Week 7 Reflection Question

1. What is the Internet? What value does it hold for educators?

In my own words, internet can be described as, “A gateway to the world.” What I mean by this is that there is not a single piece of information that cannot be gathered through the internet. With that said, there is a lot of information that should not be gathered, by the avenues are there. Internet official definition is an electronic communications network of networks that connects computers and organizational computer facilities around the world with a standardized means of communication called Internet protocols. Basically what this is stating is that this connects information from place to place or facility to facility so that everyone can have access from any location to the same information. It is hard to believe that the Internet has grown to over 450 million host computers that distribute information across the globe.

The most valuable aspect of the internet that I have encountered is that with my subject area, I can access information at any point during my class. In geography, there is literally a world of information out there about different places throughout the globe. Not surprisingly, my students tend to ask the most off the wall questions about the most remote locations, and expect an answer. Though I consider myself full of both useful and useless knowledge, I do not have the answer to every question. But, it is with great comfort to know that I can find an answer before the next question is thought-up. Now, we can take ourselves back ten years and see ourselves at a time where this was not as accessible as it is now. Though we did have the internet, many of us relied upon the slow pace of a dial-up modem. With today’s technologies in wireless, cable, and even 3G, my phone receives faster internet than my computer did when I was in high school.

Not only the sheer information that one can gather on the internet on a subject matter, but the internet is increasingly valuable in terms of lesson planning and state guidelines for educators. As a first year teacher, I found it fairly difficult in planning out my day-to-day lesson, but because of the internet and the different sites available to online users, I was able to make reference to hours of planning done by others. In terms of state guidelines, I can make sure that on a daily basis that my lessons coincide with the guidelines set forth by the state of Mississippi.