Blocking+Websites

__**The Blocking/Filtering of Websites**__ **(Kristin)**

Districts should handle decisions about the blocking/filtering of websites; specifically those in the social media category with caution, and yet, still keep in mind that access to information is essential in this day and age. Many districts completely block access to sites such as You Tube and Facebook, however, these social media sites could actually be quite useful learning tools and resources. If students were permitted access to You Tube for appropriate videos, it could be extremely beneficial and educational. Likewise, Facebook would provide another means for students to form groups and work collaboratively. The difficulty that lies in unblocking these sites, is that districts can no longer censor what students see, and therefore, students run the risk of being exposed to inappropriate content. Some solutions or alternatives to this problem are:

1. Give teachers a portal that allows them to pass through the firewall and access any sites they choose to view. This allows them to pull videos from You Tube or access any other blocked sites.

2. Teachers need to preview videos from You Tube in their entirety before sharing them with the class.

3. Use alternative sites to You Tube, such as TeacherTube ([|www.teachertube.com]) or VIMEO ([|www.vimeo.com])

4. Take advantage of other social media sites such as Flickr or Delicious

*As much as we would love to have faith in our students and trust that they would not view inappropriate content if given the chance, it is not a leap of faith that I think many of us would take!

Blocking and Filtering Websites: (Grant)

OK, so I would agree that it is a difficult task to figure out what schools let in and what schools keep out. Our school also has Youtube, Facebook, and actually some of the video tutorials that we needed to watch for this class blocked. Our technology department, has decided to block the previous sites, but also give us a portal that allows us to pass through the firewall and access any site we choose to view. This allows the teachers and staff to pull videos from Youtube or access any other blocked sites. The students are not permitted to use the portal that allows the user to bypass the firewall.

I say that if students were permitted to access Youtube for appropriate videos, that it could be extremely beneficial and educational. Students can watch tutorials on how to do almost anything, they could also view videos and partake in virtual field trips. I guess my only concern would be is how do you block the inappropriate content on Youtube, but allow the educational videos to be viewed?

My answer for Facebook is pretty similar to the Youtube response above, in that it could be extremely beneficial, but how to do allow the beneficial items, but keep out the inappropriate ones?

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Check out the above video regarding Youtube.

Check out these photos:

[|Youtube] [|Facebook] [|Social Media]