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We conducted a survey for all Augusta teachers to answer. 101 people responded. Based on that research, we can conclude that there are certain opinions that are prevalent in our school system.

Question 1. Have you worked in a school with less filtering than where you work now?

Of the 78 people who responded, 28 have not worked in different districts, and 3 of those reported that the Augusta School system did not use the strict filtering that they use now. Of the 50 respondents who have worked outside of the system, none reported as stringent a filtering system as Augusta.

Question 2. On a scale of one to three, how would you rate the restrictiveness of your filter compared to other schools you have visited and/or worked in. **insert pie graph here**

While this graph seems alarming, it is not surprising. Working with technology in the August School system can be very frustrating. The fact that 87.5% of the respondents think that restrictions impede working must have an impact on teaching within the classrooms. We can't measure the full impact of this frustration, but can only guess that it has wide implications. 5.2% of those responding believe that these restrictions give options for working around the blocks, while 7.3% feel that the restrictions protect students while allowing them to become 21st century learners.

However, when we look at the next questions, we can see what type of blocked sites have impacted teachers' higher education in Augusta.

Question 3. Have you taken courses and been instructed to use tools or sites that have been blocked by Augusta?


 * insert bar graph here**

As you can clearly see sites with educational supplies, books, and manipulatives are blocked. 76.1% of the people who responded wanted to visit these sites, but they were blocked. What we don't know is, how many of these people went home and purchased these needed/wanted materials. Other sites that had high rates of blocking( 62.5% - 63.6%), were educational games, streaming video, and images.While streaming video uses a large amount of bandwidth, the IT department will often unblock sites after 3 so that a teacher is able to download such video onto their laptop to be viewed in class at a later date. However, educational games and images are seemingly harmless and would enhance learning. I have run into this issue in my classroom. As a third grade teacher, there are times when a students may ask what a certain animal looks like. I immediately go to google to search. I am unable to go google images because they are blocked. I must search for the animal on google, and hope that I can find a picture to show the student.When I am unable to find an image, both the student and I get frustrated.

Question 4. If you have been blocked out of a site at school, do yo tend to visit the site while at home?

These results did surprise me. 80 people or 83.3% of the 96 that responded to this question, do visit the sites when at home. 4.2% sometimes visit the sites, and only 12.5% don't visit blocked sites while at home. The comments from the respondents were interesting. Some that responded that they do check sites at home had this to say:

"Yes, but it is a huge bother"

"I absolutely visit these sites at home. The problem is sometimes I'd like to share this info with students and can't"

" I frequently do. Often I e-mail myself stuff from home and can get the material in a round-about-manner. Not fun!"

"Yes. Some science and literature sites are frequently blocked, including one specific site that I had the blocked last school year, but was re-blocked. Very frustrating, as I use that site everyday."

"I have to, how else can I get the info or work done."

And one quote from a teacher who doesn't tend to look at blocked sites at home:

"no, it's not worth the bother since we can't us it at school"

In my opinion, these statistics reflect positively on the teachers in Augusta. I believe it shows that they are dedicated to their students and work hard to get around obstacles that have been put in place in the technology department.

Question 5.

In your opinion, are there certain sites that should be blocked? For example, porn, social networking, games, shopping, etc.

Not surprisingly all 98 or 100% of those responding thought that porn should definitely be blocked. However, one responded reported that he/she has "had things blocked that are listed as porn that are NOT porn" There were many insightful responses.

"To avoid liability for the school, I do believe there should be some blocking, but our current blocking seems arbitraty. One day a site 'works' and the next day it doesn't. It makes it difficult to prepare lessons. My thrill of teaching computer education linked with my classroom curriculum areas has dropped significantly." This last sentence is truly disturbing. When I checked to see if I could see what teacher made this comment, I was truly distressed. This respondent has her masters degree in technology in the classroom. She is an innovative teacher who is a role model for all teachers.

Other respondents had interesting comments as well:

"...I feel that other sites should be left up to the teacher to determine if it is good site or not. We are adults and we should know what is appropriate and what isn't"

"....Blogs is a very inconvenient category to have blocked. I frequently receive emails from the Department of ED. suggesting good teaching ideas at a particular blog. None of these are accessible at school. Very frustrating."

"...in regards to social networking, there are professional networking sites for teachers that we can't access"

"Porn, although the kids can often access even those sites if they are computer saavy. I do find it insulting that, as staff, we are not allowed to access pretty much anything we want for our classes until we are proven to be inappropriate. I understand "big brother" can watch at anytime anything we do on the machines It is guilty with no chance of proving innocent."

"...Social networking can be used as a tool to keep "sick" children in touch with the classroom"

"...I had a site that was listed a social networking/blogging that I could not access from school even after requesting to have it unblocked. It was a site created by the University of Maine for a course I was taking, and I could not access it at school, even though it was for the purpose of earning a highter degree."

Question 6.

Should teachers have a password to bypass the filter for educational reasons?

98% of the people responding thought that a password was a good idea.

"Yes, but perhaps only if they are willing to do some brief professional development on internet/network safety."

"YES! I am perfectly capable of determining if a site is acceptable for the classroom and for educational purposes. I would rather not jump through hoops to get my lessons up and going."

"Absolutely. We are professionals and should be regarded as such"

Question 7.

Have you requested to have certain sites unblocked? Were they?

48% requested and had sites unblocked. 34.4% did not request sites unblocked. 6.4% requested sites unblocked but were denied. and 10.7 requested and had some sites unblocked but were denied other.

Question 8. When asked if people would be interviewed for this project 55% said that they would be interview, and 45% said no. Most alarming to me was that of the 45% that refused, 13% refused to for fear of retribution from the IT department. This last statistic is probably the saddest of them all. Throughout the survey, respondents mentioned that they didn't like dealing with the IT department. However, the fact that people fear being blocked even further if they talked to us was quite eye opening.