During a conference in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Helen Soule, executive director of Cable in the Classroom, said "students are different today. They react and immerse themselves in technology."
She said the students have a "disconnect with the classroom" that still relies on overhead projectors and chalkboards.
"There is a lot of use of technology in the school, and in the regular classroom," Soule said. "They are learning the same things, but maybe in a deeper, more realistic way. It's like using a car instead of a horse to get somewhere.
"[Students] are utilizing the technology. They are more creators of information, instead of just listening to a teacher say this is what you should know and these are the facts," Soule told Cybercast News Service.
She added that online study groups, podcasts (downloadable online broadcasts) and blogs (web logs, or online journals) have become regular teaching tools.
"Instead of doing a book report, they are doing a podcast of what they learned in a book. They are setting up a blog of their book reports and then they can go online and read other students' reports and comment," said Soule.
Eighty-five percent of students between kindergarten and 12th grade have computers at home, Soule said, and they are doing much of their school work online. One popular destination is MySpace.com, which she said now includes the personal profiles of 61 percent of kids between the ages of 13 to 17. Half of those teenagers using MySpace.com also post pictures of themselves, according to Soule.
She suggested that MySpace.com would be well utilized in the classroom, but Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America, rejected that idea.
"This is too risky to incorporate into a public school classroom where minors are supposed to be educated simply because there is technology available to do so," LaRue told Cybercast News Service. She noted that kids are able to create their own personal web pages on the MySpace.com site, which is then easily targeted by pedophiles and pornographers.
"Always the first to exploit new technology, the porn industry has big plans for distributing smut via cell phones, iPods and MP3 players, all popular with the youngsters who are technologically advanced beyond most parents," LaRue said. "Parents need to be ever vigilant to protect their children from exploitation."
She added that there have already been "several instances of pedophiles using MySpace chat rooms to communicate with kids."
"There have been cases of children traveling to meet these people or of potential child molesters traveling to meet these kids," LaRue warned. "There are many ways to bring technology into the classroom without opening the door for this kind of misuse by irresponsible kids who don't understand the dangers that they're facing by interacting with strangers."
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