Ed Tech Blog # 1

For Ed Tech this term I decided to read "A Teacher's Project Guide to the Internet" by Kevin Crotchett. The book was actually written in 1997 but it still has practical application in today's classrooms. The exponential growth of the internet in the last decade makes for a very quick rate of information turn over. It doesn't take long for information and innovations to become obsolete in todays society. This book was written as an introduction to the internet for teachers. It covers all kinds of practical applicaitions for the internet that are valid in today's classrooms. So far the topics covered in chapters 1-6 are review for me, but the classroom application is something I am just begginning to think about, unchartered territory in my brain if you will, and this book is pushing me to explore that avenue.

The author discusses the use of "keypals" instead of "penpals" using email as a way to communicate with students in Nashville, New York, or the Netherlands. The author believes that helping students create worldwide connections leads to better conversations in elementary grades, and debates in secondary education classrooms. The author suggests that discussion forums, blogs and newsgroups are a great resource that teachers should use to enhance their classroom communities.

The author also provides a defense for people that oppose using the internet in classrooms. He suggest that teachers allow their students to brainstorm proper behaviors that should be observed when working around computers and the internet. He suggests that students come up with their own rules and make them into a computer contract known in technilogical industries as an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). This should include contain rules for computer use, such as appropiate times, uses, and treatment of equipment, and it should define the information and data that can be found on the computers or retrieved over the internet. Allowing students, teachers, and parents to agree on this contract creates a safe and satisfying environment for all parties involved.

The book also offers several links and suggestions of sites that offer practical classroom application. For example the book discusses an art history class taking a virtual field trip to the Louvre via the internet. The author suggest a study and project involving the Louvre's website and the Mona Lisa. Then he suggest sites where students can chat with actual artists and art enthusiats regarding a piece or converse about world wide impressions of the Mona Lisa.

I look forward to reading on and discovering more classroom applications and creative project that the internet can open doors to.

Trial and Error

I am experimenting with blogging for a class at SOU. More to come...stay tuned.