Access: Distance Learning

Access

Access:Distance Learning Website


The Access Distance Learning project was started October 1, 2005 by Governor Bob Riley and his work force. We are finding Schools all across America that are not offering the same educational opportunities as others. The goal of Distance learning is to create equal educational opportunities for all students in Alabama's public schools. In many cases we are seeing lower income schools not being able to provide students with AP classes, advanced diploma classes or even basic core classes such as physics, calculus, or trigonometry. Alabama ranks 14 out of 16 Southern states in AP offerings. The goal of Access is to provide all Alabama students with equal educational opportunities, and the access to the highest quality education no matter what public school the student is attending. The Access project aims to eventually provide all Alabama public schools with more advanced diploma, AP, and general core courses. Access is a form of distance learning,which is defined as "learning experiences in which instructors and students are separated by space and/or time". There are three general ways information is transported to students in distance learning including web base, video conferencing, and a blend between the Internet and video conferencing. Through these modes of technology access can provide a student with high quality education, exceptional teachers, and more courses through the use of technology. Through video conferencing schools that might have other wise not been able to provide certain courses now have the opportunity to broaden their course opportunities, and create equal access to students. Distance learning benefits not only students, but teachers also.

Distance Learning


Alabama public schools that are using access gain more teachers, allow students and teachers to interact and learn from others from different schools, and resources are provided for faculty to better their abilities, and enhance the level of education being provided. Access provides online classes for students that will be taken during regular school hours. Teachers will interact with students during the provided class time or after hours. Teachers must learn how to properly use the Access equipment and be willing to work with students individually or give extra instruction and time when involved in distance learning. Students also have to adapt to distance learning in ways such as being more independent, and active in Access courses. Access classrooms can provide everything a traditional classroom has and more. E teachers can offer online study guides, test reviews,quizzes, and exams. Access classrooms can even have online projects and presentations. Distance learning allows students to work at their own pace and even have to opportunity to repeat a lesson they were struggling with. Access provides a different way of education and supports different learning styles that best fit the student. In my opinion, I think distance learning is a very import aspect of education, and I believe it could have a huge impact on education today. As a future teacher I will see myself incorporating distance learning into my classroom. Access is such a useful tool in education because it gives equal course access to students no matter where they come from or what their situation is. I will also use the Access program to further my teaching skills,learn from other teachers experiences, and as a result improve the over all educational experience for my future students. In conclusion, The Access distance learning project provides great opportunity to not only provide a higher level of education, but to further students lives and futures.

ALEX

ALEX


Alabama Learning Exchange Website


ALEX or the Alabama Learning Exchange is a program created by the Alabama Department of Education, in which, educational information and materials are being shared with teachers, parents, and students. ALEX is a quick easy source for teachers to find lesson plans, curriculum's, web links, podcasts, and even ways to keep up to date with the best and newest ways of teaching. Teachers are able to add their own lesson plans, tips, and ideas to this website so ALEX provides a very wide range of educational information coming from some of Alabama's best teachers. One helpful tool that ALEX provides is called course of study which lists according to the subject and grade chosen the skills that should be mastered by students in that course. For example, you could choose 5th grade mathematics and it will list all of the skills that should be covered in that particular grade and course. The next helpful tool ALEX offers is called web links. When clicked on web links will give teachers, administrators, and students helpful websites for more information on their selected topic. The third tool available on ALEX is actually being able to access a wide variety of lesson plans by subject or grade level. Also, teachers are able to submit their own lesson plans that they think may be helpful to others. Podcasts are also available on ALEX. Again, through choosing a topic ALEX provides several educational podcasts including interviews that can enhance children's learning and understanding greatly.

ALEX Lesson Plans


ALEX, in my opinion, is an invaluable learning resource for teachers, students, and parents and can be extremely useful. ALEX provides a way for teachers, students, and parents to learn from the best educators Alabama has to offer. By founding a website that allows other professionals to share their ideas, tips, and educational information through their own experiences can greatly enhance the quality of teaching and learning in our classrooms today. In my future classroom I will use ALEX to find the best lesson plans for a specific topic I am teaching in my classroom. I will also use it to make sure I am covering the correct skills and educational outline for the course I am teaching. ALEXA will also be a great way, for me as a teacher, to introduce technology to my classroom. Through using helpful websites provided through ALEX I can expose my students to online researching, and with available podcasting I can show an entire new way of learning to my classroom. Podcasts on ALEX will be of tremendous use so students can not only listen to a lecture, but they can experience it first hand by watching it for themselves. In conclusion, I think ALEX is an invaluable project that has been created and in the future I will absolutely use its tools and educational information to enhance learning in my future classroom.

Dear Kaia

Dear Kaia

Kaia's Blog

Intrepid Teacher

Mr. C's Class Blog



This was an extradinary blog to learn about. A father in Qatar was reading a book called The Last Child in the Woods. This book was talking about the importance of getting children out into nature to discover beautiful things and to explore the world around them. This inspired the father and decided to take his little girl, Kaia, outside to connect with nature. He took a camera with him to record his little girl's expierience. Where Kaia and her father lived was in the middle of the dessert and most people would find the area to be a wasteland with nothing beautiful about it, but Kaia's father was out to teach a bigger lesson. He encouraged Kaia to just take pictures of what she saw. In his blog, Kaia's father said that he could not believe the excitement and enthusiasam Kaia displayed while being outside expierencing nature in a dessert. The outcome of this expierence was to be just a normal outing with pictures to share with friends and family, but it turned into something so much greater. After Kaia and her dad were finished exploring outside, he asked kaia if she would like to see her pictures on a big computer screen and talk about them. She was very intrested and kaia and her father ended up making a video of all the pictures kaia took and her commenting on each picture in the background of the video, and posted it online. The next day the video got several comments, and kaia's father saw a commment from a 8th grade class all the way in missouri that watched kaia's video.

Through twitter kaia's father was able to contact, Mr. C, the teacher of the class and actually skype in and talk to the class. In return, the 8th grade students created a video and voice thread to Kaia thanking her for all of her great pictures. Through twitter, skype, online videos,voice threads, and other types of technology a group of people were able to connect with eachother from thousands and thousands of miles away. Technology brought together a family living in a dessert in qatar with an 8th grade classroom in Missouri. This opens up a type of learning that has no limits. People are learing from other people all over the world. Distance can no longer stop learning. If this type of learning can really take off all over the world the possibilities are endless. I believe this type of learning with technology could inspire children to learn. I believe students would be intrested in learning a different culture or hearing from someone halfway across the world. I believe this would spark students imagination and thrill for learning. I also believe this would help students and teachers understand other cultures and even gain more respect for other ethnicities.


Singing Hearts


Kaia's father started off having just a regular family experience with his daughter. He was trying to teach her to see the beauty of her surrounding. To stop, slow down, and enjoy what is all around her. Kaia took regular, ordinary, objects and turned them into something beautiful and creative. Through, technology this lesson was not just learned by Kaia and her father, it was learned by thousands of people all around the world. Through technology this simple expierence was turned into something that had the power to touch other people's lives. Kaia's father said that to really use this type of learning you must have an open mind, and really be open to trying new things. Although, Kaia's dad did worry about some factors of using this type of technology like revealing his little girl to the world over the internet, I believe he saw the good things that could be done and those outweighed the risks involved. Through sharing his little girl with the world connections were made with people that will always be in Kaia's history. People could learn from others expierences and make connections to people that would never have exsited without technology.

The New Media Literacies

New Media Skills

Watch this video

Todays world is nothing like what it used to be. The world for the most part is completly dependant on technology. Wheather you are on your cell phone, lab top, or iPod technology is all around us and being used in almost every facet of life. This video The New Media Literacies basically talks about what kind of skills an average person has to have to live in the 21st century. These skills are no longer just for a student studying in school, or a professor teaching a class, these skills are for everyone, and are essiential to being able to function in a world so tech savey. These media skills help a person function in our current media environment, and deal with the fast pace of culture today. We can all agree that the over all pace of life has increased over the years, and it will continue to do so, but these skills help a person keep up with the fast pace of todays society, culture, and movements. It helps people understand things that we use to consider simple like our cell phones or getting on to the internet. These skills help shape creative artists, teaches you how to be a citizen, and even teaches you what kind of tools you will need to be a future worker in the United States.

One intresting thing this video mentioned was that these skills use to not be the same as they are today. It use to be that most average people were just consumers of media. They would watch or learn, but would never have much impact or input, but we are seeing that is changing now. Average people are not only consumors of todays media, but they are becoming producers of todays media also. People are starting to put something out there. It could be as simple as a facebook or myspace page, but the point is that we are now able to control media. Some skills mentioned in the video that people will need are things like judgement, in which we will have to determine if information is reliable or not that we find in the media. Also, negotiation, this is were people will know have to enter into different spaces on the internet, and recognize the social norms of that area. The third skill people will have to posses is called appropration, which means people will have to beable to take massive amount of information found online, sort through it, make sense of it,remix it, and use it in context in a meaningful way. Another skill was called play, which is defined as experimenting with our surroundings as a form of problem solving. Other skills were transmedia navigation, simulation, collective intelligence, performance, distributed congition, visualization, multitaksing.

In my opinion, I think these new media skills make alot of sense. If you think about our world today and the enourmouse dependancy of technology in our media then these skills really are needed and are even vital to function in our culture.If you think about any job in the United States, most all of them will included the use of technology. Wether its computers, the use of the internet, iPhones, or email it would be very hard to find a job free from the use of technology. So in my opinion these skills are a must for anyone who needs a job, which is pretty much every one. In education technology is being used in the classroom more than ever. There are colleges that are all online. A single mother who works two jobs can have the opportunity to take classes online and earn a degree. The possiblitities are endless, but if a person is illiterate and does not posses theses media skills then their opportunities are severly limited.


Media Skills in the workforce


I do posses most of these skills listed in this video like judgement, negotiation, appropration, play, and visualization. The skills I think I am not as litterate on are transmedia navigation, simulation, collective intelligence, and multi tasking, but I think all of those skills can be gained. The main way in my opionion to gain these skills is to practice. To learn by actual experience of different types of media. For example, I am a terrible multitaker. When I am searching the internet I like to focus on one thing at a time, but this does not help becuase in the real world I will have to put together lesson plans and gather inforomation together from several different sources. To help me get better in this skill I would simply practice taking several sources about a topic online and practice pulling them together to form a cohesive piece of information. In conclusion, I think these new media skills are vital to make connections, function in a fast pace world, and be sucessful in whatever area of life you focus on.

The Networked Student: by Wendy Drexler

Technology Connections

The Networked Student


The networked student is all about how students and classrooms will be like in the future. In this video it takes an example of a student that is taking a class with no book and his teacher rarely gives lectures. The reason behind this different way of teaching is called connectivism. This teacher believes that learning can take place through all different kind of social networks, connections, and ties between people. These connections between other people are made possible by technology tools, and by having these different ties with people it is supposed to strengthen the learning process for that student. Before starting a class like this a student must first build his social network by practicing by finding valid webcites and determinding what information is helpful and reliable. Once he masters these steps he takes useful information he finds about his topic and posts it on his social bookmarking site, a place where people can share URL's they have bookmarked on specific topics. This allows everyone to find helpful realiable information on a specific topic.

Next, the student looks at others blogs about his topic to better understand what others opinions are on his topic. He can choose to make comments on others blogs to give his point of view or even subscribe to certain blogs and be informend when the blog has been updated. After he has gained a well rounded knowledge base about his topic through research and reading others blogs he can create his own blog. The student can blog about his own personal thoughts about his topic, and write down all that he has learned about his topic along the way. Another way this student can learn is through his iPod. With the use of iTunesU he can subscribe to thousands of lectures, and more importantly ones that apply to his topic. Through his iPod the student can hear lectures of his topic from the most prestiges colleges in the world. Another important thing the student can do is contact authors or highly qualified professional to set up a video conference through skpe that he can play to the class. This is an amazing opportunity that in many cases in a regualar classrom would not happen. By the end of the class this student has created an online learning network that is useful, efficent, and may even have professional advice. The great thing about this kind of learning is that know students who take this class after can go use previous students reseach to help aid them in their topic research. People from all over the world can see what you have to offer on a specific topic and learn from what you have worked so hard to create.

So the question is asked, why is a teacher even neccessary for this type of class? Although, this type of learning is in somewhat independant a great deal of it depends on the teacher too. The teacher is responsible for teaching students how to build these personal educational learning networks. Students have to have something to start with, and learn how to even begin a process like this. The teacher also teaches their students how to recongnize good vialble resources from unreliable information. They also teach how to narrow down a search, and the best ways in which to search for your topic. Teachers are there for students when they get stuck and need guidence or have questions. They also provide ways to teach students how to organize this massive amount of information they are finding out about their topics.Lastly, and quite possibly one of the most important skills these teachers give is the proper and correct way to communicate, and how to ask ask in respectful ways for help. With opportunities to deal with experts on their topics students must know the correct way to communicate, and how to ask for help with their topic information in an appropraite way.

In conclusion, I think this type of teaching is an amazing opportunity for students to be more independent in ways, but also to be exposed to opportunities they would never have in traditional schooling. Networked schooling teaches the importance of not only technology, but the vitality of connections with people. It shows just how much we can inspire and teach one another, and be pro active with learning. I would absolutly be prepared to be a teacher for a networked student, and would like to incorporate this type of learning into my own classroom one day. I think network learning creates a way for students to be inspired and self motivated, not just going through the motions of learning.I also think networked learning will inspire students to get more involved in the classroom. Overall, I think this is a great way of learning, and should be used alot more.

Richard Miller: This is how we dream part one and two

Multimedia


To watch this video

Part one of the how we dream video by Richard Miller was talking about the incremental changes we are seeing in writting. For the most part, people were raised on relating writting to books. When an author would write a book they would be published as a book we would easily find in a library or book store. I mostly think of writting's as concrete objects like a book, magazine, journal, but in todays world that is quickly changing. I believe the point Mr. Miller was trying to portray in the firt video is that writting in today's world is changing. Books, magazines, and newspaper articles are not just being found in libraries anymore. They are no longer just found in text with pictures, they are expanding online in all different ways like pictures, films, and videos.Writting can be deliverd to your door in a book or magazine or it can be found right on your computer. The places we are writting in todays culture is changing. It use to be that people would write out all of their notes or use a type writter, now people today work on desktops, and the internet. Writting can literally take place anywhere, and you have access to all information through the internet. The second change that is occuring in our writting these days is collaberation. In todays world we can post so much more than simple text on the internet. Visual documents are all over the internet that included pictures, sounds, videos, and interviews. With the help of the internet people can gather sources from all over the world and put everything together to create an amazing piece of work.

The second part of the video was talking more about a larger aspect or dream of having visual literacy. To me I think having visual and online literacy can be such a useful tool not only to education, but to the entire world. Dr. Miller made the point that having all of these online texts could be a way to get ideas out and to share ideas with the entire world. One of the main problems with writing today is that when text is only found in books it usually is missing that wow factor that is gained through pictures, graphics, videos, ect. Multimedia can solve this problem. There are no limits on what can be done for online literacy using the internet, and through using collabrative information found on the web. Online lituature could get that wow factor that will not only draw in listeners, but keep them intrested. Indeed that is one of the main point Mr. Miller mentioned in his second video. Writting's found online should not just be text on the internet, they should be beautiful and inspiring. We have all the tools to make online lituracy a work of creativity, and he is saying that is what we should do. The reason we should make online literacy something creative and inspiring is because it has the possiblilty of reaching an entire world. Most books would take twice the time to publish, print and get out into the public then creating a online piece of liturature. Not only would text take longer to get out to the public, it would take longer for it to circulate through out the public. Technology is so depended on these days that people would discover and pass on online liturature so much quicker than say a book. So you might ask what is the point of all this? Well Mr. Miller makes a great point when he talks about the goal of all of this, and thats to share ideas. He states that ideas should not just be your own they should have the opportunity to be heard and listned to by all. Online literacy has the chance to articulate dreams into realities, and make ideas visable to all people.



Multimedia

I think this new way of writting is a great idea not only for education, but also for people all around the word. In the classroom this in my opinion could really spark the intrests of students. Students could actually be learning how to write like education traditionally teaches, but at the same time add a more intresting factor. I know durring highschool and even college I was not exposed to all of the ways I could make my writting intresting with visual and audio graphics. I think if schools incorporate teaching writting through online literacy it could teach important skills that students would most definitly use in the future. Becuase technology use is growing at exponential rates it makes sense to adapt our education around that. Teaching online literacy and multimedia would only enhance students opportunities is such a technology rich world. As a future teacher I am more than willing to incorporate this type of learning in my classrooms, and I think it could make a monumental difference not only in education but in society itself.

iPods: Duke University

Use of iPods

For more information on Duke University

For more information on Union City, New Jersey

In 2004 Duke University wanted to test if ipods could be used on their campus for educational purposes. In 2004 Duke University handed out 1600 ipods with voice recoreds to first year students to study the impacts and outcomes the ipod had on students and teachers, and if it could be succesfully used as an educational tool. The outcomes of the implementation of the ipod were very intresting. A total of 1228 Duke students, and 48 courses total incorportated ipods into learning. Foreign language and music classes used the ipod the most which was expected, but also some unexpected courses such as enineering, and other social science classes reported they used the ipod for educational purposes. The ipod aided more audio related courses because students could play songs back. At first most believed the audio play back on the ipod would generate the most feedback, but this was not the case.It turned out that recording was the number one tool used on the ipod for educational purposes, and 60% of the first year students used it. By the end of the experiment Duke University came up with several educational uses for the ipod. One was the portability factor of an ipod incorportated with education.

With the ipod students were able to acess lectures, speeches, music,and podcasts through itunes. It was also used in the classroom to record important information like lectures, class discussions, guest speakers, and verbal feedback.Research also showed that the ipod was greatly used outside of the classroom to capture field notes, interviews, ennviromental data, and audio data that could not be found in a classroom or lab, but could only be gained through outside experience. Next, the ipod helped students study. Students would record notes, facts, and information and then re-play it to learn by hearing it. The ipod in the case of Duke University improved not only student intrest and engagement, but also teachers and facultly members were showing intrest witht he experiement. As a whole Duke University was feeling the positives of using ipods for educational purposes.






Union City, New Jersey


Other times ipods were used in the classroom was in Union City, New Jersey were in this urban disctrict made up of a 11,000 students, 94% qualified for free or reduced lunches were struggling to preform academically. A teacher started introducing iPods to students who were struggling to learn english as their second language. The teacher began uploading english songs onto the iPods and let the children listen to them. As a result students actually showed improvements, and by listening to english songs on the Ipod they were learning english. The teacher would collect the ipods at the end of each class to prevent damage or innappropriate use. Although, the teacher did receive some negative feedback about the approach like the price, and how the money could go to more useful areas she has brought up valid evidence that the ipod improved the students learning. In fact, experts claim that the best way to learn a foreign language is to immerse yourself in that language. If improvement was shown by just listening to American music imagine what audios, videos, lectures, newscasts, telivision shows, and media that is available to download onto an ipod could do. Students could immerse themselves with the American language through iPods in the classroom. The downloads would be a safe and efficient way to teach children foreign languaes through the use of iPods. In conclusion I think giving intrsuction and teaching through iPods is a very good idea, and I belive it could be used as a powerful educational tool.

iTunesU

Recently I have discoverd iTunesU, and have been amazed of just how powerful of a tool it is. iTunesU is basically a massive database of free educational videos and audios that can be acessed by anyone anywhere. iTunesU is quickly growing to be one of the largest online educational sources with more than 200,000 lectures, presentations, videos, readings, and podcasts from all over the world. iTunesU is one of the easiest and fastest ways to get education directly into the students hands.

iTunesU

Learn more about iTunesU



iTunesU has proved to be so invauluable to students all over the world for several reasons. As a student, the first reason I think iTunesU is so helpful is because of the information that is being offerd. As a student I often run into the problem about finding reliable,up to date sources. With a growing amount of people posting whatever they want on the internent these days its often times very difficult to find information that is true. With iTunesU all information that is being displayed are from top universities, meusems, pds stations, and other well known cultural instituions. This eliminates fasle unrealiable sources, and only allows information to be display from those who are highly qualified. This is tremedousely helpful to students because it gets rid of the possibility they are citing false information. The second reason iTunesU is so helpful to students is that class lectures, lab demo's and campus tours are available to watch or listen to. Top universities including Cambridge University, Oxford University, Yale University,and Harvard University just to name a few actually post class lectures as podcasts or videocasts. This is extremly benificial for students who want to go back and re-listen to their lecture, write notes over again, or become more clear about a topic. Also, it aids students because education becomes to be on their time. Ofcourse students will have to attend class, but when they are ready they can acess that informtion all over again. Learning does not just stop in the class room, but it can be acessed at any time. Students are known to have very hectic crazy schedules, and with iTunesU students could learn while working around their schedules. Not only can iTunesU be helpful to actual students who go to these top Universities that subscribe, but all students can use these tools. Students all across the world can acess top university lectures given by some of the most highly qualified speakers in the world. The third benifit iTunesU gives to students is the ability to subscribe to the podcasts and vodcasts. Alot of the lectures and labs posted are on going and many teachers post new lectures everyday. iTunesU allows anyone to subcrible to whatever course they want and when new lectures or information is posted on the selected course it will be automatically downloaded to your itunes on your computer. Students can constantly stay updated on the newest information available.


Students can actually follow and entire course and listen or view each lecture that say a Harvard student listens to everyday in the classroom. iTunesU is opening up opportunities for all students and people to have the chance to learn the highest quality of education, not just those who are in the top universities. Another very helpful aspect of iTunesU is its accessability not only of time, but of place. Students can actually download the vodcasts or podcasts of teacher lectures, or other educational videos directly to their computers, ipods, or iphones. This to me is one of the most important benifits. iTunesU has made it possible for students to be anywhere at anytime to learn. Students no longer have to be sitting at a computer desk or in the library to do homework or study. Because this educational information can be acessed through your ipod or iphone a student could pretty much go anywhere to learn. While they are walking down a street or riding a bike they could be listening to a lecture or sitting in a cafe they could be studying. The possiblilites are endless with the use of iTunesU. It has opend up so many opportunities for students to learn that would have never had the chance to if iTunesU did not exist. The last positive outcome of iTunesU on students is that it is free. For most of the general population when you are a student money is alway tight. I feel like I am always budjeting, and crunching pennies. Honestly, I thought iTunesU had to have charged something for the quality information, and endless options it was providing, but to my great suprise iTunesU is completly 100% free, and is acessable by anyone at anytime.In conclusion, I think iTunesU is invaulable to a student,and it opens up an entire new world to learning.

Dr. Christie: Evaluating Web Pages

Dr. Christie's Web Page
.UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops

I found several topics on Dr. Christie's web page that could be very helpful in classrooms today, but one topic stood out to me the most, searching the web. Today technology is used so frequently in the classroom I believe it would be extremly benificial to be more familar on how to recognize webpages that are child friendly and those that should be avoided. Under searching the web, on Dr. Christie's webpage I was connected to several helpful web pages that explaind steps on evaluating webpages. I read an article from Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply&Questions to Ask UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops that to me gave extremly important information and tips of how to evaluate and determine what kind of web pages you are using. The first step mentioned when identifying acceptable web pages is to first look at the URL. Before even looking at the information on the page, gather as much information as you can from the URL. Check things like does the URL have a personal name in it, meaning it is a personal webpage which may not render solid facts or be appriate for children. Also, try to locate what kind of domain the web page comes from. For example, look for .gov in the URL which means it is a government cite or .edu which means it is an educational web page. These are very important when determing if it is appropriate for students. The second tip this article mentions is to scan the basic boundry of the webpage and search for history of the page or things that can verify the validity of the page. For example, look for an authors name, someone who actually takes credit for the work, and look for details that show the author's qualifications to write on the specific topic for exaple, Dr., or PHD. Also, look for a date the web page has been last updated or modified to ensure all facts are up to date. The third tip this article mentioned was to look for indicators of quality information. Some indications that a webpage has quality ginuine information is to see if the web pages information is correctly cited. Also, if the web page provides other links to information on the specific topic it is a good sign the web page is a valuable source.
The Fourth tip given in this article to find good web sources was to determine what other web pages are linked to the one you are investigating. It is recommended that you have atleast two other well known or reputable sources. Also, find out what others are saying about this web page. Search out comments that have been made about the specific web page, and get to know what others thought about the page or the author of the page. Lastly, when evaluating web pages ask your self, " did it all add Up?". First determine the intention of the web page. Did it give facts, statictics, and information, or was it trying to sell something? Did the web page try to convince or presuade a point or just explain? All of these questions play a major role when determing the validity of a web page. In conclusion I believe all of these tips can play a major role helping teachers find the very best web pages for their students. In today's world the internet has become an easy place for anyone to post or creat a web page. Even though this is good is some ways because it shows other peoples opinions, in many ways it can be very detrimental. Often times, people are not qualified to write about topics they choose, and as a result there are thousands of web pages that are unreliable, and based on opinions alone. This could really creat a problem in the class rooms. The tips listed above are so helpful because they can help teachers recognize web pages that may not be the most reliable sources, and also aid teachers in finding the best, most viable web pages that benifit their students the most. I really enjoyed this article and found all of the tips very very helpful, I will be sure to use them in my future classroom.