ProfessorTOSA Blog

It’s been a few weeks since posting, but I’m not the type to write for the sake of writing.  Nor am I the tech obsessed guy who wants to clutter this blog with resources.  There certainly is a place for that sort of resource database and a niche for individuals to trudge the myriad of tools out there and pick the gems, but I’m not that guy.  I’ve decided I’m a creative guy, a specialist in clarifying the purpose of technology in education in a holistic sense.  So, you might say I’m good at finding meaning with technology and helping others to do the same.

Lately, however, the ubiquitous technology topic in Solana Beach hasn’t been meaning, it has been safety.  More specifically, the talk has been around the balance of safety and an educator’s ability teach and make meaning with tech outside of teaching norms.  Blogs and wikis have become a very popular tool in my district.  They should be.  Their ability to promote communication at all levels and foster collaborative projects is unrivaled (in my opinion) and their use prompts interest in students that used to be reserved for subjects like PE and splatter painting except, unlike PE, these tools increases literacy.  And so why should safety be an issue?  For those who don’t understand wikis, blogs or publishing to the web in general, safety for students means keeping private or personal information private and offline.  It means there are no photos or insight allowed to a public audience that might lead a questionable viewer to that child.  We’re avoiding the ability for a person to form a profile of a child and then cause harm. Simple, but in this locked-down environment, the sterility makes dynamic projects, like wikis and blogs, that publish to an audience other than your nearest peers next to impossible.  This is why I’m conflicted.  Of course safety must precede an other goals, but is utilizing a tool that is stripped of some of its power worth the effort.  Only time will see.  Currently, teachers are excited and students are actively using their wikis and blogs.  We’ll have to see how the demand to publish outside of the class walls determines our next steps.  We’ll have to look outside the box, perhaps, and find a compromise between letting the world in and remaining anonymous for the sake of safety.