Blog # 2

Good morning, good afternoon, or good night, it is a great day to talk some more about AUPs, the internet, and web filtering. First, I have AUP's on my mind which stands for an Acceptable Use Policy. Acceptable use policies are rules and guidelines for using the internet that many educational institutes across the country use today with their students. Each school outlines rules for using the internet, their privileges on the internet, and the consequences they would have to face if any of the terms would be violated. It is a good way to make sure that parents, teachers, and students are all on the same page when it comes to using the internet for educational purposes. I know that at my high school we had many web sites blocked off on the internet (which meant no face book checking) and if one were to break past these barriers the school would usually find out and follow through with the consequence. Also, when using the computers at school we were not allowed to check our e-mail or play any online games. My high school's web address is:
http://www.mpsomaha.org/mnhs/

The CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act) requires schools and libraries to not accept a discount from E-Rate unless they have an internet safety policy and technology protection in place. They are also required to monitor the internet use of minors, implement a policy addressing, and only an authorized person is allowed to un-block a site or filter.

At my high school, I did have access to a network but it was only useful at school. If you wanted to use a computer you had to have a user name and password. I wouldn't say that it had any great impact on my education and I really did not use the computers until my senior year when I had a class in a computer lab. For doing researching or homework I usually just used my computer at home. However, I did activate an account on my school web site where from home I could check my grades for my classes. Also posted was an unofficial transcript and information about tardy and absences. Parents did have access to this but mine didn't know the the user name or password so mostly I was the one who used it.

Lastly, I think web filtering is a really smart thing for a school to have. Children and teens can be immature and if they had the opportunity to go to sites where they were not supposed to they would. Also if face book and my space were not blocked, many students would just go on that instead of doing work or listening to the teacher. After looking at the article it is upsetting to teachers to know that there is information like how to bypass a school filter. It would also be naive of a teacher to not think that there is that kind of information out there. As long as the teacher is monitoring her students and warning them about the consequences of breaking the AUP, I think that they would be able to use the internet without a problem. I would like to think that some students are too lazy to go through the whole process of breaking their school's filter, I know I would be!

My First Blog

Hello! Please just call me Carolyn. Again, I am from Omaha, Nebraska and I plan on majoring in humanities to go on and do the five year education program here at Trinity to teach elementary education. Some of my interests include baking (which is hard to do here at school), watching movies, going out with friends, and in the summertime I like to read for fun. Some of my activities here at Trinity are pretty sparse for my first year, but currently I am going through rush and plan on joining a sorority. Also, next year I hope to become involved with the mentoring program because by then hopefully I will have a car! I am not used to having so much free time on my hands because for the last four years of high school and the last 11 years of my life I played competitive softball. I loved it and all the memories and experiences I gained from playing but I decided my senior year that I did not want to play in college so I would have more time to try other things. Now about my technology background, it is not very good. I took computer skill courses in high school but working with computers has never been my thing. I know how to use word, power point, and most of excel but when it comes to all the other stuff I tend to struggle a lot more. I hope to learn a lot in this class so I can be more comfortable with computers and all the cool things you can do with them. As my interests in the field of education go, I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher. I played school all the time when I was a child and teaching also runs in my family. I decided on elementary because I love children and I always have. I was the first girl cousin born on my mom's side and I am the fifth oldest of 20 so from the very beginning I was always taking care of and playing with my younger cousins. Junior and Senior year of high school I worked at an after school program in an elementary school and loved it. In addition, during the past three summers I have been a nanny for my aunts and have greatly enjoyed doing that. Now I am excited to learn so much here at Trinity in preparation for having my own classroom one day.

I really enjoyed reading the article from Time magazine. It was really intriguing and really made me think about what our lives are all about these days. By having a lap top, the first thing I do every time I open it up is check Face book or my email. Our world really is revolving around technology and we are becoming so much more impersonal by it. I always think to myself, what else is there to invent? What big thing are my children going to be obsessed with that I am going to be so clueless about? It is kind of scary to think about but it is something we are going to have to accept and work with. The internet is the new age and I think there are as many positives that come along with it as there are negatives.