Knowledge+Quest

=Knowledge Quest=

- I noticed that this journal was almost all articles. The articles were professional and there were very little or no advertisements. It had a lot of color and was easy to read. I read the article, //Teach Them To Swim//. I really liked this article. It talked about schools current approach to internet misuse. To prevent internet misuse, almost all schools just use a filter. Filters are nice, but to become a 21st century classroom and use web 2.0 technology, filters need to be done away with and students need to learn how to properly use the internet without a filter. To get their point across they used the analogy of learning how to swim. If students learn how to "swim" they will be able to use the internet without using it improperly. Although this sounds like a great idea, most school administrations are not willing to budge on the idea of taking out filters. This article was something that school administrations should read and take into consideration for the future of technology at their school. BT

"Relying solely on filters does not teach young citizens how to be savvy searchers or how to evaluate the accuracy of information." I think Helen Adams, in her article, "Intellectual Freedom Online: The New Battleground for Minors' First Amendment Rights", hit the nail on the head. I've often wondered how much of a disservice we are doing to our young people if we filter, filter, filter all through school and then send them to college where there likely isn't one, or at least it's a much looser one. They have not obtained the skills to cope or to weed out all the crap and there they sit, the world at their fingertips. Further, by blocking so much, we are losing a fantastic teaching moment opportunity; I would suggest something other than whitehouse.com but there are some questionable sites that could be used to teach students how to spot the flower among the weeds. I found the feature article, Minors' First Amendment Rights: CIPA & School Libraries" to be very informative. I knew a good deal about CIPA when it was first enforced; as the Systems Librarian at a public library, it was my job to make sure we were in compliance. However, I was unaware of the legal challenges CIPA faced in the early 2000s. Chmara opened her article with "The United States Supreme Court has long recognized that minors enjoy some degree of First Amendment protection." That's a concept that most educators I know have seemed to have forgotten, or perhaps never knew. We as librarians need to remind them of this. The article about the LGBT sites was interesting when it showed that the conversion therapy sites weren't blocked but the legitimate, NEA ordorsed GLSEN site was. This just shows how flawed filters really are, despite the technology available. Or perhaps, the filter operators are the flawed ones. In any case, filtering is far from the ideal safety net many paint it to be. And I love the "Teach them to Swim" metaphor, as it fits with my own thoughts on not throwing the kids into the pool of college without some real Internet skills, the ones that overactive filtering prevent us from teaching. There was a quote in that article that was quite telling, "We only see this now when we get some eager, naive student teacher who tries this, as they are encouraged in their university credential courses to use these exciting tools with students without any realization of what it's really like in many schools." Why are K-12 institutions so far behind the times? It was good to hear prospective on the difference between "disabiling" and "overriding" the filter, although it was just another reminder that most school districts are governed by fear. And, finally, Annette Lamb's article, "Everyone Does It: Teaching Ethical Use of Social Technology" is one I will reference again. Kids today have no idea of the ramifications of what they do online or with technology as the ramifications are not immediate as they are in a face-to-face interaction. We have an obligation to teach them what they need to know to be responsible citizens of the 21st century. This was a great publication and full of useful information. There are many articles which could serve as references in communications with our principals on many of these issues and I will keep this issue close as I transition into a school librarian position next year. --erin

The issue of Knowledge Quest I read was Volume 39, Number 1 September/October 2010. This issue was the Intellectual Freedom Online issue. Many of the articles included in this issue were on internet safety and filters in schools. I appreciated the length in detail of many of the articles regarding CIPA and the use of filters. The further explanation of CIPA in the article titled “Minors’ First Amendment Rights: CIPA and School Libraries”. The explanation helped me to understand CIPA more than I already did. The article that struck my interest was “Everyone Does It: Teaching Ethical Use of Social Technology” by Annette Lamb. This article discussed the use of social networking. It stresses the importance of keeping in mind the stages of development when teaching “digital citizenship”. Piaget’s view on perspectives is important when considering teaching this information because some students may still have an egocentric perspective and it may be hard for them to understand other points of view. Kohlberg’s stages are also important to keep in mind because the ability to respond to dilemmas changes as children progress further into the stages of development. The article then discusses different approaches to teaching digital citizenship. These can include debates, discussions, brainstorming and role playing. I think it is important to teach students how to ethically use social networking sites because so many students use them and many unsafely use them. Teaching students how to use them now may prevent them from getting into trouble with them once they reach the professional level. I also like the “Decision Making Process” section that went along with the article. The questions that went along with Information, Choices and Action were great questions to use with students when presenting situations to them involving social networking. I appreciated the explanations and differences of Examples, Scenarios, Case Studies and Dilemmas. I enjoyed the issue of Knowledge Quest and will be joining AASL so I can continue gaining valuable information from this journal. - Jessie

I read the intellectual freedom issue as well and enjoyed many of the articles that other people have listed above. I, like Erin, thought the quote from Helen Adams article was really very true. There was an article in another one of the journals that touched on the same idea. I think it is very important that as teachers and media specialist we need to teach the students how to safely use the internet and not just rely on the filters to make sure they are safe. I also enjoyed the article titled "Censorship Online". I found it interesting that such credible sites would be blocked just because they were about topics that could be controversial. The sites being blocked were things like the Human Rights Campaign and Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network. I enjoyed reading about the process the people went through in order to gain access for their students. I liked reading the different steps they had to go through and how passionate they were about allowing their students to view sites that contained such great educational information. ~Kaelin

 I think we all read this particular issue of Knowledge Quest (seeing as how it was the one given to us during Banned Books Week) and I had a lot of the same reactions to it as everyone else has so far. I'm glad I got the chance to read this issue in detail though because I have always been a little unsure about intellectual freedom and when to draw the line between material that is really not suitable for children and when it is a student's first amendment right to have access to it. I suppose this will come with experience though, and there is no right or wrong answer in every case. One quote that really stands out to me from the article called "Intellectual Freedom and You" was: "Intellectual freedom is a core value of the library profession and should be reflected in all school library policies. Learners have a right to a relevant, balanced, and diverse school library collection that represents all points of view." To me, this quote is saying that a student's right to material should be our number one priority, and in cases where it is not blatantly clear that material is not suitable for a student (such as is the case for pornography) we should always remember that every student has a right to information regardless of what one group has to say about it. I, too was going to comment on the "Teach Them to Swim" article written by Nancy Willard and think that this is a great article for librarians who are concerned about filtering and would like to have the opportunity to use some of the current web 2.0 applications that are designed to specifically enhance the educational process but haven't been able to do so due to school filters. A quote from this article that stood out for me was "Without robust acess to thse technologies in school, trying to prepare students for their future as effective users of online information is like trying to teach children to swim without a swimming pool."Overall, I have to agree that this is an extremely informative publication and it is so jam packed with useful information that you'd almost have to read each article a second time to really take it all in. I can't say that I would pick this journal for some light afternoon reading on a Sunday, but it is definitely a useful tool for anyone in this field. -Christie

I also read the Intellectual Freedom Online issue of Knowledge Quest. I found this issue to be extremely informative, especially because the issue of censorship and filters is such an important topic right now. It seems that as technology and social media become more and more popular in schools and among students, the issue of intellectual freedom online is only going to get more pronounced. This journal provided some great strategies for fighting a school’s unjust censorship policies and preserving intellectual freedom while teaching students safe online behavior. The article “Censorship Online” discussed the journey of one media specialist who realized, along with several of her students, that her school’s internet filters were blocking LGBT resources on the web. She eventually contacted the ACLU, which brought a lawsuit against the school district. Fortunately, she succeeded in having the sites unblocked and, in the process, discovered how rewarding it is to have student advocates on your side. This article provided some great information about how to proceed if you have a censorship issue at your school. -Michelle L.

I am glad that we were given this issue of Knowledge Quest to read, because I find the topic of intellectual freedom to be interesting. I thought the article "Everyone Does It: Teaching Ethical Use of Social Technology" was important. Social technology is such a huge part of today's society, and I expect it will become a bigger and bigger influence as technology advances. It is definitely important to teach young adults to be responsible when using this technology so that they are not maliciously hurting others (or themselves, for that matter, especially when it comes to posting inappropriate photos of themselves online). I thought it was interesting how the article brings up psychological theories of development and how these are important when teaching young adults about using social technology appropriately. The teaching strategies that are suggested are very good ones, and I like how other resources are listed. Overall, I felt this issue is very relevant and it addresses some very important issues in today's technology-driven society. It's very easy to read and aesthetically pleasing, and I look forward to reading future issues when I join AASL. - Elyce