C4T #4 Summary

Blogging About the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom

First I commented on Skype in the classroom in which I am a huge fan of! This post was mainly about how Skype is a valuable tool that many teachers discovered can break down the walls of their classroom. Steven Anderson, the creator of this blog, is looking toward getting teachers started with Skype and connecting their classroom to the outside world. A short and sweet (but helpful) Skype video accompanied this post to further explain the benefits of Skype. I totally concur with the points Mr. Anderson was making and how well Skype can be used for collaborative educational purposes. I believe it can truly broaden the horizon for children and administrators who are willing to accept and work with it. For example, one thing I plan to do with my kids is get them communicating with a person (student/teacher) from another country! Not only will it be a friend, a peer, or an advisor for certain things, but also an educational tool to experience and hopefully break language barriers, chance to see other cultures, etc. and so forth! The possibilities are endless! So, guess you can say I'm pro Skype!


Next, I read a post titled What's wrong with Google telling me everything?. Love this post! This one really striked my fancy because I Google EVERYTHING these days! I google definitions of words for school papers or just socialization purposes. I google meaningless things or religious things, health facts and calories, holidays, recipes, anything imaginable! The possibilities are endless with google and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing as long as you search thoroughly and properly. However, I am concerned about relationships and the effect it may have on peoples connections with one another. For example, before google I would just go to my parents for answers to my questions, and if they didn't know then I would go to another person (friend, family member, wise elder, etc) who I thought would know. Sometimes I would even seek out a stranger for information, leading to a new friendship/acquaintance. Whether significant or not it usually led to a great conversation of some sort or more information that I didn't know (either about that person or the topic at hand). Interesting none-the-less. Isn't this what life is all about? Connecting with people, bonding, building relationships, learning from someone more experienced? I think it is and believe it to be a crucial part of human development. If we go to google (I'm guilty of this) those connections or lack there of, are only made with the computer thus not fully reaching the potential that the "question asking task" could reach... taking away our bonding, relationship building, and even friendship establishments. With teachers, if the child came to ask a question, you may learn important information about the child that you would never have otherwise surfaced. It's a window of opportunity (the question asking to a person as opposed to a computer that is).
So... I guess what I'm saying is that Google has it's pros and cons (just like everything in the world). We should just be weary of the extent to which we rely on the internet, and always search for a useful source!
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