To block or not to block?

Talking about blocking again?  Yes, this is one of the dilemmas facing educational institutions.  How should we juggle between educational, social and safeguarding needs?  Today I’d like to extract some discussion from a mailing group on YouTube in this regard.

A colleague on the Curriculum Champions mailing list invited others to share their colleges’ practice of YouTube usage.  While we might expect YouTube being banned in many institutions, it doesn’t necessary be the case.  Some colleagues did point out the rich media resources one can get from streaming videos such as YouTube and TeacherTV.  Quite a number of colleagus saying their colleges have unblocked these sites for a while and it worked out fine.  Some colleges also adopt flexible AUP to cater the educational needs, which can be a good reference for us:

• Youtube is available in the classroom and open learning areas; access monitored by the teaching staff and open learning staff.
• Student can access these websites by using their own devices, connecting to the open wireless internet connection in most non-teaching areas of the college (e.g. reception areas and refectories), and via college PCs in learning centres before 9.00am, between 12.00-14.00 and after 17.00 (i.e. before teaching starts, lunch time, and at the end of the core teaching day).

Technical issue might still be a concern for some colleges, e.g. bandwidth to support multi-media files.  However, it shouldn’t be a problem which can’t be tackled.  In last week FutureLab Conference, a staff member from a local authoriy mentioned that the stipulated network policy allowed some flexibilities, so individual institutions could enable access to streaming videos site if necessary.  I assume the same should apply to JANET, who support the network for colleges and universities.

To block or not to block – the choice is yours!

Note: Curriculum Champions mailing list is a mailing list managed by Becta and supported by JISC.  It gives a platform for e-learning professionals to discuss emerging technology and various issues on ICT in education.

New ideas? Opportunities from FutureLab!

Are you having innovative ideas on how technology can make learning enjoyable, fruitful and flexible, but not having enough funding or expertise to push the ideas forward?  Now you’ve a golden opportunity!

FutureLab, a non-profit organisation working acorss the whole education system with different partners, aims to develop ways to transform learning.  They’re now calling for ideas of gaming for learning.  Successful applications will receive supports of expertise and funding, as well as research and publication opportunities.  Click here to check it out.

The deadline is 8 October 2009, so you better start racking your brains now!