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Seductions of risk and school cyberspace
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology

Andrew Hope
 * Volume 26 Number 5**, August 2010; Pages 690–703

The increasing presence of the internet in schools has resulted in widespread discussion about the perceived risks and dangers of cyberspace. In many cases this has resulted in 'over-blocking', with schools monitoring and controlling computer and internet access in a way that may hamper legitimate educational use. Drawing on interviews with 30 staff and 63 students from eight schools in Britain, the author examined perceptions of online risk, experience of internet use and issues of school control. The main risks perceived by staff were those related to accessing pornography, chat rooms, hate-filled material and websites relating to topics such as illegal drugs or explosives. Cyberbullying was not raised as an issue. Students' accessing of pornographic material was the main issue of concern for the staff. Teachers of younger students were concerned about its potential psychological effects on them, while teachers of older students saw it as a discipline issue and were concerned about its effects on a school's reputation. These concerns frequently led to over-blocking, which was evident in the interviewed students' concerns over being punished for perceived internet misuse. While schools' filtering processes were often successful in keeping out much unwanted material, they were often overzealous, blocking access to websites that students were legitimately trying to access as part of their research for subjects such as history or health, or blocking access to sites being used for general surfing purposes. Concerns over the potential misuse of the internet frequently led to ICT rooms being locked during break times, or to students' computer access being blocked altogether. Such approaches not only raise issues of the 'digital divide', but also reduce students' opportunities to learn to assess and manage risks. Schools should be more lenient in their definitions of 'educational' material, and should not make the assumption that students will inevitably misbehave. They should work with students to develop a more democratic approach to internet use, while helping them understand that accessing material deemed wholly inappropriate may undermine their efforts to use the internet in a broader and more creative manner. Such efforts should help reduce issues of over-blocking, and result in a more open and less punitive culture of technology use.

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