Lesson 8: Benefits of Online Communication Tools

          I used to have pen pals as a kid. Growing up in rural West Virginia, in the days before cable, computers, and the Internet, they were my link to the outside world. Over thirty years later, I still remember Cindy Chen from Singapore and Susan Smith from Australia, and Stacey Holden, from the faraway land of Oklahoma. They shared with me what it was like growing up halfway around the world and I told them what it was like having neighbors who milked cows, hunted raccoons, and still had an outside bathroom. I eagerly awaited their letters covered in exotic stamps that took almost 3 weeks to get to me each month. Communication was so important, that I was willing to wait weeks for an answer to my letters. The invention of online communication has expanded our ability to communicate with others in a way that I would not have thought possible as I was waiting in line at the post office to purchase my very expensive air mail stamps. Forget weeks for an answer! How about seconds? Today’s users of email, Blogs, and social networking sites such as Facebook can communicate almost instantaneously, if they choose to. I certainly choose to. My sister who lives several states away has probably written 2 letters in her whole life, never remembers to send pictures of her kids, and calls every now and then. Using Facebook, I can keep up with what my nieces and nephew are doing, view pictures, and sometimes even catch her online and have a quick chat. There’s no denying that online communication tools have made the world a much smaller and much more informed (for better or worse) place. Though, I will never forget the excitement of finding one of those red, white, and blue letters written on the special air mail paper in the mail box.

          One of the drawbacks of opening communication with the whole world is that the whole world is not always nice. To keep your computer and the information that you store on it safe, you have to have security. At home, I have a Firewall and security software that I run regularly. At school, all of our computers are networked and the security software is automatically updated on a daily basis. We are not allowed to download software that is not directly intended for use in the classroom and we must have a valid license for use. Students are also forbidden from bringing software from home to run on a school computer. As a teacher we are expected to monitor students while they are on the computers and make sure that this does not occur, plus the computers in the lab are automatically configured to delete any unauthorized software as they are shut off each night. It is important that we, as adults and educators, model proper computer use for our students and educate them in how to be safe while online, including using security software and being aware of the dangers of viruses and malware.