Stephen Downes' and Alan November's Articles

As of now I think blogging has a great potential in education. I think we are moving away from hand written work and only sharing our opinions in the classroom. Blogging would be a great way for students to interact with other students outside their classroom. The use of the internet is allowing people to share their opinions and their knowledge with people hundreds of miles away. This will greatly benefit new learners. I think we have not incorporated blogging into the American Education system yet this could be due to fear. I think many educators and parents are afraid of exposing children to the internet. I think many parents need to be educated about the benefits of blogging and how to also protect their children. I think the parents are a major result of why the education system has not embraces blogging. The internet is a great tool when people know how to use it and protect themselves online. In November’s article “Creating a New Culture of Teaching and Learning” states, we should teach children to do their research about the information they find on the internet. In the article, the section “If it’s on the internet, is it true?” gives an example of a teenager who read on the internet the holocaust never happened and did not do further research to find out information. It is important teachers elaborate on how to find correct information on the web and not everything on the internet is scholarly worth. Another point that I found interesting he mentions is we should teach second graders about web develop. This great point he makes because the world is slowly doing away with printed media and moving into a digital world.