I believe that the internet is a powerful tool that has enabled people to be connected in ways that were never imaginable in the past as well as provide information on any subject of interest unlike any library has been able to provide. My view is that the internet is vital to education and instruction in the 21st Century. In my high school years, the internet had not been incorporated into the classroom as of yet. I took two years of French in high school and was very involved in the classes. Part of our assignment was to communicate with French students – find a French pen pal. We exchanged letters and pictures via snail mail. I cannot even image what a different experience this assignment would have been if we would have had access to the internet. It certainly would have enriched our conversations and learning of each other’s cultures if we had access to the Internet.
With that being said, I also believe that there is a negative side to the internet. I think that young students see or hear things that are not appropriate. When a child innocently searches the words “White House” on the internet to find information on our nation’s capital but finds adult content sites which are inappropriate, there is a problem. I feel that extra precautions can be set in place to minimize these occurrences but still allow the internet to be used to enhance learning in the classroom. Search filters and security levels can be set to help protect young children from inappropriate content. Teachers and educators must use caution when selecting content and websites that will be used via the internet. Can we totally protect children from being exposed to inappropriate information? My answer is no. Yes, the internet increases the occurrences of being exposed to inappropriate content, but I can remember inappropriate information being circulated when I was in school without the involvement of the internet. I feel that the problem for adult learners is less severe. Adult learners who find inappropriate content on the internet can simply exit the site and move to the next one. In conclusion, my opinion is that the benefits of internet learning outweigh the possible negative effects.
The internet is the center of this week’s project. I have experience creating course sites using my school’s online learning platform Canvas. I enjoyed using Weebly so that I had the opportunity to create my own site design. Canvas has preset categories which limits me from creatively designing a site from scratch. I probably will not incorporate this extra course site into my classroom because I teach postsecondary, and I don’t have to make information available for parents. Canvas will be my platform for my course site. However, I plan to incorporate some additional material similar to what was required for this assignment into Canvas for my students.
Debbie Brandon's Course Site