The clash between rhetorics of the internet as a dangerous place or as a waste of time and as a space for education for young people is illustrated pretty starkly by the results of a survey of American school administrators conducted by the Consortium of School Networking. This found:

Nearly three-quarters of respondents (superintendents and curriculum directors) said that Web 2.0 technologies had been a positive or highly positive force in students’ communication skills
and the quality of their schoolwork.

but

The majority of school districts ban social networking (70%) and chatrooms (72%)… and over 60% of district administrators polled believe that student use of Web 2.0 should be limited to approved educational sites.

It would be interesting to see what a similar survey of university educators would say.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 11:08 am and is filed under Amateur media production, Teaching, social network sites. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.