Learning.now | A closer look at DOPA Jr.

Learning.now | Lifting the Hood on DOPA Jr.

Let’s take a look under the hood and see what’s going on with DOPA Jr., and how it may affect every educator who uses blogs and other Web 2.0 tools in their teaching.
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DOPA Jr. goes beyond the scope of the 2006 bill by covering a broader range of changes in the law. It contains three sections, or titles: Protecting Children, Deleting Online Predators and Children’s Listbroker Privacy.
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The title also adds an exception “during use by an adult or by minors with adult supervision to enable access for educational purposes.” Supporters of DOPA have argued that this exception would mean that interactive tools wouldn’t be banned outright, and would allow teachers to use them in supervised activities. Critics, however, reply by noting that many school districts do not give individual educators the ability to de-activate filters as needed, either preventing them outright or setting up so much red tape that teachers just don’t bother. Assuming this is the case, even if the bill contains this exception, in practice, many educators won’t have the ability to use interactive sites in their teaching. And there’s nothing stopping schools from ignoring the exception and blocking any site that whiffs of Web 2.0itude, perhaps in the fear that it’s better to be safe than sorry in today’s litigious environment.
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From an educator’s perspective, there’s no doubt the focus of discussion will be on Title II of the bill. Very little has changed since the original DOPA language was introduced in May 2007. I’m sure that the anti-cyberbullying aspects of the bill will be seen as a step in the right direction, though its lack of clarity on the subject may raise some eyebrows....