Blog Post 3

One blog that works is this blog from Miss Tyler- Smith's class. When first clicking on the blog, the layout is very visually appealing. The colors are bright but not too bright to distract the viewer away from the page. While scrolling down the page, the gadgets on the side are nicely laid out and are not too overwhelming. There is just enough content on the sides without being too much to sort through. There are pictures on the page and the teacher does a good job of displaying student projects to the viewer. The content is posted by the students telling others what is going on in the classroom. This is a great way for the students to be engaged in technology, while also comprehending what is going on in the classroom and writing about it.
One blog that does not work is this blog from a 5th grade classroom. When I opened this, the bright colors were the first thing I noticed. The two bright colors combined takes away from the blog all together. In my opinion, the content in the middle is too large with it taking up too much space on the page. This leaves the two sidebars very smashed in on the sides. This results in a very small font in these sections making it harder to read. The blog is used to give assignments to the students. Although this can be very helpful, the blog should not be entirely dedicated to this since students can take notes in class and hear what the assignments are.

Accessibility

Step 2: "Digital Divide Defined"
1) Is it important for all people to have access to the Internet? Why or why not?
2) Will eliminating the digital divide create new global, national, and/or local social problems?
3) What might thee new problems be?

Blog Post 2

To a certain extent it is fair to judge teachers' private lives. Although teachers are free to do whatever they like outside of the classroom, they have to remember that they are role models for around thirty children at that time. Children look up to their teachers and often try to become just like them. If a student is at a restaurant for a Friday night family dinner and sees their teacher acting inappropriately, that could give the student the wrong idea. They see this adult that gives them their knowledge and that they admire acting poorly so they will think that it is acceptable. In addition, parents do not want to see the adult that spends most of the week with their children behaving in a non professional way. Teachers should be free to do whatever they please as long as it is in a setting where students and families will not be a witness to this. This includes both in the real world and online where private information is so easy to uncover these days.
Teachers should definitely have access to social networking sites. These sites allow teachers to communicate more efficiently with their co-workers and others. The one thing about these sites is that teachers should not have connections to their students and must maintain privacy on their sites. It is not right for teachers and students to be connected through sites such as facebook and myspace while they are still in a teacher/student relationship. As a teacher I would most likely take part in a social network that none of the students are not already participating in. I would dedicate this site entirely to the class so that no other posts or information would be shared other than class related work. I would also have any other social networks that I partake in completely private so that students would not be able to find me or access my site. With this process, the students and I would be able to communicate easily via social networks while avoiding any criticism of using them.