{"id":11600,"date":"2017-09-10T13:21:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-10T20:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=11600"},"modified":"2017-09-10T13:22:20","modified_gmt":"2017-09-10T20:22:20","slug":"schools-block-access-to-social-media-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=11600","title":{"rendered":"Schools block access to social media in the classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Maple Ridge schools block access to social media in the classroom<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Students can\u2019t access Netflix, Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook when on school Wi-Fi<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mapleridgenews.com\/author\/ashley-wadhwani\/\" rel=\"author\">ASHLEY WADHWANI<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Fri Sep 8th, 2017 12:00pm<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>High school students in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows went back to class this week asking for the Wi-Fi password, only to be told they won\u2019t be able to access social media on it.<\/p>\n<p>School District 42 has configured Internet connections at its six high schools to block access to Netflix, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook on devices connected to school Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n<p>Assistant superintendent Shannon Derinzy said the decision was made with support from each principal, after counsellors vocalized concerns that students were too attached to their social media and not paying attention in the classroom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was becoming an issue,\u201d Derinzy said.<\/p>\n<p>What once was passing notes to your friends has turned into sending each other Snapchats during class, and officials are grappling with how to handle students using social media while on campus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to say these are realities of today \u2013 actually a valuable education tool \u2013 but how can we use them in meaningful ways,\u201d Derinzy said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vicnews.com\/news\/middle-school-cutting-the-chord-on-cellphone-use\/\" target=\"_blank\">Victoria middle school cutting the chord on cellphone use<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Social media educator Sean Smith says configuring Wi-Fi access is a band-aid solution, however, for what really needs to be addressed: teaching children and youth to use social media in a positive way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem doesn\u2019t lie in the device, or in the application,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe problem only lies in the fact that we are in denial that they exist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith, founder of The Digital Hallway, said social media posting is an expected skill to have nowadays for most careers, with employers looking at a candidates\u2019 accounts before hiring.<\/p>\n<p>Educators need to adapt to incorporating the technology in the classroom, he insisted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you find that you have two dozen kids that are sitting there surfing Facebook in the classroom time, maybe the problem isn\u2019t with the device, maybe it\u2019s the teacher,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy does a kid get distracted? Because they\u2019re bored.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith suggested it can be as simple as adapting school projects \u2013 like creative writing assignments \u2013 to integrating a students phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s about the creation and creativity of a story, and that story can be done on Instagram or Snapchat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blocked WiFi could cost parents in data usage\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Derinzy said staff are aware students can just turn to using their own cell phone data, with the Wi-Fi being down. The district will be reviewing the reults of the ban later this the fall.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, increased data use over the span of the school year could cost parents hundreds on their phone bills.<\/p>\n<p>There are also apps out there that re-route servers, allowing websites to sneak around these kinds of blocks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you tell a teenager they can\u2019t do something, what\u2019s the first thing they\u2019re going to do? They\u2019re going to find a way around it,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSo rather than find a way to block [social media], embrace the technology [and] new ideas into the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr width=\"\u201c75%\u201d\" \/>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/ashwadhwani\" target=\"\u201c_blank&quot;\">@ashwadhwani<\/a><a href=\"mailto:ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\nashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mapleridgenews.com\/news\/maple-ridge-schools-block-access-to-social-media-in-the-classroom\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">http:\/\/www.mapleridgenews.com\/news\/maple-ridge-schools-block-access-to-social-media-in-the-classroom\/<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maple Ridge schools block access to social media in the classroom Students can\u2019t access Netflix, Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook when on school Wi-Fi ASHLEY WADHWANI\u00a0\u00a0Fri Sep 8th, 2017 12:00pm &nbsp; High school students in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows went back to class this week asking for the Wi-Fi password, only to be told they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,103,317,54,360,23,44,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bc","category-canada","category-children","category-maple-ridge","category-pitt-meadows","category-school","category-victoria","category-wifi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11602,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11600\/revisions\/11602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}