Inside PBS Blog

Turns out, teachers want to learn too.  PBS Teachers Connect lets educators save teaching tools like lesson plans and activities to use in the classroom and lets teachers share ideas - enriching their classroom experiences and giving them online discussion boards and access to other exclusive resources. 

So far, the discussion boards have been ablaze with new school year preparation. 

User KKBump, a science and technology teacher in Florida, asks "how are you using technology in your class to promote critical thinking skills?" 

Suennui makes several suggestions:
"You can use digital cameras to help students create stories, programs like Garage Band can be used to create storytelling podcasts, programs like PowerPoint, Adobe Premiere, and Windows Movie Maker can be used to create digital stories."

What is the hottest topic in the discussion forums? Social networking in the classroom, naturally.

Jhight writes: "I am one of those people who believe that we need to recognize the technology as a tool while balancing the over indulgence that the computer, TV, and all typles of media can tend to become."

Janice_s42 agrees, explaining that her daughter "needs that outside contact for social activity and the internet is wonderful for that but i have to monitor it very closely and give her time periods on the internet and then have her close it out and go do something else or she would live on the computer."

Others suggest a more focused and educational way of using social networks.  Teacher dmcdowell offers "I've used Moodle in the past to create a social network of sorts for my students. They absolutely loved it and it allowed four classes of AP World History students to be one."

Do you use the Web as a teaching - or learning - tool?  How much do you think technology has changed the way kids learn from when you were in school?