The first was on the news as I rushed to get ready for work yesterday morning. When I heard it I literally stopped, looked at the television and stared in disbelief. There is talk at the moment of introducing mandatory filters on Australian internet access. Read about it here:
Conroy announces mandatory internet filters to protect children (ABC report)
Filtering out the fury: how government tried to gag web censor critics (SMH paper)
The announcement has caused a stir - see:
Dean's Blog, Amnesia's Blog, and the Petition
The second moment I had to remind myself to stop breathing...when I heard some colleagues make this statement:
"Mobile phones have no place at school."
Seriously? They had to be kidding right? I wish they were...how sad is it that teachers out there honestly believe this? If we banned phones there are so many things we'd be denying ourselves the opportunity to do, things like MrRobbo's recent mobile blogging whilst on school camp (check out his student's posts and leave your comments - HERE) - and let's face it, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
I honestly hope those of us out there devoted to the integration of new technologies into our classrooms are prepared to dig in for a long war of retrition - the technophobes have well and truly entrenched themselves in our education system.
