Teeneagers and the Internet

I thought that the most significant point made in all of the articles was that teenagers respond very well to websites that engage them through sound, video, and other forms of interactive technologies. This means that they would all probably hate the websites we created for our classrooms. Our classroom websites were designed primarily to get information across to students and parents. As the articles suggested, teenagers do not like to read. They like to be blow away by special effects. Teenagers are so use to playing games with incredible graphics and going to movies with action scenes that took months to create. So, it is hard to please teenagers on the Internet. Teenagers always want new technology to surprise them and exceed their expectations.

In order to create engaging websites for our students, we have to be up to date with the latest technology. The problem is that by the time teachers learn a form of technology, it is already outdated. But, the articles also state that teenagers are not "Tech-Wizards" as we assume. Teenagers in fact have a hard time learning new technology themselves. I believe they catch on quicker because they spend more time using technology. It is the same as the IT guy who can fix your computer in a second because her does it for a living and has much more experience using different forms of technology.

Kids are not going to be blown away bu a website with a lot of text. We have to engage our students with different forms of multimedia. I believe that video will be the key to reaching the largest number of students. Television is still the most common form of technology people use. Most prefer obtaining information on the television because it is easy, quick, and entertaining. I would suggest focusing on how video and the Internet can be used to help our students learn.