Serious WWW Pitfalls for Teachers and Students
All these special interests on the WWW
are not necessarily for the good of all or anyone.
Yes, materials ranging from the Playboy homepage to some pretty strange
stuff are out there. It took me about 45 minutes to find the Playboy
page. It will take your students about 45 seconds.
The Militia's and other questionable groups have bomb making pages too.
Some "chat" groups host pedophiles.
- What are the risks to you ... if a student finds the Playboy site?
- How can you cope with those risks ... if you are identified as
the provider of this information?
- How can you help students understand the risks ... if they
interact with net-trolling pedophiles?
Not so Serious, but Annoying:
- If you use the WWW in class, sometimes pages will not be available.
Great demo plans, but it doesn't deliver.
It is quite common for site servers to be unavailable, overloaded, etc.
- Are we adapting the technology or coping with it?
As with any new technology, we sometimes get caught up in the
new gadgets and forget what our mission is.
When TV's were introduced into classrooms, they came with more promise
than the eventual results.
- How can we use the WWW to convey the content of math?
- How can we prepare students to use the WWW to do more with
learning than books permitted?