SMARTBoards and Advertisement in Education

 Yesterday on Twitter, I posted the following tweet...

I felt compelled to tweet this after looking at a site that I've used many times over the last four to five years. This site (which I really like) is created by an educator (who is amazing) and contains some fantastic resources for other teachers. Unfortunately, it is completely covered (devoured) with advertisements.

It's okay to make a profit...even in education. However, many teachers would like to share web resources with their students so they can use them at home and it really makes it difficult to recommend websites that have more advertising links than resource links.

Another example I can across is the newly revamped Nick Jr. website. My 3 year old loved the old Noggin site but ever since Noggin became Nick Jr., the website became unusable for him. Here's an screenshot of the "Diego's Snowboard Rescue" game on Nick Jr. showing advertisements for the Cayman Islands and how to get a free credit report.

As I said, making a profit in education is not the issue. However, when the method you use to make a profit interferes with the education process, then you might want to re-think your motives or your approach to sharing education resources with teachers.

This week, I will devote attention to some incredible websites that share hundreds of resources and are completely ad free.

Sharing Is Caring!

Comments

[Amber Gooshaw]

This is exactly why I like to use Firefox with the Ad Blocker add-on. It takes care of 99% of those annoying ads, and makes it so they do not even show up on the page.

[Teachers Love SMART Boards]

Thanks Amber! I also like Firefox because they have an add-on called Flash Game Maximizer that will isolate the flash activity and make it fill the screen. Great tool when using an interactive whiteboard.

[Michelle]

I completely agree with some sites being completely overwhelmed with advertisements! I sometimes can't even send my students to these sites, because I don't know what will pop up when they visit them!

[smart boards]

very informative. These smart boards are becoming the new standard in classrooms and meeting rooms, in the 21st century. They take presenting, teaching and learning to new levels of interactivity.

[Amber Gooshaw]

Cool! Thanks!