In Respoonse to the Kiva Article

I also thought that the Kiva article made me think of how useful the internet has become in allowing students to have authentic experiences as they learn some of the same things they have always been learning. As a history teacher, rather than having my students read about the conflict in the Middle East in the newspaper or in a book, we have the potential for students to have person to person contact with people their own age who are actually living in the West Bank. There is an actual program that has been discussed in my department in which a class can actually develop a relationship with a class in the West Bank-- I believe they would communicate through Skype. In addition to Skype there are so many other ways to communicate. Teens in that part of the world use Google chat/talk, Facebook, and other free and easy ways to communicate. It is pretty awesome for kids to see that there are real people associated with global conflicts-- it allows them to see important issues as being real.

That being said, I agree with what Kelley and Ruthie said about best practices. I have found myself spending way more time than is efficient doing "techie" kinds of things. Some of these things make teaching/learning easier, but some could also be done in a more low tech way that has the exact same effect. I think that we must be careful when getting excited about new technology that we truly understand it and make sure that it is worthwhile for us to be using.

Learning how to use new technological tools step by step is essential, otherwise their value will be lost and we teachers will not use them in ways that maximize their potential.