Presentation Purpose and Objectives- session tag n08s722
School policies — and subsequent filtering — often frustrate teachers and students: the early adopter, the teacher who seeks to add new tools for learning, and certainly many students. Web 2.0 tools are often blocked because of concern for protection of student identity and information, lack of easy monitoring of student online activities, ease of “accidentally” accessing content inappropriate for the classroom or age group, and many other “dangers.” Bridging the gap between web 2.0 world and the classroom requires that web 2.0 developers gain a better understanding of the educational environment and that teachers and administrators develop an ideal feature set to seek as a viable “wishlist” to enable web 2.0 learning.
See key criteria included by many school AUPs (Acceptable Use Policies) and how these can be addressed and/or revised to generate a “wishlist” of features that students and teachers need in order to use web 2.0 tools within the bounds of safety. Discover some ways that web 2.0 developers respond to these needs when approached by TeachersFirst as an advocate for teachers. Learn how schools and individual teachers can continue to advance the dialog so the needs and restraints of a REAL classroom no longer preclude use of web 2.0 tools.
This poster session will highlight specific “case studies” from the experiences of the TeachersFirst Edge editorial team. The Edge team reviews and shares web 2.0 tools specifically for classroom use, often contacting the developers to suggest features that will make the tools more safe and/or policy-friendly. Specific examples will illustrate how some web 2.0 developers welcome contact from education spokespeople (in this case TeachersFirst). It will also provide the educator with some key questions and suggestions to use in approaching administration or discussing and implementing safety policies. 
