EdTech Avenue

How do schools handle their AUP? At St. Wenceslaus, I thought we were having new families (all kindergarteners and any other new families in grades 1-8) sign ONCE. Then annually teachers would review our acceptable use policy and sign a record stating they (the teacher) reviewed our policies with the students. In reality, what is happening is we send home, in the fall packet, an AUP form for parents to sign - or opt out of. So this is EVERY YEAR, FOR EVERY STUDENT. I am thinking for the sake of paper alone, we could improve on this practice.

As well, who has anything included in their AUP dealing with video? Since more and more items are being posted - not just pictures and names anymore! How about we bring a copy of our AUPs to the first Tech Coordinator meeting? Or post somewhere here?

Also, I need my memory refreshed. One of the reasons (I thought) we needed - or it was a good idea to have - an AUP is that some federal funds are available only if we have an acceptable use policy in place? As well, isn’t there something about CIPA that requires us to have one? I know, I should know the answers to these things. I just have one in place for our school because I knew we needed it (for lots of reasons.)

A program is being offered for elementary schools to examine the “Perils and Potential of Media and Technology in Catholic Education” by NCEA, Boston College and the U.S. Conference of Bishops. It sounds like an interesting program but overlaps with NECC so I can’t get there (I would LOVE to - loved Boston last time I was there).

If you are planning to go, would you be willing to share your experiences here on EdTech Avenue? The conference is from June 21-23, 2007, in Boston, MA.

I recently made a suggestion that we publish our teachers’ school photos, which are conveniently provided to us on CD from LifeTouch, with the staff directory page of our website.  I had mixed reviews from our staff after designing the page with photos.  Most teachers liked the page but made no mention of the general idea.  Others, those who are a bit more techno-savvy, objected to the idea.  Their reasoning was that if pictures are made readily available on the internet, we subject ourselves to possible mis-use of the photos on such sites as MySpace and other personal web spaces.  While I am not naive enough to think that our students would not think to do such a thing, it saddens me that the majority of people visiting our site will lose out on the personal touch the photos present.  I also would have liked the idea that for marketing and recruiting purposes, prospective families would be able to put a face with all the paperwork and other information they receive about our school.

For now, we do not publish photos on our web site, for the protection of our students and teachers.  What do you do on your school website?

I have recently considered creating a personal blog space.  I would love to have a place where I can post photos and daily news of goings-on with my husband and myself.  I do have a Flickr space with photos, but even while creating that last month I had to think twice about putting anything personal out there for the world to see.  I would like to share with family and friends things that are going on in my life… but I don’t necessarily want to share these things with my students.  This is a unique career we find ourselves in - my husband and his friends don’t have to worry about who might see their blog or want to “use it against them”.  But teachers do not have this same luxury.  I can only imagine the damage a scorned student could do to a teacher’s career - we’ve seen it on some news stories already.  But how much of this is paranoia and how much is warranted caution?

I know I could create a MySpace account (it’s not just for kids, you know) and protect it so that readers would have to register, but I don’t want my mom to have to get an account in order to read about me.  Is that unreasonable?  And I’m not sure I’d want to lock it so much that only family and friends can read it - I might want input from other adults, and students could create false accounts…

Is there any way to get general information out there in blog-type format while keeping it safe from my students?  I’m fairly new to this blogging thing, so any input is welcome.  I did find some possible solutions on WordPress using plug-ins, so I’ll have to give that a try.

As I was working on the resource page for EdTechAvenue.com, I realized that probably the best way to compile a page of resources - ones that are actually helpful - is to ask what other technology coordinators are using on a regular basis.  My current search is for sources on online safety.  This is an issue I’m sure all schools are concentrating on as our digital natives are becoming more active on the internet.  There is a wealth of information out there, but some sites are geared towards a target audience while others are all-inclusive.  Have you used their tutorials, activities, guidelines, in your curriculum?  With what age students?  Have you seen results of success?  How do students respond?  If you have information you are willing to share with other technology coordinators, please register and post your comments!  Or, if you have publications you have created and would be willing to share, maybe for parent meetings or seminars, please email me.