I've just learned from a comment on Edublogs (again) that blogging is no longer allowed in Argyll and Bute educational establishments. Who actually makes these decisions? Why are the children in Argyll schools not to be allowed to use a tool that is being welcomed by innovative educators all over the world? If this is the case - and it wouldn't surprise me, I'm sorry to say - then it's small wonder that the English department of my former place of employment is currently desperate for someone to come in to teach a Higher class and an Advanced Higher class, to name but one example. If I were currently working for a more enlightened authority, wild horses wouldn't drag me into the blogless boondocks.
And of course if I were still working for Argyll and Bute Council, I'd not be blogging this, because I'd still be catching up on the paper correction work that I always refused to bring home with me. Now, if it were blogged ...
I would love to know who makes the decisions, though. And why.
I'm guessing that it is all high and mighty administrators who are paid an extreme amount of money to sit at a desk with an exceptionally large leather chair and come up with decisions that they know are sure to get everybody's backs up. I think we call them 'Quality Improvement Officers,' ironically!
ReplyDeleteWhat about Morag and the 'talking teddies'? Is this no longe allowed? The whole council are a sham and I'm glad I am out of there! What's next? Taking away the school paper?
Chris,
ReplyDeleteDo you mean that they have blocked access to blogging sites? I'm afraid that it's the same in our school and - I am assuming- in the rest of our authority -Dumfries and Galloway.
I must admit I have been wondering how I would use class blogs etc -since I can't even look at my own blog online at school.
What exactly is their objection?
Liz
Liz - if you read my pal Don's blog you'll get it from the source - apparently "they" object to the interactive nature of blogging. At least, I-Gear just comes up with its page and gives you a one-word reason for doing so. It was frustrating enough before this; now it's merely ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that we are expected to immediately ask for technical assistance when we find a site blocked.
ReplyDeleteThere are several issues here and I shall perhaps also Blog them on my site for a wider comment.
If accessing Blogger had come up with an error message of some sort then we would have suspected a technical problem. However to be faced with "Access Denied - found on Denied List. Reason Interactive/Mail" one does not immediately assume a technical error. Surely one assumes it has been placed on the denied list by someone?
The same happened months ago with Flickr - access one day, denied the next! I did not post comments then and Flickr is still barred!
If we are given no information about what is barred, why and how, then do we bother the technicians every time we come across a denied site? It,according to my colleagues, is becoming an increasing problem and one affecting their delivery of the curriculum.
Technical error or not the fact was that to us, the end users, Blogger had been placed on the denied list. That was the fact reported - not speculation!
Just an additional comment following on from Ewan's. When I did talk to ICT I was told that there was no problem with access to Blogger through IGear. It required an email from me with copied IGear responses to my access attempts to put the 'repair' process into operation.
ReplyDelete" Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always
ReplyDeleteinteresting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there
are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that
is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are
also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know "
D.R.