Thing #5- RSS

The internet is here to stay and today's students are using it more and more as a part of their daily lives. If used correctly, it can play a major role in the classroom and be an integral part of education today. Bob Sprankle talks about how the internet's role has changed in just the last year.

The importance of the internet will continue to become a greater tool for use in the classroom. Even though not all students have access at home, the availability of internet access throughout the community continues to increase. Students today do not know a world without the internet, regardless of their access to it. The hurdle in the short term will be the adults in the students lives, both parents and teachers, who are continuing to learn and understand the internet and the positive role it can have in education. Used in the proper context, the internet offers nearly limitless access to research information that would otherwise be extremely challenging to obtain. The internet will no doubt continue to play a bigger role in education in the future, not only for research assignments, but for day to day learning as well. Overcoming the fear of the internet and understanding its true potential and place in the classroom will be the challenge for educators as we move forward. Younger teachers joining the profession will more easily adapt to using the internet as a part of the classroom setting. Hopefully veteran teachers and administrators who are in the position of making decisions will embrace all that the internet has to offer and use it to their advantage to further the education of modern day students.