Back in December, 2008, librarian Joyce Valenza wrote in School Library Journal's Never Ending Search blog about 8 ways to bypass the commonplace YouTube blocking at schools. This post has been the most frequently commented upon of all her blog posts and now she has added 6 more tools to accomplish the bypass.
I think that speaks to value of allowing students access to YouTube at school. At New Trier, the good news is that teachers are not blocked but the bad news is that students are still prohibited from searching YouTube. This is basically nonsensical since our students have found work arounds not only to access YouTube blocking but also to get to social networking sites such as Facebook. Is anyone paying attention?
Educators need to learn about and spend time teaching students appropriate use of social networking tools. Let's not waste time blocking access. No one can keep up with all the wonderful tools available. Not even me:) Not even during summer vacation!
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