I just got done reading the article on the history of the Internet and while I can't say that I understood all the technological aspects of it, I did find it interesting. As I was reading it, I kept feeling so amazed that the things that I do every day on the internet are extremely new. I found it funny that so many people, including AT&T, thought that the internet was stupid and a waste of time when it was first thought of.
Another thing that interested me was the conflict between Microsoft and Netscape. Microsoft is such a bully! The story of their rivalry and many other stories shared in this article showed me how stressful and difficult the growth of the internet has been for some people.
Despite these arguments, however, the Internet has grown extremely fast, especially for those sites such as Google, Facebook, and Youtube. One statistic that surprised me more than anything else was that "in 2007, Youtube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet did in 2000." That is some MAJOR growth!
This growth that the Internet has show proves to me how important it is to include technology in our classrooms. The students that we will teach will depend so much on their knowledge of these things. This is why it is important that they are literate in a technological world. If they are not, they will fall behind their peers substantially.
I liked your comment about it being important for students to be literate in the technological world. For them to do well in college, they will have to have knowledge of technology because universities now require so many internet assignments. I bet twenty years ago people would have never believed that entire classes would be online in the future. I also believe, our students will eventually surpass our knowledge of technology in the same way that we usually have more knowledge of technology than some of our older teachers. In this case, we can learn from our students which is one of the great things about education.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great point, Julie. Our students will probably know more than us at some point. I think that is why it is so important we keep ourselves up-to-date on things like this so that we can understand our students and teach in a way that they can learn from and appreciate.
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