Teaching is based on the sharing of information. When one types in the phrase “internet definition” on the popular search engine Google, one will find this phrase as the top result:
in·ter·net /ˈintərˌnet/
| An international computer network providing e-mail and information from computers in educational institutions, government agencies, and...
This is the default definition of the internet according to Google. Email and information, are the two main focuses of the internet, and since email is generally used to send information to other people, I’m all for clumping email into the “information” category as well. So since the phrase internet is so heavily rooted in education (the phrase educational institutions comes before any other agency or institution in the description), why is it that the internet is so slow arriving to the party? |
| The truth is there are a multitude of tools out there aimed at collaboration in the educational experience both inside and outside the classroom. Applications like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube are hugely popular social network sites in which people share parts of their lives every day, and seeing as how education plays a huge part in the lives of our students, it’s only natural that both students and teachers alike will want to share their experiences.
During some of her classroom observations my advisor Anne took videos of my lessons and the combination of her feedback and being able to see myself teaching taught me a lot. Publishing the projects we work on in class gives our students a publishing outlet as well as a way to receive feedback from other students and teachers in their school, their community, and from all over the world. Educational groups and communities already exist on many sites like Facebook and Twitter and sites like Youtube have related content links that allow users to browse similar materials and view video responses.
Unfortunately many of these sites are blocked in schools because of the potential for off topic behaviors. However if there’s anything history has taught me it’s that people will find a way around the system. If a student wants to check their Facebook status in class, they’re going to find a way to do it. So why not incorporate it? By assigning students Facebook homework educators are taking a tool students already use and are making it educational. So many parts of education are already based around the sharing of information and ideas it would be silly to pass up the opportunities technology applications are offering us these days. |
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