Our kids and the World "Wild" Web...

While the accessibility to information holds much promise in creating a global community and allow us to learn from each other, it also holds much danger. From on-line predators to cyberbullying, it has opened up a whole new landscape of digital peril.

Just what do our children know? What do they need to know? What types of risky behavior are you seeing with our youth?

What roles do school administrations, teachers and parents have to play in keeping our children safe??

Is Downloading Music Appropriate

The advent of the Internet has made the sharing of information so much easier. This includes digital information like music and movies. Many people have take n advantage of this to share music and video without paying for it.

Is this appropriate, let alone legal? What should we be doing to educate our kids in this matter? Is it even possible to stop? Should we care?

Febtuary 13th...

Last week we looked at adaptive and assitive technologies. Many of you wrote in your personal blogs that you saw these as powerful tools for students with challenges.

Assistive technologies can also be used to assist all types of students, including those without physical or learning disabilities. One of those technologies is spell check.

Should all students be able to use spell check when they write their papers? Or is this a tool that promotes an illiterate generation? Just how much is too much when it comes to assitive technologies?

Is On-line a "real" place...

Many of our young people are spending much of their time in cyber-worlds...they interact, build and even buy and sell cyber-property (the worlds first cyber-real estate millionaire was announced three weeks ago!).

Many others are building cyber-presences through sites like My Space and Piczo.

What is it that draws young people here? Are their on-line identities part of the "real" them? Is on-line even a "real" place?

Your thoughts?

Is the Internet private?

Many of us use the Internet daily without thinking about who can see what we are doing...do you feel like your conversations / emails are private? Who can see us?

What about e-commerce? Should we feel safe to bank and buy on the net?

Is cursive passe?

The whole nature of information has changed. Technology has resulted in "writing" being a synonym for "keybording". Should we care? Does cursive writing have a future in our schools and society? What about printing in the lower grades? Your thoughts?