everything. As my high school son used to say, filters are great for =
two things - 1. To give teachers a sense of security and 2. To give =
students something to do at lunch time (find ways around the filter). =20
We have to focus on supervision and student behavior. Like everything =
else, we need to be clear about what the behavior expectations are for =
the students in all areas of school life including use of technology. =
Students will always push the boundaries, that is their job. Schools =
have consequences for inappropriate behavior, and this needs to include =
inappropriate use of technology. The consequences need to focus on the =
behavior not the technology. For example, if a student tears out a page =
in their book, the consequences would probably not be the student could =
not use a book for the rest of the school year. However, if a student =
uses technology inappropriately, the consequence is often to take it =
away. We are working (hopefully) on having technology be as ubiquitous =
as books, paper and pencils, so why do we take it away?
There are enough issues the tech team has to worry about. I just don't =
see a need to worry about whether Facebook (or any other website) will =
somehow get through the filter. Make sure teachers and administrators =
understand the main reason for a filter is to make it a little more =
difficult for students to get to inappropriate sites. Just like with =
birth control, there is nothing that is 100% other than abstinence.
Renee Ramig
Seven Hills School
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators on behalf of Doug Fodeman
Sent: Sun 11/21/2010 8:26 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Security hole in your school filters
=20
Dear ISED members,
If your school chooses to block the student use of Facebook or other =
social networks on your campus, read on.....
This fall ChildrenOnline.org has been conducting 1000's of surveys of =
students about their online behavior. I wanted to let you know that =
from every school we have collected data, the students are reporting =
that they have a way of getting around the
school filter to access sites like Facebook. I even discovered this =
simple "work-around" at my school early last spring. (We have St. =
Bernard's iPrism content filter.)
You might block Facebook.com but the kids have discovered that such a =
block is ONLY good for the http protocol and does not block https. So =
instead of using http, the students can simply type =
https://www.facebook.com and access their FB accounts. This
will also be the case at other sites that allow the https protocol. =
(Does Formspring.me use https?)
I don't know if this by-pass works to get around a SonicWall policy when =
that Sonicwall is also the main firewall that stands between the =
Internet and the school. The work-around seems to work best when a =
school has a firewall on the network in "proxy
mode". By the way, if your school has cell-phone service, the kids can =
also access their Facebook accounts through their smartphones such as =
the iPhone.
Never a dull moment.
Doug Fodeman
Co-Director, ChildrenOnline.org
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Douglas Fodeman =20
Director of Technology
Brookwood School
Manchester, MA 01944
http://www.Brookwood.edu
(978) 526-4500 X6233
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
[ For info on ISED-L see =
https://www.gds.org/podium/default.aspx?t=3D128874 ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, =
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[ For info on ISED-L see https://www.gds.org/podium/default.aspx?t=3D128874 ]
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