Ubiquitous Internet

I attended my nephew's 5th birthday last weekend.  The party was held at Monkey Joe's - a playspace full of inflatable bouncy houses, including climbing areas, slides, and lots of fun places to crawl through, jump, and bounce!

Midway through the party, my sister commented that many of the kids were gathered around a computer.  Apparently, in addition to bouncy houses, there were also Internet-connected computers available for the kids to play with.  All of them understood how to use the computer without help - clearly, they had all used a mouse and a keyboard before. 

I wasn't sure what I thought of the fact that kids were provided with computers to surf the net.  I assume there were some limits placed on which sites the computer would visit, but that's not really what I was concerned about.  It seemed strange that a bouncy house playspace also included computers.

On my drive home, I realized that I was engaged in 20th century thinking.  For the little kids at the party (none of whom were even alive in the 20th century) Internet access is a given.  Having an opinion about whether the web should be part of a party is like having an opinion about whether air should be used to inflate bouncy houses.  At best, such a question is an amusing hypothetical; at worst it's absurd and irrelevant.  Of course the bouncy houses will be full of air.  And of course the Internet will be available at all times.

These are our future students.  It's important to remember that for them the Internet is a constant presence.  The question isn't whether to use the web in the classroom.  The question is how to use it effectively.