Pandora Blocked at UHS

Students who attempted to access the popular music website Pandora recently found themselves unsuccessful. The school district had blocked Pandora because of video advertisements on the site that used too much bandwidth (the network’s data transfer rate).

In order to maintain efficiency, the district must not exceed the level of bandwidth allotted. Currently, the district is using a greater amount of bandwidth than they have, prompting the purchase of more, which is very costly.

Without access to Pandora, students may not be as focused and on-task in the computer lab.

UHS Technology Coordinator Carol Godoy has looked into the problem.

“I did write the proposal that started the discussions that changed the rules for listening to music in the lab, but it was done with the help of many teachers that feel like I do that listening to music while working, can help students to focus on their space and their work,” said Godoy.

However, students are not exempt from responsibility.

“Students can definitely help by only using video sites for assigned school work, by listening to sites that only stream music not video, by not using sites with online games, and by not downloading any music to the machines since that is illegal,” Godoy said.

Godoy also advocated for a rule change that now allows students to listen to music when working in the computer lab, while still complying with the district’s rule of not allowing students to use their own devices at school.

This is not to say that schoolwork comes as a second priority, but does encourage students to focus.

If nothing further is done, students could lose the use of audio all together.

“It is important that we stay within that limit or we will have to make other adjustments which, I believe, would begin with stopping the streaming of audio sites,” added Godoy.

Computer generated energy at UHS will have to be addressed before a valuable use of technology in helping students to focus will be lost.