I am a little confused. What is the point of parents buying online access for their children to the tune of supporting Ganz at 2 billion dollars? Webkinz is the rage, and continues to be as the first and second round of memberships are coming to a close. Are those toy companies helping out our schools and our students? I know that many students, young students, learn to collaborate on Webkinz . I know many parents who have played Webkinz while their children are at school, just to earn points for their children. Or, are they playing just so they can keep up and learn about this safe, virtual environment? Do parents feel that their children are positioned to learn the most from their school technology standards and class offerings? Or are parents keeping one foot in each camp, just in case?
I know in my school, we are writing the manual about how we use technology, as we teach the content with technology. I know that we have the best intentions in all that we touch on with digital citizenship, technology ethics, using a computer and laptop, using the Internet responsibly and collaborating with others. While we keep working on the collaboration piece, we haven't figured it out, but we are trying.
We need to share with others what has gone well, and where we still need to go. If you have a project to share about what has gone well in your school please add it here.
My favorite 8th grade project is here. Our students worked very hard to publish and complete their assignments online.
A fact:
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/001703.html
There are 53 million children in the USA between the ages of 5 and 17, in 2003.
