An institution since 1946, PTI has long since been proud of its students and their accomplishments. PTI also prides itself in being a free environment for learning and professional development. Sometimes, however, it is necessary for the administration to go to measures to protect this environment and its integrity amongst industry professionals. I spoke with Eileen Riley, Vice President of Education at PTI, on the subject.

According to Ms. Riley, SmartFilter (PTI's web filtering service) is monitored by the administration itself. The IT department actually has little weight on what exactly gets blocked. They simply implement the decisions made by the administration. The decision to block sites like Myspace came from higher up.

As it was explained to me, the administration and department chairs received a lot of negative feedback concerning Myspace. While a relatively large group was, in fact, using Myspace for networking or idea sharing, an even larger number were using the community site as a distraction. Ms. Riley claimed that if it were up to individual professors to police internet use, the instructors would find themselves stretched too thin, with helping where needed AND being talking SmartFilters. Instructors' primary job is to teach in the lab, and the administration wants to provide the boundaries that help them accomplish this task.

So, what about all of the students who prefer to stay after school to work on projects? As an example, ClassicGaming.com (a resource on the history of electronic games) is blocked, which would be an excellent source for General Education classes. My suggestion to Ms. Riley was a form available on the student portal, which would be submitted electronically, where anyone could submit queries for reviews of web sites. If the site were deemed overall appropriate, the site would be un-blocked. This is a major step forward considering PTI's current review process (which is very lengthy), especially considering there is not an instructor override system in place.

But, that still doesn't solve the Myspace problem. It may be useful to implement a community area with the student portal where the positive networking attributes of Myspace could be achieved in an environment moderated by the school. At least we could reach a reasonable compromise.

Some will still ask, "Is this really fair? Should our administrators continue to treat us like children, while we attend an institution that is considered professional?" As crazy as it may seem, there are many among us who do not fully appreciate their freedoms as adults and often abuse them. It is the goal of the administration to set forth parameters to promote a positive learning environment for all students.

I can't say that I disagree completely. Corey Ayres, a Graphic Design student, spoke about an “epidemic” where instructors have to correct students who are not following directions so much that it begins to take away from actual class or work time. The same thing happens in my classes. Unfortunately, there are a lot of students who do in fact need to be treated this way. For the rest of us who are productive and on task, there may be reasonable alternatives on the horizon.

written by Eric Armstrong
Issue 2 February 2006