A school's duty of care!

This weeks reading was about the extent of responsibility a school has on a student when giving students access to cyberspace.On this particular issue I believe we should give students a certain amount of freedom when accessing the internet. The reason for this belief is because by giving students freedom, this will show them that the teacher trusts the student, and there needs to be a mutual respect between a child and the teacher in order for effective teaching to happen.
Thus, I believe before letting students go onto the computers, I'd say to the students that 'I trust every single student and am giving you the responsibility to behave appropriately on the internet. If I find one student or any student looking up inappropriate things on the web I will stop the computer lesson'.

In this case also take into account Vygotzki's theory of scaffolding where the teacher would be guiding the students in the right direction as to what they should be researching or doing when they are accessing cyberspace.

However, then a lot of participants and Glynis had agreed that for the past few years a lot of schools have blocked a whole list of websites in which students would not be able to access. For example YouTube. This then brings the issue as to what if students had found a link to help answer questions based on school work however this was blocked, therefore limiting the students ability to complete school work.

Glynis had also raised an important issue relating to this in terms of what if students only access to the internet was through school. Then, if the majority of websites were blocked or if there was no freedom of students how could students possibly complete homework which requires the access of cyberspace. Ultimately limiting the learning experience of students.

With freedom comes a lot of responsibility, what I mean by this is that if students are given freedom to cyberspace there are a lot of dangers that students may face. For example, the privacy of students may not be protected. In order to prevent this issue teachers need to prepare well for this encounter by for example having a well prepared lesson in which the teacher has already checked the website in which students would be using. Or, giving very clear instructions as to what students could access whilst on the internet.

Glynis had also informed the class that every school has implemented the Fair Use policy, and when she had asked the class whether students received a sheet that states the expectations of students and teachers she was shocked. The Fair use Policy is a contract that displays the expected standards of the students behaviours whilst online and using the internet.

Glynis concluded the tutorial by showing us this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_o8auwnJtqE which I thought would be very relevant to show students when teaching the topic of child protection. Take a look for yourself.

All in all, I believe that this weeks lesson carried on by Glynis was very critical. It has made me consider and put more thought critically in regards to the things I need to consider when having lessons in place involved with students accessing cyberspace.

Reference

A School's duty of care for students to whom it gives access to cyberspace: Data in (Content Regulation) and Data Out. Retrieved from www.netsafe.org.nz/Doc.../netsafepapers_grahambassett_duty.pdf.