragedy because it will enable all sorts of =
justifications for paucity of vision - if people don't stand up and say =
these things - well we have ourselves to blame in the long =
run...<br><br>Leon Cych<br><blockquote style=3D"border-left: 2px solid =
rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br><div =
id=3D"yiv2010869370"><table border=3D"0" cellpadding=3D"0" =
cellspacing=3D"0"><tbody><tr><td style=3D"font: inherit;" =
valign=3D"top"><br>--- On <b>Sat, 20/3/10, Brian Smith <i><<a =
href=3D"mailto:brian@briansmithonline.com">brian@briansmithonline.com</a>&=
gt;</i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style=3D"border-left: 2px solid =
rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>From: Brian =
Smith <<a =
href=3D"mailto:brian@briansmithonline.com">brian@briansmithonline.com</a>&=
gt;<br>Subject: [Advisory] After #Naace2010<br>To: <a =
href=3D"mailto:advisory@talk.naace.org">advisory@talk.naace.org</a><br>Dat=
e: Saturday, 20 March, 2010, 16:35<br><br><div =
id=3D"yiv693581447">Following this year's conference, I'm struggling to =
find solutions.<div><br></div><div>Clearly Ofsted is still counting that =
which can be counted and nit-picking over whether data-logging is being =
'delivered' or not. In the meantime the world's children are disengaging =
from education en masse. (If they need datalogging they can pick it up =
in an hour - and probably most do when they buy some technical Lego or a =
similar toy).</div><div><br></div><div>The pressure to break the mould =
and throw out the Victorian curriculum with its deliver-and-test regime =
is building towards bursting point. Too many bright people are saying =
it: Ken Robinson, Don Tapscott, David Puttnam; their numbers are growing =
and their voices getting louder almost =
daily. </div><div><br></div><div>And finally, Lord Puttnam's film =
showed that increasing global problems mean that if we don't create a =
21st century curriculum - and quickly - there may be no need for five =
A*- Cs because there'll be no world to live in.</div><div>See what he =
showed at: <a rel=3D"nofollow" target=3D"_blank" =
href=3D"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DVRi8_fXz1D8">http://www.youtube.c=
om/watch?v=3DVRi8_fXz1D8</a></div><div><br></div><div><b>So what's the =
solution?</b></div><div>Needless to say I haven't a clue.</div><div>But =
I do find that Web 2.0 technologies open the ability to problem-solve =
and debate.</div><div>Twitterfall at conference added a dimension and a =
global audience to our sessions.</div><div>You do realise, don't you, =
that Chris Smith was participating in Thailand and many comments were =
being retweeted to a global network of people by an educator in Ecuador. =
That's just two examples.</div><div><br></div><div>TeachMeet was real =
chalk-face practitioners turning their back on Government and Ofsted and =
getting together to share innovative ideas - and their sessions were =
streamed on Ustream to a global audience.</div><div><br></div><div>This =
global dimension is almost totally lacking in the average classroom. In =
its place we have locked-down systems which wouldn't allow my photos =
from BETT to be viewed by Pete Rafferty (@raff31) an innovative Year 4 =
teacher on Merseyside. No, he didn't have 8-year-olds accessing Twitter =
- this was his own account on his own laptop which he was using to =
receive news from professional educators attending the BETT Show. =
Nothing reached his children without being filtered by him - yet even =
he, as a teacher, wasn't given this freedom because Twitpic is =
blocked.</div><div><br></div><div>How can children become the "people we =
need" when even their teachers can't show them the benefits technology =
can bring?</div><div><br></div><div><b>Unlock the Web</b></div><div>My =
instinct is to unlock the web and let teachers use Web 2.0 with their =
classes but that ignores Internet safety =
issues.</div><div><br></div><div>The more I think about it the more I =
know that it depends on age. But the starting point should be open =
access and then lock down only as much as necessary.<br><br>Consider =
nursery and reception children for example. Open access would be so =
wrong for them. Yet a primary teacher who can't put Twitterfall on =
the whiteboard is surely damaging the children's =
prospects.</div><div><br></div><div>So how about =
this. </div><div>Consider the roads analogy. <br>We wouldn't =
let five year olds roam freely on the roads so we keep them shut indoors =
or safe in the garden with the gate shut. <br>But we also go out =
onto the roads with them so they learn road safety. <br>We do it by =
constantly explaining and demonstrating. </div><div>Not =
incessantly, just every time a road needs to be =
crossed. </div><div>In between we are talking about everything =
else.<br><br><b>A suggestion:</b></div><div>On the net, then, I think we =
should direct young children to safe sites for specific activities and =
have filters in place so they can't go ANYWHERE else.<br><br>But not a =
county filter or even a school filter. It needs to be a class filter =
because the seven year olds will need a bit more flexibility and the 11 =
years old a lot more.<br><br>AND, the class filter should be only on the =
children's access points. The teacher should have unfettered access so =
if she wants to use Twitter or any other social networking site - or MSN =
- or Skype - or Ustream - she can. Because she won't let the children on =
that computer and she'll only ever access these sites as part of a =
lesson. So she might have Twitterfall on the big screen for a particular =
purpose during a particular lesson, perhaps with a TA monitoring content =
in the seconds between receipt and display.<br><br>Thus the children are =
safe but they also learn to communicate and collaborate as the teacher =
holds their hand.<br>Just like on the road.<br><br>As they grow older =
the filters come off but only with adequate internet safety =
training.<br><br>And on that subject, see these two articles::<br><br>A =
school that's praised for less filtered access with good safety =
training:<br><a rel=3D"nofollow" target=3D"_blank" =
href=3D"http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Use-online-tool-nets-school-E=
-Safety-mark/article-1812042-detail/article.html">http://www.thisisplymout=
h.co.uk/news/Use-online-tool-nets-school-E-Safety-mark/article-1812042-det=
ail/article.html</a><br><br>Managed rather than locked down:<br><a =
rel=3D"nofollow" target=3D"_blank" =
href=3D"http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8505914.stm">http://news.bbc.=
co.uk/1/hi/education/8505914.stm</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><d=
iv>So those are my fairly random thoughts so far, two days after =
conference.</div><div><br></div><div>What do you =
think?</div><div><br></div><div>Brian =
Smith</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>----------------------------=
-----------</div><div>Disclaimers about how this is intended for you and =
if you aren't you, let me know.</div><div>Oh and by the way, the content =
*is* my =
opinion.</div></div></blockquote></td></tr></tbody></table></div></blockqu=
ote></td></tr></tbody></table></blockquote></div><br></div></div></body></=
html>=
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