ISS - Some Final Thoughts September 21, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Conference Sessions, Opinion.trackback
This has been a very interesting day of thought-provoking discussions. People are genuinely concerned with keeping kids safe. I’ve heard more comments about providing tools and fewer about limiting or restricting access. It is refreshing that the general tone of the summit is one of helping our kids, not one of punishing them.
I would also like to thank Bud the Teacher for providing us with a great model of living a transparent life, something to which Will Richardson is currently calling people.
Here is Bud’s post:
http://budtheteacher.typepad.com/bud_the_teacher/2007/09/internet-safety.html. He also twittered the event.
Looking back it was remarkable how few laptops were present at the summit. With over 100 attendees, I saw fewer than half a dozen people actually using a laptop other than the presenters. Internet safety is an important issue, but I’m just not sure how prepared we are when we aren’t practitioners ourselves. I don’t think we ‘get it’ yet.
Hi Matthew,
How is that you equate lack of laptops at the summit to not practicing safe use of the Internet? I don’t see the connection.
Disclaimer: I was at the summit and was without laptop in hand.
Great question. I suppose I could look at the issue through a sports analogy. I can still provide a safe environment for my football team without having played the game myself, but I still think I can make better decisions about safety if I have some direct experience myself. If I don’t really understand the reasons students have for being online, I may be missing some important areas where safety is a factor. Hope that helps explain where my remark comes from.
Matthew