My best friend’s mother was the technology director at our high school. She was a lovely lady responsible for web design as well as blocking all the sites deemed inappropriate by the administration. Not unlike many high schools and districts around the nation, we had a whole host of blocked sites. Most often these were social networking sites, image collection sites, and sites involving lewd material.

The idea of blocking content is a controversial idea close to the heart of many media moguls and technology directors. There is something to be said for protecting children from the copious amounts of material available on the World Wide Web. But at what point does this become a detriment to learning. Certainly children need to learn to fend for themselves, after all, once students reach the collegiate level, they have unsolicited access to the internet. The articles Cybersafety In the Classroom, Attention and Other 21^st Century Social Media Literacies, and Preservice English Teachers and Technology: A Consideration of Weblogs for the English Classroom, all address the fundamental idea of unsolicited media assess in the classroom and the problems it presents.

Today children are using the web more readily than ever before. Cybersafety(…) acknowledges, “ Increasingly, K12 educators are seeing the need to not only utilize the Internet in instruction, but also to teach students the knowledge and critical thinking skills needed to be safe and responsible digital citizens both inside and outside of school.” Some districts accomplish this with classes on internet safety. This is a wonderful method for teaching students the proper ways of using the computer to augment learning, not distract from it. The sooner children master this concept the less likely they are to abuse computer privileges.

Just as the full impact of computers and technology is being realized, teachers must realize there is a new way of learning and teaching. The presence of computers in the classroom raise many questions. Howard Rheingold writes in his article that attention in the classroom has changed as computers have infiltrated the learning environment. Computers represent a serious temptation to many students, especially when they have not been exposed extensively to computer usage in the classroom. Rheingold argues it is possible that students just don’t know how to “exercise their attention.” But in my opinion there are many facets to this issue. Until teachers learn to effectively engage students using media within the classroom environment, they will run into problems with unfocused students. While the responsibility does reside with the student to pay attention, teachers can educate themselves in media to fully understand the capacity for which these tools can bolster the learning environment they create.  I whole heartedly agree with Rheingold when he states, “Assuming a world in which the welfare of the young people and the economic health of a society and the political health of a democracy are the true goals of education, I believe modern societies need to assess and evaluate what works and what doesn’t in terms of engaging students in learning.”

And this is perhaps the idea that resonates from the last article by Melanie Shoffner, Preservice English Teachers and Technology: A Consideration of Weblogs for the English Classroom: teachers need to asses technology in order to appropriately supplement their classroom. I know that I have learned most of what I know of computers outside of a classroom setting. But by bringing learning with and about technology inside a school building, teachers can foster the ideas of appropriate use of technology within the skills and habits of all students. Shoffner cleverly points out that, “Preservice English teachers need exposure to the uses, implications, and challenges of weblogs while in the methods class in order to consider the technology’s potential for teaching and learning.” So it is by exposure that teachers learn about computers to better combat the issue of decreased attention and increased distraction that the presence of media can cause.

In my opinion, teachers should be abdicating for opportunities for students to be learning about proper use of technology in the classroom. But simply putting restrictions on access, like my high school and many others around the nation, schools are not truly preparing their students for real life experiences with computers. So, teachers must first educate themselves on ways to teach with computers, and then translate their knowledge to students about responsible use of this crucial learning tool. Only then will the issues of decreased attention cease to affect a classroom environment where computers are available.

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