The little voice was heard!
The state of Tennessee has made a decision about allowing students to access Whyville.
There has been some discussion here as to whether we should unblock it or not. The reason we have had it blocked is because there is a chat feature on the site and the sites rules clearly states that they do not moderate that chat. As you know, chat is a category that is blocked according to the guidelines set by the Tennessee Schools k12 Cooperative. However, since the site is so educational and we believe will be used under supervision of teachers, we have decided to go ahead and allow the site for now.
Of course, it seems that this is a trial basis and if there are complaints or they find that students are abusing the chat feature, it will be blocked. The good thing is that there are chat lessons and a test that participants in Whyville must pass before they are allowed to chat. Although this does not do the whole job of teaching digital etiquette, it definitely will help.
Some more information on Whyville:
Whyville In-Depth Review, from Worlds in Motion
Whyville’s ‘Cool Factor’ Helps Industry, Learning, from Worlds in Motion
Working for Clams in Whyville, from Business Week
Whyville: the place girls love to go for science, from Christian Science Monitor
Q&A with Numedeon’s CEO Jim Bower, from Worlds in Motion
Now, time to start working on those lesson plans! I bugged people about this, so I suppose this means I had better make it count.
July 30th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Good for you. It is encouraging to see that your board recognizes the value of Whyville and is will willing to allow your children to access the site.
As the founder of Whyville, I can assure you that we do everything in our power to maintain the site as a safe, fun and educational space. Without Chat, cooperative learning would not be possible.
So, good for you – and I wish you well in using Whyville in your classrooms –
And we expect to be shortly announcing an interesting opportunity to further engage your students in whyville’s brand of learning
Best regards
Jim Bower
Founder of Whyville