Updated.
"Excuse me, Sir, but how do I get to Central London?"
"Hmm. Well, if I were you, I wouldn't start from here."
That to me is a perfect analogy for many of the arguments about kids' use of social networking, and whether it should be allowed, banned, taught or ignored.
The way I look at it, kids are using it, a lot of adults are using it, and a growing number of companies are using it. So schools have a choice: even if you don't think education should be creative or fun, surely you'd agree that it ought at least to be useful?!
Let's deal with the world as it is, and how it's going to be, not how we'd like it to be. I'm looking here at a number of recently published documents, starting with the interim Digital Britain report published in January 2009.
A bit of a controversy
Firstly, it's interesting how a throwaway comment can start a rumpus. I said on the Technology and Learning blog, and also on the ICT in Education website, that :
"As for the pros and cons of social networking sites in general, for me it's the same as the pros and cons of social networking, ie interacting with other people, per se."
That led to what I can only describe as a robust response from Doug Fodeman of Children Online, who said:
"I feel that your article not only missed critically important issues facing kids in these environments, but it is misleading to parents and educators who may read it because they are likely to go away with an impression that sites like Facebook or MySpace aren't so bad for their kids to use after all."
He then referred me to a paper he'd written which explained why Facebook was such a danger to children, which I thought one of the most cogent arguments in favour of having Facebook in schools that I've yet come across.
Anyway, the controversy continues, and you can read further comments on the Technology and Learning blog or in the Technology & Learning forum.
My views on the matter can be summed up quite simply:
1. Yes, Facebook and similar sites can be unsafe places for youngsters, but...
2. Some of that is because of their own behaviour.
3. Even where it isn't of their own doing, schools have a duty of care to ensure that are wise to the issues, and that their parents are too, because...
4. To a great extent the whole of the web is becoming a social networking phenomenon. As Jeremy Oliver, Head of Convergent Media at Ofcom said in a Westminster eForum conference today (Taming the Wild Web), the internet is not a thing, but a set of protocols to which people have access as both consumers and creators/participators. It follows, I think, that all creators need to take responsibility for the content they produce. That includes young people, and that means schools have a role to play in that area too.
Digital Britain
The interim report starts from the standpoint that digital technology and new media are to be encouraged. It follows that this is not something which is just going to go away if you wish it hard enough!
One of the report's 5 objectives is:
"Fairness and access for all: universal availability coupled with the skills and digital literacy to enable near-universal participation in the digital economy and digital society."
In another comment, the report observes that:
"Digital technology also lowers barriers to new providers- the wide range of services now catering to ethnic minority communities and to specialist interest, the development of community services, of user-generated content whether on YouTube or on social networking sites- all testify to the liberating power of digital technology."
Now, the report is not an easy read -- it gets quite technical in parts -- and not uncontroversial. For example, it seeks to make internet service providers more responsible for what their users are doing (which was something I flagged up as a possibility in Computers in Classrooms in November 2008 and then in an article on the ICT in Education website in early January), and advocates the setting up of a Rights Agency. However, I'm more concerned for the moment with simply indicating that as far as the British Government is concerned, the expansion of social media, and the desirability of the expansion of social media, are taken as read.
The report states that:
"The simple message at the core of this interim report is that we cannot afford to treat education and training for digital technologies as just another ‘vertical’ subject area. It underpins everything we do in the 21st Century."
It then goes on to say:
"... in education and training for digital life skills, we need a step change in approach, starting with the youngest. The interim report of Sir Jim Rose’s independent review of the primary curriculum is one very encouraging sign. He rightly focuses on the need effectively to engage an entire generation growing up with the internet, multi-media formats and broadband. This starts with inspiring and innovative programmes and initiatives to engage a new generation of students and attract them into technology-inspired and creative careers."
This is very encouraging, although I balk at one of the ideas suggested, a national media literacy plan. I'm always wary of grandiose plans when there are no details of their content or implementation! But the key thing for me is the phrase "effectively to engage". How can schools effectively engage young people without addressing head-on the technologies and applications that the kids are using in their everyday lives?
The report bears close reading, but for now I'd just like to mention a couple of other documents whilst attempting not to make this post too long! But before I do so, let's have another quick reality check.
Out there in the real world
Here are some stories from New Media Age.
Social networking has reached the mainstream in terms of "ordinary people" too. For example, look at School Together Now. I'm not too impressed with their view that schools should have opened at a time when the Meteorological Office were warning people not to make unnecessary journeys (see the article in the Daily Telegraph), but my point here is that it's a site that aims to get parents and children and others together in a safe social networking environment.
Companies are using social networking to connect with their customer base and market their products. See, for example, Procter and Gamble's BeingGirl website.
Schools need to recognise that social networking is not just something kids are doing in MySpace or Facebook, and that keeping safe online has to be thought of in a broader way than is usually the case.
Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies
This report published by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force in December 2008 in the USA bears some reading. The Executive Summary makes it clear that the report is not a consensus document. It's interesting because it makes the point that children are not equally at risk online. The ones who are most at risk online are the ones who engage in risky behaviour offline. Interestingly, it says that family dynamics and psychological makeup are better predictors of risk than the use of specific media or technologies.
The report advocates more resources being allocated to schools to assist them in adopting risk management policies, and providing online safety education; more research into the precise nature of online risks to children, and that parents should educate themselves about the internet and how their children use it.
One of the appendices contains information about the steps taken by various social networking sites to keep children safer.
Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU
This report was issued yesterday, 10 February 2009, ie on Safer Internet Day.
A couple of key points for me were these:
"Governments should ensure that e-safety curricula that accurately reflect current internet services and behaviours are
delivered in schools."
"Providers should employ tools and technologies to assist children and young people in managing their experience on their service, particularly with regards to inappropriate or unwanted (but not illegal) content or conduct." It seems to me that there's still a role for schools here in helping youngsters to understand why they might be interested in using such tools in the first place.
Aimed at service providers rather than the end user, this set of principles is a nice document that contains a good set of principles.
Conclusion
It's nice to see a lot of work being done to help kids be safe in social networking sites. I think schools need to do more than tell their students not to put their name and photos online. I would advocate the following:
- Have a look at the draft e-safety scheme of work that has just been published. This is an attempt to show how the skills involved in being safe on the internet are progressive, ie they can be improved and deepened over time. Full marks to the three London boroughs involved in its production, and for the London Grid for Learning for publishing it.
- Actively teach social networking safety principles, and also model effective and beneficial use of social networking, by creating social networking sites within school. This might be done through the school's virtual learning environment (VLE) or through a service like Ning.
- Have a school policy for child safety which includes e-safety but which does not regard e-safety as only a matter for the ICT co-ordinator.
- Run classes, or at least give advice to, parents.
- Get some of the staff trained as CEOP Ambassadors.
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