Twitter Block = Epic Education Fail

Got this message today when I tried to access my favorite social networking site...

"Knowledge Denied"

This is going to be a rant so I'm just warning everyone who's looking for a logical post with maybe even some scientific data to back up my findings.

First off, what the heck!? I love Twitter. I follow some great people on Twitter who share inspirational messages that encourage me, education articles that challenge my thinking, and technologies that I've never heard of that I then try to incorporate into best instructional practices... but not any more!

Have you heard about the digital divide? Well I've never heard anyone talk about how internet filtering is a digital divide. I honestly can be more productive at home than at work and then I think about the kids at my school. Now granted I haven't allowed students to use Facebook since all of them aren't older than 11, but Twitter has no age requirement. I was thinking about how we could get students to start using Twitter as a learning tool, but now that idea is scratched. Did you know that DPS has a Facebook AND Twitter account that they frequently use for communication? Too bad anyone on a DPS network can't read these communications!

So why are districts freaking out? What are we trying to prevent? Yes there is plenty of garbage on the internet and by filtering we protect students who are ignorant of what's online. Only problem is that once students leave school and go home they don't know how to filter good and bad information because they're never required to do so at home. Instead of filtering internet, let's teach students how to access good information and how to discern what is garbage, this will serve them better in life. Well what about students who get on Facebook during class? Pretty big distraction right? Okay I lied here's some interesting data on college study habits and Facebook usage. Turns out kids don't study much when they can freely get on Facebook so it's good districts block it right? Wrong. See the problem is that a lot of teachers are boring!! I remember I had the worst statistics class in college ever. I didn't think someone could take something so relevant and make it so irrelevant to me. Next time the kids are on Facebook instead of listening to your lesson, maybe it's because your teaching is lame.

Okay that's an extreme view, I always rant then come back to balance. I do think that kids are kids and that we should teach them how to manage learning and social networking. I wonder what would happen to kids if we taught them how to use Facebook appropriate in school? Maybe by the time they got to college Facebook wouldn't be a big deal? There wouldn't be that sudden "freedom" to do whatever I wanted to on my computer during class (maybe kind of like drinking alcohol in the US).

I'm going to go Tweet about this... oh crap, never mind. At least Google+ is still open... for now.