When I was in first grade, I remember playing on a an old Mac computer. We would all wait to get on the computer because we all happened to be addicted to Oregon Trail. Today's school children are not playing Oregon trail on an old Mac but are instead communicating with students around the world and have a wealth of knowledge at the fingertips. However, along with the available knowledge they also are faced with a wealth of distractions an inappropriate websites. Kristen Alloway of the New Jersey Star Ledger does a great job of detailing the conflict facing educators and handling technology in the classroom in her article, Students Discovering Online Collaboration.
My personal opinion is that technology and web 2.0 gives students an excellent opportunity if used correctly to collaborate online with others around the world. This information sharing that can be done by a student in class communicating with a student in a classroom in another country can be extremely beneficial in exposing school children to another culture and learning about the world around them. When I was a child and a student we had pen pals, now children can get even better experiences through online collaboration.
Therefore, online collaboration presents many wonderful opportunities but the dangers it presents must also be accounted for. Children can access websites that are inappropriate and instead of using the computers for educational purposes many times they will use them for their non-intended purpose.
Until next week!
JC
