Saving Elgg from almost Certain Death

The validity of the assertions made in my last post are clearly supported by the delay in making this one. Teacher schedules, extra textbook orders, maternity leave replacements, student logins, new preps and completing plans for authentic assessment have eaten up any of the time that was left over after soccer practices, games, cub scout popcorn sales and locating every playground within 25 miles.

In the midst of all of this I thought I make a crucial mistake at a tech committee meeting. The English Department now requires all students to maintain an e-portfolio through the ELGG we installed alongside Moodle (actually “we” should take no credit for the work of the Network Administrator). There was some concern that students would not be willing to put their work on a public display or that students could troll through e-portfolios to plagiarize. But there is a way in which students can create a community that includes only themselves and the English teachers. Giving only that closed community access to their e-portfolio, the students would know that it was private and teachers could confirm that it was completed. Having found this feature, I proudly announced to the committee that we found a solution with these private communities. In fact, I stupidly added, “students themselves can create their own communities”

Whoah! Stop the presses.

The principal rephrases my point with a question – “so the students could create a community on our system, communicate with each other, and we would not be able to see it”?

Um, yes.

With that simple exchange the ELGG’s death clock started. Despite the fact that we provide students with a cafeteria, halls and a lobby to communicate, conspire, and perhaps plan illegal activities this is different. The reality of today’s world is that the 900 lb gorillia-lawyer that lurks behind public education watches our every move. How could any administrator explain in a court of law that the school provided an online environment to students that could not be monitored?

Yes, we know that kids would most probably plan something on facebook (like last year), or some other social network. But again, that isn’t the point.

The one in a million chance becomes a tens of millions when student safety is at stake.

We were stuck, if we could not find a solution to the possibility of closed student networks within ELGG, it would have to go. Not only would we have to backtrack on all the work and training already completed, but our credibility would disappear quicker than a donut in the faculty lounge. You can hear it now, “see this is what happens when you try to change something that already works”?

But instead of planning a funeral, we were able to demonstrate the power of online collaboration. I posted a call for help both at Edtechtalk and Classroom 2.0. Ultimately, with the help of Steve Hargadon, Dave Cormier and Jim Klein at Saugus Union School District in California ,we saved ELGG by demonstrating that a program can search the database under all of the communities and access rights. So if there was suspicion that something needed the attention of the school, we could throw a word or phrase into the search and every message or post with that reference would be found, regardless if it was in a protected community or not.

Having dodged that unexpected bullet, it’s time to get back to work.