Permission to Opt Out?

As the school year begins and blogs, wikis, Skype, and all sorts of other collaborative tools begin to roll into classrooms, I wonder about user policies. Many people have argued for informing parents of their children's activities online and for getting them to sign off on a permission form of some type allowing their kids to blog and be in contact with other people through the use of collaborative tools. But this brings up a devil's advocate question: what happens if you have parents who don't sign the forms? If collaborative software and learning networks are to be central to the experience of the classroom program you are developing, how can that happen if several students don't have permission to work in these ways? That moves the use of these tools to a much more "side - space" because of course as a teacher, you need to work to keep all of the kids in your classroom involved with your program to the deepest extent possible.

Do we ask the permission of parents before we give their kids pencils and paper and they give us their thoughts on other topics? If we are arguing that these tools are basic, and the use of them should be evenly distributed throughout society, should people be able to opt out of their use? Is that not like opting out of math class?

technorati tags:social, software, classrooms, learning, networks

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Comments

[Ewan McIntosh]

Absolutely! Our guidance nationally is going to be one of informing parents on what is available, how it is going to be used and inviting dialogue. This does not mean letting the parents change the teaching. It means that we can empower both the teacher, the student and the parent, though, and help move things forward. I hope!

[Mark Ahlness]

I agree with you 100%. These tools are basic, as basic as pencils, paper, or a chalkboard. I have heard gasps and seen jaws drop when I have mentioned that I did not ask my third graders' parents for permission to have them blog last year at http://roomtwelve.com As you know, Clarence, every single word that goes out there on their blogs (on Classblogmeister) is approved by me first. Heavens, I've been publishing student work like this on the school website for over ten years. The ONLY difference in what I did last year with my kids on their blogs and what I've done on the school web site with student work for the past ten years is quantity! My goodness how they wrote, and wrote, and wrote... a dream come true for a teacher - kids who want to write. And I am clearly within school district policy on this, in terms of publishing student work online... So, no, do not ask, just assume it's their right and go for it. Have a great year! - Mark, in Seattle

[andrea forte]

I agree, deciding what technologies to use in the classroom, when and how seems as though it should be part of the teacher's job. That said, I also think that use of blogs, wikis and other public fora for teaching carries with it a great deal of responsibility and I'm not sure that this is clear enough to all teachers, so I certainly understand the concern.

For example, once someone posts something on the Internet, you can assume that it's not going away. Just assume that anything your students post online will be out there until they are 40 or 50 years old. It's out of your control and it's out of their control. I don't think it's right to force students to post thoughts under real names--but I know it happens. In fact, I think that this represents an opportunity to educate students about privacy and about considering carefully everything they post to an online space. How many people would be comfortable if, for example, their political or other beliefs at age 16, 17, 18 years old were publicly available forever?

I am actually developing new wiki tools specifically for classroom use because I think such tools can bring about radical and positive change, but part of what I'm building into these tools is functionality to help protect the identities of the learners who use them...

[Jeff Utecht]

Agree, while teaching in the states my school used an opt out form. We assumed parents were OK with it and if they did not want their children to use the tools or have their picture online they could sign a form. In 3 years I had one parent not wanting their child's picture on the Internet. In my 5 years of teaching overseas, parents want their children's picture on the Internet, for them it's a way to stay in contact with families far away. I take the attitude "Just do it!"

[Jason]

I am late to this discussion but it is of special importance to me since it has happened in my district as well. I am participating in a "blended learning" pilot project where parts of my freshman World Cultures class will be taught with a heavy tech focus. At one point, we had talked about offering an "opt-out" letter to parents. We ended up not advertising that option but agreed that if a student wanted out, it was probably going to be allowed. The question I asked: if we don't allow students to opt out of other models, why pick on technology? It's a question that will dominate the minds of teachers that push the envelope of technology integration.