Today's presentation via Elluminate Live! was crazy...crazy in a good way. I hear about all the distance education nightmare stories on how boring watching a screen is, but this was far from boring. Alec Couros presented his material amazingly from University of Regina, but it was like he was right in our classroom.
One thing that stood out in the presentation was the question is the internet good or bad?
Today's parents are so worried about the bad, that it can blind them from the good. Internet can be a scary thing for many parents, as many are not up to date with this age of technology. I know that there are a lot of creepers out there in cyber space, but technology is so advanced that you can know everything your child is doing on the internet, at any time. So why not show them how to make sure their child is having a positive experience online? And why not show them how to block websites and secure their computers at home so that they feel safe about their child being online?
As soon to be teachers, it is our job to have strong communication with our students parents. It will also be our job to show parents that the internet is a good thing and that it helps make a students experiences at school, a better one. I think if parents realized all the good that the internet has to offer, they would change their minds on the internet being a negitive experience for their child.
If I have parents uncomfortable with their child using the internet at school, I wouldn't mind having an open house night to show them whatever they want to know about the internet. I would do this so that they can become more comfortable with this great resource, and so that their child doesn't miss out on using this great resoure.
Stay Classy!
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Good post Cote!
ReplyDeleteSo, I just wrote you a nice long comment and somehow it got deleted before I got it posted, so here it goes again!
I also thought of using the Elluminate program for distance education, I think that it would make the course presentation much more interactive and interesting for students.
As for the question of internet good or bad...I can definitely see how parents etc. could only focus on the bad becuase as we know there are a lot of creeps out there. I think if we educate students about proper procedures and how to keep themselves safe on the internet this would not be as much of a concern. There are a lot of good educational tools to come out of the internet and these days using the internet is a great way to engage students so I think we need to educate them to keep them safe while using it. What do you think about schools blocking sites? I have mixed feelings about it as I think students will get past the block if they really want to, and part of me thinks that by blocking sites it will make them want to rebel and use them more at home or worse sites. Not sure my thoughts on it yet!
I really like your idea of having an open house for parents to teach them about applications of the internet and get them more comfortable with what is going on!
I think you hit the nail on the head regarding parents' attitudes toward the internet. It's certainly understandable that they would want to keep their kids safe because like you said there are a lot of creepers out there. So it comes down to the parent's comfort level with what their kids are doing. They need to be aware of what their kids are doing, so communication on our part is key. I think you've mentioned alot of great ways of doing this. Another suggestion I would add is maybe doing something like a class blog that parents have access to in order to keep them informed.
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