Educational+Issues

=media type="custom" key="9361146"= =**[|Post 1] Reality or Fantasy**= As internet becomes more accessible, more and more individuals are becoming active participants of this bank of information. Now almost anyone can publish anything on the internet without their content being examined or evaluated. As a reader, it is difficult to decipher whether the information obtained is trustworthy or factual. The need for accurate information is becoming more important than at any other time in our history. To wade through the mass amounts of information and websites available after conducting a search on the internet is a tremendous task. Thus it is important to have reliable sources of information that can be well trusted. == Students are responsible for the accuracy of the information they choose to use when writing reports or conducting a research. As teachers we share the responsibility to guide students in choosing reliable sources. One way to scrutinize sources is to gather information about the authors, the publisher or institutions and find out how many other sources shared their same “facts”. Students need to learn to question everything that they read and teachers should take the extra effort to verify that whatever sources students are using are reliable. ==

[|Post 2] = Net Censoring = Schools should have the power to limit Internet usage to students. If students are given free access to the Internet most of them will visit pages that have little or no relation to academics. Teachers are already dealing with many distractions such as the usage of IPods and cellular phones that providing another form of distraction to students would be counterproductive to their academic achievement. The lack of regulation in the World Wide Web and the irresponsibility of some students are key factors to limit Internet usage in schools.

[|Post 3] Students should be allowed to use wikis as valid sources of academic research. Allowing students to use wikis will give students the opportunity to present other point of views that are not necessarily facts but believes that are part of the world in which they live. Using these kings of sources will diversify ideas in the classroom. For teachers these types of sources could be use as teaching materials by correcting any misinformation that their students might gather from the web. To conclude; It will be very difficult for wikis to garner more confidence from the public due their free and easy access to anyone.
 * Wikis and Education **