BFTP: Who speaks for intellectual freedom in your school?

Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored. ALA

Who in your school understands and values the concept of Intellectual Freedom (IF)? What percent of teachers and students could define it and argue either for or against its main principle?

With the loss of school librarians, I fear what I suspect are the already low numbers of educators who understand and value intellectual freedom will fall. I have no faith that programs that train network and computer support people will address this issue. Are college degree programs in educational technology addressing IF? (I really don't know.) A quick search of the ISTE website provided no hits on the topic.

AASL has long been trying to promote IF. Helen Adams, an active advocate and retired school librarian from Wisconsin, writes "... while I was chairperson, the AASL Intellectual Freedom Committee created an IF brochure in 2008 and revised it in 2010. ... parts are out of date, but it could be repurposed."

 

 

Description from the AASL website:

Brochure created by the AASL Intellectual Freedom Committee available for download, duplication, and distribution. It describes why intellectual freedom is important in a school library program, the difference between selection and censorship, what to do before a challenge occurs, where to obtain assistance during a challenge, why schools filter and how it affects students intellectual freedom, and how the ALA Code of Ethics affects school librarians.

As I see school librarian positions being replaced or rebranded as "digital learning specialists" or "technology integration coaches", I worry about three real very real losses. The first is that teachers and students will lose a source of information and leadership on powerful reading improvement strategies focused on individualization of reading materials and personal interests. The second is that staff and students will no longer have access to experts who can teach information literacy skills.

But most of all I worry that the sole proponents of intellectual freedom for both students and staff will be eliminated. 

There has never been a more critical time to understand and support intellectual freedom. The news media is highly politicized on both the left and the right. Technology allows us to select and read only the articles and columns that support our own opinions. Critical thinking takes a back seat to "basic skills" in many students' classrooms.

I hope ALA re-writes its brochure to address:

• Internet filtering issues as much as it does materials in print format
• freedom of expression of opinion, not just freedom of access
• enlarging the target audience to include all educators, not just librarians, and
• ALA working with other professional organizations in its efforts to promote IF. 

Thanks to Helen and all hard-working proponents of IF. I am worried you have your work cut out for you.

Original post 12/15/14

Don't manage your e-mail, suppress it

I too often felt overwhelmed by the amount of e-mail I received in my pre-retirement days. So I did quite a bit of informal research on minimizing the time suck e-mail became. 

While much of the "zero-inbox" crowd focuses on how you treat incoming e-mail (prioritized, file, sort, respond instantly, read at set times, etc.), I believe that the strategy needs to change from "managing the deluge" to "slowing the deluge." And that, I'm afraid. means personal changes and changes in organizational culture.

Here are some ideas, none particularly original:

1. To get less mail, send less mail. Every time I send an e-mail, I am guessing my rate is about 2.5 e-mails in return - with perhaps 50% actually related to the topic at hand. Don't say you weren't warned. 

There should be a $5 charge each time a person uses "reply to all." Reply to all, you just may hear from all.

2. Use the dang phone. E-mail is a poor communications medium for anything nuanced, difficult to comprehend, or possibly incriminating. Most of us have a phone on our desk or in our pockets. (An amazing device that converts voice to sound and sounds back into voice for the receiver!) You're not a Luddite if you use it for voice calls now and then. I will respond to an e-mail conversation once or twice and then it's telephone time for me.

3. Watch the cc: use. Not everyone understands that cc: means those in the cc line are not expected to respond to the e-mail. cc: means that this was informational only. Oh, please don't cc: your supervisor until you actually need his/her help solving a problem. You don't need CYA all the time. (Just keep a copy of your sent mail.) 

4. Use filters - a lot. You send me some stupid advert (mass e-mailing) that the spam filter didn't catch, I'll take 30 seconds and build a filter of your domain name (@andallthatfollows.com) and e-mail from your domain will never darken my door again. I bet I have 550+ domains in my filter that go directly from the cloud to my trash without every having to pass GO or collect 200 seconds of my attention.

5. Stop doing work e-mail outside of work hours. You don't like your boss harassing you after 5 or on the weekends? Well, don't harass the poor souls you manage or work with off hours either. See: 8-5 e-mail plan.

6. Let the subject heading do the work. Here are a few ideas from the 99u website:

FYI – For Your Information. It replies that no reply is needed, and is usually a short message. Example: “FYI Free Donuts in the Kitchen”.

URGENT - Used for when something is really urgent. Don’t use it if something is not urgent. And if something is truly, truly urgent, it’s best to follow up with a call or IM as well. Example: “URGENT: Final reminder to file quarterly team reports”

EOM – End of Message. This is usually used when the entire email is in the subject line. Example: Elevator is broken today, please use stairs EOM

NRN – No Reply Needed. Indicates that the receiver doesn’t need to reply. There is likely a body to the message but no response is needed. Example: “Jennifer wants you to call her back NRN”

NFA – No Further Action. Same as combination of FYI and NRN. For your notification only, no action or reply needed. Example: “Mr. Tanaka will be in at 11am not 10am NFA”

I also think we need to remember that e-mail is not an add-on to our jobs, but an intregal part to our jobs. Like meetings and reports, we may not like them or feel they are always productive, but e-mails are just plain fact of life in doing education.

Any ways you've found not to manage, but control your e-mail? 

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Original post 10/29/14

When the philosophical becomes the real

My political views tend toward the liberal side of the spectrum. I believe in progressive taxation, government oversight of industry, a woman's right to choose, equal rights for minorities, quality education for all children, and the need to mitigate climate change. But most of these stands are philosophically-based. As I often say, I don't feel I have a horse in the race when it comes to something like abortion rights.

The pandemic, however, is asking me, and perhaps you, to actually see some abstract concepts and beliefs become reality. A few examples:

Health care and paid sick leave. While I have always viewed good health care as a right for all human beings, the COVID19 plague demonstrates why it is not just a moral good, but a pragmatic one as well. I can have all the access to health care I need, but if the burger flippers at my local fast food joint have to come to work ill so they can pay their bills, that medical insurance is cold comfort. Everyone's health depends on everyone's health.

Educational technology. Despite having worked in the field of education for over 40 years, the last 30 in educational technology, I watched in frustration as tech remained an "extra" for too many teachers. As schools now suddently go from F2F to virtual, cries of technical illiteracy/inexperience are coming from too many educators. Not only do teachers need to know how to operate computers and learning management systems, but to use them in conjunction with best educational practices. No more tech laggards!

Exercise and diet. I've always tried to be a moderate eater and a relatively active person, but the stay-at-home orders have asked me and others to think more carefully about staying in shape and the actual steps one should make to achieve daily good health. I have read that the use of parks and bike trails in the Twin Cities metro area has increased between 50% and 75%. I guess I am not the only person who sees value in getting outdoors. I've been examining how to cook more healthy meals - plant-based, low sodium, less fat, etc. The pandemic will need to continue for a few more years, however, before I decrease my ice cream intake.

Air pollution. As I have hiked over the past few weeks, I have noticed just what a gorgeous blue color the sky has been. Yes, less driving means less smog and clearer skies. Not only is this change aesthetically pleasing, it has to be good for the lungs as well. Good environmental stewardship has immediate benefits for all of us.

Use of judgement. Do I really need to wear a face mask while walking on a lightly populated trail in a county park? Should I wear rubber gloves when grocery shopping? Do I need to wash my hands after I fill the car with gas? What is paranoid and what is prudent? The behavioral cautions/requirements have made me question how I make good decisions. It's easy to say I will make my choices based on scientific evidence, but when there is so much "evidence" with much of it being contradictory, that is easier said than done.

If nothing else, this plague will be a learning experience - at least for most of us. It will ask us to examine our habits, our values, and our lives. It will force us to apply our philosophies to real life situations.

What good might you see coming from the pandemic? What might you be learning?

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