Internet access and home/school

[Andrew Reinhard]

I'm trying to get a handle on the availability of Internet access (from 56k dial-up to T1) to both teachers and students of Latin/Greek. Can one assume that the Internet is universally available (either in houses, schools, or libraries) so that teachers can assign homework to be completed on-line, use Internet-based learning materials, and more? What's the percentage of schools/students/teachers who have daily Internet access? How do we find out? And how do we bring Internet access to those students who need it for school?

[Laura Gibbs]

It used to be that Internet access was the only issue - but not all Internet access is created equal anymore! This article about Internet-BLOCKING in school facilities is very illuminating, and depressing - it's by Wes Fryer, from his excellent blog Speed of Creativity:

Content filtering in Communist China versus an Oklahoma school

I feel very lucky to be teaching at the university level where this kind of Internet filtering (CENSORSHIP) is not an issue, but it is increasingly an issue in elementary and high school settings. I have read articles in many teachers' blogs about how even the most basic services, such as Google, are blocked on school machines, and because of media scaremongering, the move to block any and all social networking sites (including ning) is really on the upswing: we badly need teacher advocates to explain the important educational uses of these tools!