Week 5

Web accessibility is an area of critical need and understanding not just in benefitting those with disabilities

In today’s world it is imperative that everyone has access to the Internet and knows how to use it properly. Access to the Internet is becoming less of a problem even despite the ability to pay. For those who cannot afford the Internet or computers, there is access available at public places such as libraries. However, access to the Internet is nothing if one does not know how to use it. I learned a lesson the hard way about ones access to the Internet vs. ones ability to use it. During the ’08-’09 school year I taught down in Perry, NY in a long-term sub position. In this position I did a project with my students, which required them to do research on the Internet. This lesson opened my eyes to the problem of students not knowing how to perform a simple Internet search. They were well versed on how to get to Google or Yahoo but they could not perform an affective search. Instead of searching keywords, they searched whole questions and were completely reliant on website such as Wikipedia and Yahoo Answers. As a student I remember sitting through library class and being taught how to use a search engine because the Internet was new and something that needed to be taught. I think today teachers take for granted that students have had computers around their whole lives and assume that they can use it affectively. After this lesson I realized that the students were not taught how to use the Internet for positive gains and this is a lesson they needed. Accessibility is not just about being able to get to a computer or on the Internet; it is also about knowing how to use it to be most beneficial.