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Sparklebox has been blocked again, why????

Last post 27/01/10 at 16:53 by Elementis, 91 replies
Post started by Kiki D on 22/11/09 at 13:01

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  • Kiki D avatar
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    Posted by: Kiki D 22/11/2009 at 13:01
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    Has anyone noticed that Sparklebox has been blocked again by various LAs? They are claiming it is for Safeguarding reasons. Maybe I'm being naive here but I can't really see children in Primary schools accessing Sparklebox to download some Phonics resources! It is an amazing website which cuts my resource making time by at least 50%. Does anyone know what the real reasons behind the block are?
  • thelmaward avatar
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    Posted by: thelmaward 22/11/2009 at 16:11
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    Ok, now that makes sense! Why could we not have been trusted with this information?

    It does have the most amazingly useful resources and is very tempting to use, but yes if this opens your computer to collecting infromation, yes I see how this could be dangerous. Just to be told we're not allowed ot use it makes one long to defy and just go on it anyway! We are professionals, not naughty children who can' understand!
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    Posted by: lardylegs 22/11/2009 at 16:19
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    We just download all the stuff at home and bring it into school on memory sticks to print out. It's a nuisance, but we still get the lovely things. I have heard that it was not just the worries about the toolbar thingy, but also a dislike of Over-Sparkled Classrooms by county advisors which led to the ban.
  • giraffe avatar
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    Posted by: giraffe 22/11/2009 at 17:01
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     I'm not surprised

    The toolbar isn't acceptable, imo. I certainly wouldn't install it on my home computers, so understand why schools don't want it.

    And the sameyness about the resources is pretty depressing - although not a reason to ban it!

  • Kiki D avatar
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    Posted by: Kiki D 22/11/2009 at 18:27
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    That definitely does make sense. I will just download from home and print at school. Classes can be oversparkled and quite a few heads have complained about that. It's all about balance. We are teachers, what do we know? :)
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    Posted by: gigglefairy 22/11/2009 at 18:36
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     I can see why you'd get in trouble for downloading the toolbar. Don't think we'd be able to install it if we tried as you have to be logged in as administrator on our system.

    I sometimes use SparkleBox resources and cannot see the problem with them. What particularly amazes me is that the LA would complain about overly Sparkleboxed classrooms - it's quite nice to have some uniformity in displays and I see no issue with using lots of their resources, providing that they are appropriate to your class and used within your work. If their complaint is with teachers who just print out and stick up stuff without thought, then banning Sparklebox is not going to help - they will just find another website that does the same thing. Sparklebox is not the problem.

    The whole thing seems a bit odd.

    giggle. xx

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    Posted by: fiestagal 22/11/2009 at 19:12
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    Superking has given the same reasons my LEA sent to us on FRiday. How amusing.

     

    Shame cos it has some useful bits and I always forget to put them on my memory stick at home!
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    Posted by: inq 22/11/2009 at 22:20
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    Thank you for this thread - remonded me to print out resources for tomorrow!
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    Posted by: shalteir 22/11/2009 at 22:30
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    Kiki D:
    That definitely does make sense. I will just download from home and print at school. Classes can be oversparkled and quite a few heads have complained about that. It's all about balance. We are teachers, what do we know? :)

    Are they not more worried about other initiatives competing with government control? Would they complain if classrooms were over-SEALED for instance?
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    Posted by: Gertie Grumbles 22/11/2009 at 23:12
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     sparklebox toolbar is known to seize up networks - it searches continally for new resouces - taking up bandwidth.I had heard this from out IC t techs long before the LA blocked it

     

    Mind you, I was long before that annoyed at teachers printing 30 -40 sheets out in colour , which affected my iCT budget!

     

     

     

     
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