Nocking the Arrow

This evening, amidst the onslaught of holiday shopping commercials, a favorite retailer showed a proud, but sleepy, father urging his two excited daughters to get ready for bed. The girls snuggled together in a fuzzy blanket, along with their iPad, in anticipation of Christmas morning. This scene 's not Cindy Lou Who  ( "who was no more than two" ) with her oversized candy cane, but it's pretty close. What Target needs to realize is that conscientious parents don't allow their children to sleep with their mobile electronics, not even to capture Santa in the act of conditional generosity. Much like the Grinch , this commercial dad should have gently taken the iPad away for safe keeping, and overnight charging. With more schools providing tablets or laptop computers to students, and more families purchasing cell phones, many parents are left wondering how to best support their children's learning, while at the same time, protecting them from the hid...

One month into our school year, and this year's 1:1 expansion brings us up to 65% of the students, and 100% of our faculty, having iPads. Lines are being drawn in the sand, but not along the issue that you might expect. We have several teachers that are using social media to open up a world of relevancy and authenticity to their students through the iPads and their web connections. We have many teachers that trying to find their way, balancing pedagogy change with the demands of standardization and evaluation. There are several other teachers that would like to lock down the student iPads, along with restricted access to social media, because of the distractions they create around our high school. To filter, or not to filter, this is the topic currently open for debate. Before giving my perspective on this, I am asking for your thoughts on this topic.  How restrictive should web content filters be in schools?   Your comments are welcome and appreciated. As you...