There are many topics which recently have intrigued me. I'm fascinated by politics and the continual struggle for power in Washington, and though I'm sure I could have some very interesting discussions about that struggle, I would like to focus this blog on education. There may be times when the ramifications of political ideas bleed into the realm of education. At those times I may discuss politics. However, in this post I would like to continue to echo a thought from around the web--coming from those who use the web--regarding the technological education of our students.
Almost weekly you read a negative story about a social networking site, such as facebook or myspace. The problem I see with these stories is not merely fact that they happen, nor the fact that students are using these websites in daily growing numbers, but the fact that generally, educationally, these sites are all but ignored. School systems seem to do everything they can to block these sites and other, even more useful, sites from school computers.
Now, before assumptions are made, allow me to complete my premise. I do not feel that these sites should be summarily unblocked. However, I do feel that students should be exposed to the idea of the social web in the controlled and safe environment of schools. Networking sites should be utilized in the classroom where web safety and due diligence could be taught. Most school systems currently even block blogging websites and the oh so dangerous wiki (I would love for my students to be able to create a solar system wiki) websites (wikipedia excluded). Are the schools really helping their students by keeping them from using these tools? Are these tools blocked due to a fear of their utilization, their content, or solely for the fact that educators are slow to adopt new technologies? These are the questions I ponder as more school systems hand out laptops to their teachers and strive to decrease computer to student ratios. Why hand out the technology if a)we are not going to be educated in how to use the technology and b) will not allow our students to fully use the technology?
