Blocking access hinders learning

18th May 2012, 1:00am

Time and again corporate IT makes wild claims about why they can’t allow site X through or let us adopt technology Y. It’s not about the business plan; it’s about the educational plan or value. It’s also about the “teach”, not the “tech”, but if I believe that the tech can help, I really need to be able to access it for my students. They can use it outside school anyway, so why are people trying to stop it inside school?

Bruce Robertson said last week on Twitter: “Why should learners and educators be denied access to a range of excellent sites by corporate IT departments?” Maybe we’ll get an answer some time, but it will be a) 10 years late, b) over budget, and c) use twice the number of senior ICT officers it actually needs.

cabarfeidh.