An Expat Educator in Asia

This posting by an Aussie teacher reminded me so much of my approach to trying to balance the wonder and excitement of access to the internet with a need for respect for other people’s access to a shared resource and trying to provide good infrastructure for learning. I had to reproduce it for you here:

Our strategy has been a multi-pronged approach where we are trying to educate our students as to appropriate behaviour which I’ll elaborate on below but I should also mention that as we are a boarding school the banning of games was not really deemed practical as boarding students should be allowed to use games as a form of entertainment (within reason). This also informed our decision on sites like Bebo, Facebook, etc.

1) We have layered our network so that each lab is on its own subnet.
This means that unless the network traffic is specifically addressed to somewhere beyond the lab (eg. the internet) the traffic stays on the lab subnet. Since we implemented this we have seen a significant improvement in our network performance across the campus even ignoring games and the like.

2) Our students are prevented from installing programs on our lab computers (using domain group policies). This is just standard business practice anywhere.

3) Students are allowed to play games, including Flash games, on the understanding that they do not play games in class and that if they are using a computer during lunch and another student is wanting to work on that computer then they are required to give it up. They also know that excessive noise will also get them kicked off.

4) We have a proxy server that authenticates all of our students. Each student has been given a generous monthly quota of data downloads and, if they require extra for any reason, they need to visit the front office to pay for extra usage.

5) The same proxy server allows us to block sites completely if needed, or for sites that require excessive bandwidth, we have blocked them during school hours and opened them up for boarders out of hours (this includes Bebo, Facebook, etc.). Students also know that if they are caught using a redirection sites to get around our security then they face immediate suspension of internet access, detention, etc. Continued use of such sites will get them placed on a whitelist. Our proxy server also cuts off internet access from late at night to early morning for the boarders since we had some problems with international students staying up all night.

6) We try to educate our students as to safe internet access re:
privacy, passwords, etc. with limited success so far (they still keep sharing passwords)

7) Finally, I actually teach a unit to our Year 8 Technology class on making computer games using GameMaker (mentioned in another reply). As part of that unit I have a Moodle course set up where I have links to free games that I feel to be innovative in design (and relatively simple to create) as well as a Hall of Fame where the best games from previous classes are placed for students to check out. Since I started this unit, I have had a number of students who have come in as often as they can during lunch and recess in order to work on their games. It has also allowed some of the academically weak students to produce a good quality product and have a real sense of accomplishment.

I also like the idea mentioned earlier of getting students to nominate games with education in mind and having to justify their nomination.
Having students engage in critical thinking in this way is exactly what we would all like to see in our schools. Personally, I also feel that educational games is one area where there is a great deal of potential.
I’m not talking about games where students are trying to simply regurgitate facts, etc. but games where there is a real world application of skills they are learning. For example, ASIC (I think it
is) has an online stock market simulation where students trade shares using real share prices in the simulation. I also know of one large company that has professional development where they train their non-business staff in basic business practices by playing a game where they need to manage and expand their business. To succeed they have to know how much raw product to buy, how much to produce, make judgements on marketing avenues and costs, as well as learn how to balance their books to be able to see how and where they have succeeded. It requires learning various terms and experimenting with what is the best way to grow your company, and there is no one guaranteed method for success! My background is in software development and I really feel that there is a real need for good quality software designed to reinforce concepts and higher order thinking skills in secondary students.

Richard Eagleton
All Saints’ College <http://www.saints.nsw.edu.au> Eglinton Rd, Bathurst, 2795 Australia

Photo: gaming by Michael Heilemann

Filed under: Learning for a Flat World | Tagged: game, network, schools learning