School Internet Filterers: What are we really blocking?

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School Internet Filtering: What are we really blocking?

If youre an educator like myself, I am sure that many of you cringed just reading the words Internet

filtering. Too often searching for useful lesson information on a school Intranet leads teachers to

find that the site they need is unnecessarily blocked and it will take the IT team days to unblock.

Although Internet censorship is necessary and valued by schools, its implementation seems tofrequently err on the overdone side and repeatedly a one-size fits all policy blocks useful educational

materials from teachers and students. While there is no doubt that schools have a fundamental duty

of care for students and site blocking is a key factor of schools cyber-safety strategy, internet

filtering is prohibiting students from accessing much more that just illegal and inappropriate sites

and content.

In Australia, most State Governments have banned popular online networking sites from public

schools after these sites were accused of supporting a broad range of threats to young people.

There have been many negative claims from both Australian politicians and media commentators

that online networks ; email, chat, social network sites, virtual online environments, are supporting

a wide array of threats to students including paedophilia, bullying, racism and unwantedpornographic and violent materials (Notely, 2008, p20).

However, social networking also provides new opportunities for individual expression, the creation

of online communities and collaboration. These communication tools are growing in popularity

amongst young people, but are being ignored or even feared by most schools. The education

benefits of these tools are rarely discussed or utilised. Typically sites like Facebook, Wikipedia and

YouTube are blocked in schools, because of the possibility risky content, even though they can

provide educational value. But are we really protecting students or preventing education?

There is no denying the many restrictions to the current internet censorship that is in place across

many Australia schools including:y School filtering which generally has to an all or nothing blocking system.

y Filtering sites to protect students from inappropriate content are limiting opportunities to

access the useful material for teaching and learning.

y Many schools have the same level of filtering across all grades and for teachers which

hampers learning for everyone (SICTAS, 2009).

The restrictions of current online filtering in regards to emerging technologies such as ICTs need to

be recognised so that better filtering system can be used that can accurately differentiation between

useful and offensive Web 2.0 content and tools. Education.au found that 41% of surveyed educators

considered site blocking to be a major impediment to their using technology in teaching (SICTAS,

2009, p17). Of the countless frustrated teachers in school site censoring for Web 2.0 sites many are

now employing work-around methods to incorporate blocked content into their classroom activities,

including downloading YouTube videos from home to a USB stick so they could use it in class.



Risks and Rewards

For teachers, the Internet can be described as a two-edged sword, delivering both opportunity and

distraction to students. For tech savvy teachers, new technology and an emerging ICT culture

present exciting changes to how they teach students. For others, fear of student distraction and

disengagement, plagiarism as well as classroom management during computer lessons is frighting

and gives teachers a reason for avoiding online learning (Brandt & Williams, 2007). Regardless of

which category you fall into, outside of the classroom students are ignoring their cautious teachers

and using online services anyway. Many students arent waiting until they get home to go onto their

favourite sites but are finding ways to bypass filters at school.

This calls to question whether site blocking is really stopping students from looking at inappropriate

material. Student have the ability to break through filters or use home computers without filters or

using their mobiles internet, and are able to view what they wish anyway. Whether schools like it

or not students will be exposed to inappropriate material and potential dangers while online. So its

time that schools start educating students on cyber safety and not just believing that Internet filters

will stop students encountering online risks.

As every teacher knows teenagers take risks, more risks than any other age group. Young people,

especially those with low life satisfaction, may gain most from the online support and new

friendships that online networks can facilitate. However, young people are also likely to engage in

behaviour that may involve or lead to risk-taking online (Notely, 2009). In general the more time

young people spend online, the more skills they obtained, the more satisfying their experience, and

this increases the likelihood of students encountering risks. However, I believe the riskiest option

teachers can take is to not teach and expose children to potential online dangers. Schools and

teachers need to take responsibility for educating children on the dangers of being online, because

it is better for students to learn about cyber safety in a teacher guided environment than at home

by themselves (Murray, 2008).

While the risks young people encounter online have been researched and openly discussed, it is

much more difficult to verify online benefits. However, one of the key advantages of opening filters

to include online communication tools is to increase social connections for students and teachers.

Online networks enhance social interaction because of their accessibility and the way social

relationships are easily created and maintained online (Notely, 2009). Is it vital that student have

access to ICTs at school because studies show that 19% of Australians aged less than 15 years are

without home Internet access (Notely, 2009). Even if students do have computers at home, that is

not to say that they actually get to spend a great deal time at all using them, through either other

family member use or strict time allocations from parents.

Other educational possibilities of social networking sites include creating wikis, working together on

blogs or Ning groups. All of these online tools offer opportunities for more engagement and

collaboration with other students and teachers around the world. The quality of a school's web site

can greatly help schools to undertake interactive online activities safely and securely. The tools

offered on the school's web site can allow teachers to create safe online chat rooms and post blogs

to only people who have a school login. While there is always a chance of students adding

inappropriate information and harassing other students online, this can be controlled when teachers

start up a blog as they can put themselves as the administrator and approve all information before it



is posted on the web. The value on social networking sites while under researched could be a

valuable tool for teachers to use to reengage students and make learning more collaborative and

important for teaching students about cyber safety (Brandt and Williams, 2007).

Reality for Teachers

Despite the desire of some teachers to explore the benefits of online tools for creativity and learningthey are restricted by educational authorities, limiting school policies and fear of legal action. While

most school teachers have the ability to request that a site be unblocked this is often a cumbersome

process that requires information to be submitted to a third party. When teachers need access to a

particular website as part of his or her lesson, the turnaround time on a request for access meant

the teaching opportunity would be missed. Teachers encounter a number of barriers in regard to

effective use of Web 2.0 in teaching and learning. Teachers often lack the knowledge and

confidence in ICTs, and are too worried of the potential risk of allowing students access to popular

social networking sites. A key challenge for teaching in a new online environment is for teachers and

students to develop strong Internet and digital literacy skills to not only be able to find, evaluate and

critique information but also collaborate safely online (Houghton, 2009).

Its time to Education

Teachers need to directly address online safety by teaching it openly in classrooms. Cyber safety in

schools needs to change from the traditional technically-driven reaction to Internet safety to a more

informed and proactive approach (Brandt & Williams, 2007).

We cannot sweep online safety under the classroom rug and pretend its not there. I believe that

blocking every site that could possibly be harmful to students is not educating them but instead

giving them a false sense of security online, which will not exist when they use the Internet at home

or on their mobiles. Despite any schools best efforts Internet filters cant block out all inappropriate

materials, as even typing seemingly innocent words like snake into Google Images can still bring uppornographic photos. While teachers or parents will never be able to control students behaviour

online, it would be careless not to try to educator students about online risks and educational

benefits of online technology.

Schools are currently blocking sites out of fear and lack of understanding, and not because of sites

terms of service which demonstrates a need for better awareness. While some sites need to be

blocked, there needs to be valid justification for this restricted access to schools Internet. Teachers

need to understand the online environment, both socially and practically. Teachers should be

encouraged to talk with their students about the benefits and the risks, to educate them about the

threats to personal safety and realise the benefits of online collaboration by learning about how to

minimise the risks.

Cyber-safety in schools needs to include more than just Internet filtering, but also educational

activities targeted at teachers, students and parents to promote awareness and skills in areas such

as using technology, digital literacy, cyber-bullying, identity protection and the legal responsibility of

schools to minimise risk (SICTAS, 2009, p11).

Moving Forward



To understand the potential of emerging online sites for education, teachers need training in online

management tools and intranet tools which can compliment real work online. To be relevant,

teachers need to understand online culture by being part of it themselves. There is no substitute for

technical knowledge and teachers simply need to gain it to be Internet savvy. Teachers with

technical expertise and specific online knowledge should be able to read URLs and recognise

inappropriate sites more quickly and avoid dangerous content (Brandt &Williams, 2007).

Schools also need a clear policy and set of procedures about prevention of unsafe online practices

based on updated and accurate knowledge from ICT and IT experts, rather than a set of negative

rules or restricting of technical processes. This can be complimented by students signing contracts

to agree to use the school Internet responsibly and not use the Internet for inappropriate content.

Schools should all have a clear policy which describes the consequences of deliberate breaches of

guidelines (Murray, 2008).

New digital tools like ICTS provides significant opportunities to improve student learning and

emerging ICTs significantly contribute to furthering personalised learning and support the

development digital literacy. However the current default position in most schools is to block online

communication tools. Current site blocking process is ineffective and frustrating for both teachers

and students. Schools need to find a better balance between cyber-safety concerns and the desire

for innovative Web 2.0 style collaborative teaching and learning. Instead of being reactive to the

changing tools of the internet and block useful sites, schools need to better inform themselves of the

benefits of these sites as well as teaching cyber safety and not pretending the internet filter will

protect students from online risks.

References

Brandt, T., & Williams, M., 2007, School based habits for online safety, Q uick, Spring Issue, vol 104,

pp.4-9, viewed 24 July 2010, University of Canberra E-Reserve.

Houghton, B., 2009, Notebooks, Netwooks and Internet Safety Are you ready for the digital age

revolution? , Teacher, Vol 207, December, pp.40-42, viewed 20 July 2010, University of Canberra E-

Reserve.

Murray, C., 2008, Schools and social networking: Fear or education, Synergy, Vol 6, pp. 8-12, viewed

20 July 2010, University of Canberra E-Reserve.

Notely, T., 2008, Online Newtwork Use in Schools, Youth Studies Australia, September, Vol 27,

pp.20-29, viewed 24 July 2010, University of Canberra E-Reserve.

SICTAS, 2009, Web 2.0 site blocking in schools, viewed 17 July 2010, University of Canberra E-

Reserve, http://www.educationau.edu.au/sites/default/files/SICTAS-nsi.pdf .

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School Internet Filterers: What are we really blocking?