EDCI 5825 - Week 5

I think that teachers should be encouraged to create online activities for students within the traditional classroom. I don't think that teachers should be forced to do this because it takes time, creativity and daring to try and if a teacher isn't really ready or willing, then it will most likely not be a good experience for the teacher or the student. The internet is here to stay and students should get opportunities from teachers so that they can get some direction. There are many benefits to learning on line. Some of these include that some students participate more in the online environment since they like feeling more anonymous, most parent interaction improves and students learn how to interact with peers (November, 2001). Over time the opportunities for online learning are increasing. Teachers who do not use the internet are missing out on professional growth opportunities for themselves and for new exciting lessons for the student. In the Hartford Courant this week there was an article about online summer school. The article stated many benefits to classes online, including that the students can work on classes at a time they choose and that due to online diagnostics, the students only have to take the part of the course that they need to build up their knowledge in. Here is a link to the whole article: Summer School.

Since students are already using social networking sites to connect to other people with similar interests as their own, it only makes sense to tap into this to make use in the classroom. Facebook used for interest-based connections is increasing in educational circles. Private groups can be used within a class and to give family members access to what is going on in the classroom. Public sites can be used to connect classrooms to people outside their school, town even country. Public sites can also be used to connect to experts outside the education field who can provide more information on a topic to students. Ning is a site similar to Facebook but sometimes more likely to be allowed in a school. Ning sites could be used to share students experiences in internships, connect with someone who has information on a subject the students are studying and to share a particular skill. With all social networking sites teachers should get permission before setting one up for the classroom. Many schools may be blocking Facebook for example and the school administration would have to allow the site to be unblocked. Teachers also have to spend time and effort monitoring the sites for content published and who has access (Richardson, 2010). It is important to stress that social networking be used for interest based concerns and not friendship based since many school systems see a problematic side of social networking. The West Hartford school board is considering implementing a new policy on what teachers post on Facebook or twitter for their personal use. Here is the link to the entire article: West Hartford & Facebook. So teacher may have to work hard to make administrations understand the positive used of social networking.