I wouldn’t be much of teacher or a Catholic if I said to you all that I knew what Web 2.0 meant. After reading through the textbook and finding different definitions as to what it meant (Thank you Wiki, you saved my backside again) this is what I came up with. To my understanding, Web 2.0 has to deal with the internet and the ways we can communicate with one another by it. The web pages will be ones in which people can interact with one another and where people can add their own information; i.e. blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Wiki etc. Also, a good website for places such as businesses, schools or maybe even churches will be updated almost on a daily basis.
My first approach to see what my school said about Web 2.0 technologies was to look at my employee handbook. This pretty much led me in circles because it didn’t give a clear cut answer on it. For the most part what I learned from that was to use my best judgment and to not do anything deemed inappropriate with the internet or my e-mail. Hmm….ok? Well on to plan B. I then went onto our school’s website and looked at the student handbook. After reading that, I can safely say that the students and teachers pretty much have the same policy. This led me to pull out my Sherlock Holmes hat and pipe (bubble of course).
I headed towards the Archdiocese website. Like Indiana Jones, my search for the Holy Grail was over!! I simply typed in the search engine they had, “Web 2.0” and low and behold the site gave me word for word their policy. In some ways, it was better than our textbook. They went through each type of Web 2.0 technology and described what they were and then gave the suggested practice for each one!! The Archdiocese (school district) had a very sound and strong policy. I agree with the policies in place and how they are set up to protect the students. Since the vast majority of the students are minors, there must be written consent to even use a picture of a student for any posting on the web. I know that my school office has a list of all the students whose parents signed a form giving permission for their pictures to be used. Whenever I send any pictures to the secretary to use for our online newsletter, she must check to see if we have the go ahead. I feel that this will help keep our students safe and protected. The policy also goes on to talk about the different ways social networks can be used for teaching and the dos and don’ts of them. The only thing that I wish would be different was the way it was presented to us at school. I wish we had the same information in our handbooks. Here is a link to the Archdiocese website and the policies for Web 2.0.
http://www.archomaha.org/pastoral/se/pdf/Technology_Guidelines.pdf
Brian, I too researched my districts policies on Web 2.0. It seems as if the Archdiocese is on top of this technology. They have done an excellent job of outlining the dos and do nots of the Web 2.0 world. When I searched my district website for web 2.0 I got a link to something about transportation. Seems that the big district in Omaha has some work to do.
ReplyDeleteThat's nice there are clear standards. I wonder whose in charge of the employee/student handbooks and if they could be updated to reflect the clearer information the district provides?
ReplyDeleteI am glad there are policies to help students and staff say safe. I also know here district that need to get with the times and improve their policies. The policy to keep students safe when adding pictures to the website is important and is the same process as yours Brian.
ReplyDeleteFrom: Heather M.