Reflection on “Acceptable Use and the Web 2.0” by Joseph Bires (K12Online07)

Reflection on “Acceptable Use and the Web 2.0” by Joseph Bires (K12Online07)

This was a fantastic presentation, one that I’ll return to several times more as it is “chock full” of great ideas. Joseph does an excellent job at describing all the challenges that schools face in implementing Web 2.0 tools. His list is quite comprehensive, to the point where the listener may finally scream, “Uncle”, except that he follows it up with a very articulate argument for why we have to implement Web 2.0 in our schools. The points that really hit home are that the world is changing and if we don’t use these tools then the gap “widens” between the “real world skills” our students will need and the skills they’ll actually leave our schools with. Joseph talks about how in not implementing these tools we run the risk of losing our best and brightest students. The second point that really seems indisputable is that we need to use these tools in order to help prepare students to be Ethical Online Citizens. I think of how Wes Fryer put it: that we don’t just hand teens the keys to the car. We have them practice driving under the guidance of someone who already knows how to drive.

Joseph ends his talk with excellent suggestions for School Acceptable Use Policies, that I particularly connected with as our district is in the process of reexamining our AUP. Points that really hit home were:

• Web 2.0 forces us to refine our policies. This is exactly where my district is. A whole lot has changed in the 5 years since we created our AUP!
• Look at other schools’ policies. I wish there were a “sharing place” where we could do this. Wiki anybody?
• Consider that different ages may need different policies. I definitely agree. And again, this year’s policy may need to change for a particular grade next year. A good example would be how last year, none of my first graders even knew about WebKinz. Having included something about a Social Network in our AUP for them last year would have been meaningless, whereas now it might be more relevant as roughly 80 percent of my first graders use the site.
• Policy is to govern innovation—not drive innovation (teachers/students will drive Web 2.0). The policy will not get people to use Web 2.0. I really appreciated this point as I think we need to be aware that we can’t at all expect an AUP to generate interest in using the tools.

Joseph also gives some great suggestions on how to manage Web 2.0 inclusion. My favorite idea was making sure that students (and teachers) are given “Sandboxes for Success.” The idea that we need a place to try out these new tools safely— and that might mean in an intranet setting.

Joseph has a great line in his closing. There are two kinds of people: those that edit Wikipedia and those that are worried about who is editing Wikipedia entries. Who are you?

Ok… Joseph. You’ve got to make this into a Tshirt. Put me down for a large.

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