Education
and the Internet
Authors:
Robin Belem, Renata Lorber, Malcomson, Melanie and Peasgood, Sean
Table of
Contents
Inquiry
Question
Introduction
The
Internet and Its Technology
Incorporating
the Internet into the Classrooms
Distance
Education via the Internet
Education
and Policy Recommendations
Conclusion
Bibliography
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Inquiry
Question
"If
face-to-face communications amongst students and teachers in classrooms are
desirable for quality teaching and learning, and if computers reduce such
communications, why are schools rapidly introducing the Internet into the
classrooms and why is distance education via the Internet growing each
year?" (courseware, 6)
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Introduction
Technology
is only a tool that drives the Internet at a pace unheard of in history. Thus,
it is no surprise that government, educatorsand
community leaders are unsure of their emerging roles as they relate to each
other and find it difficult to keep up with the
changes in the technological arena. (Technology Infrastructure In Schools, 1) Furthermore, educators are seeking technology
solutions to prepare their students for this new society. It is also clear that
the new technology-driven age becomes the vehicle that
will lead to the successful harnessing of information technology to the
students of tomorrow. Thus, with the 21st century approaching, the new, more
powerful technologies are just beginning to make their way into the classrooms
across the nations. For example, new personal computersnow
support multimedia educational software that employs both sound and video to
teach students facts and concepts. These advances in technologies have also
spurred access to the Internet, permitting students and teachers alike to
communicate with people from around the world via electronic e-mails. (Benefits of Technology Use, 1). Perhaps the most important
recognition is that these new ways of obtaining and presenting information have
given students powerful new ways of analyzing and understanding the world
around them.However, limitations and drawbacks to the
incorporations of new technologies into the educational system also exist. A
critical examination of the Internet and its technology will provide the reader
with reasons as to why schools are rapidly introducing the Internet into the
classrooms and facilitating distance education via the Internet. Furthermore,
the reader will be portrayed that face-to-face
communication between students and teachers has long been declining even before
the Internet was introduced into the classroom. By examining the Internet's
incorporation into traditional classrooms, the reader will be
revealed that Educators are aware that the introduction of the Internet,
as a teaching implement, will change the classroom environment, as well as the
teacher-student relationship. Although this change will occur, face-to-face
communication will remain important and a top priority in the educating of
students with this new technology.Furthermore, using
the Internet as a teaching tool does not mean that the face-to-face
communication will decrease with the students. Rather, it means that the role
of educator as a lecturer will evolve into the role of a facilitator. In fact,
face-to-face communication still occurs in Internet-directed education, only in
a different context. Equivalently, the introduction of the Internet into the
distance education environment also changes face-to-face communication amongst
students and teachers. However, it will be shown that
this decline in F2F communication and increase in Internet education is
beneficial to students in ways that F2F education is not. For example, it does
not restrict education geographically whereas F2F education does.Therefore,
students who live in remote areas do not have to travel great distances to get
to classes or access reading materials. In turn, distance education via the
Internet is growing each year. Furthermore, until research can show that
distance education is more effective than F2F education consistently, or vice
versa, it is unwise to eliminate one for the other. With this recognition also
comes the necessity to develop and introduce policies that will facilitate the
Internet's successful implementation as the rapid introduction of Internet
increases each year in every classroom. However, it also must be noted that
since the field of the Internet and education is relatively new, it is
constantly changing and needs to governed Internet as it is introduced into the
classroom is essential even though it is difficult to foresee into the future. In
short, one must recognize that face-to-face communications amongst students and
teachers in classrooms are perhaps desirable for quality teaching and learning,
while many argue that computers reduce such relationship. However, facts
stipulate that schools are rapidly introducing the Internet into the
classrooms. In addition, distance education via the Internet is also rising
each year.
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The
Internet and its Technology
In order to
understand the reasons for the incorporation of the Internet and its technology
into the classroom, it is crucial to examine the technology itself. By such examination, it will
be shown why face-to-face relationship between the teachers and students
has declined in such classrooms. The Internet is defined
to be a "world-wide collection of computer networks, co-operating with
each other to exchange data using common software." (CenterSpan, 1). Through telephone wires, satellite
links and modem cables, Internet users can share information in a variety of
forms. The Internet's size, scope and design permits
users to do various things. From exchanging electronic mail, posting
information for others to access, to multimedia information that includes
things such as sound, photographic images and videos, the Internet does not
fall short of giving a user a world connection. Furthermore, through the
Internet one can download software or research
articles, participate in interactive forums where users post and respond to
public messages or even join in chats. In addition, the Internet does not
merely serve the purpose of being an entertainment commodity, but rather
enables the user to utilize it as a teaching tool. However, the user is not
granted the of opportunity to interacting with someone
else in face-to-face manner.
The
Internet is recognized to be unlike many computer
networks. It consists of not one, but multiple data systems
which were developed independently. Its most popular and significant
systems are electronic
mail, USENET newsgroups, file transfer protocol (ftp), gopher, TELNET, and of
course the World Wide Web (WWW) (CenterSpan, 3). Thus,
when individuals state that the Internet is a recent innovation, they fail to
recognize that the systems which comprise the
Internet, have been around for over a quarter of a century. The Internet
originated from APRANET, which was a United States Department of Defence project. Their goal was to create a nation-wide
computer network that would enable users to send messages among each other even
if a large portion of it was destroyed in a nuclear
war or natural disaster.
During the
following two decades, it was the academic establishments, scientists and the
government who mainly used the network's new technology. Yet, it was the Internet capabilities that appealed to most since it
enabled them to connect to one another and use each other's databases as well
as share their e-mails. However, the educational system did not really see any need in
incorporating the Internet into its classrooms at this time since it did not
facilitate any aspect of the traditional face-to-face learning relationship
between teachers and students. It was not until the early 1990s, when the
government began to pull out of network management, that the commercial
organizations began to offer Internet access to the general
public for the first time. It was this change in
direction that guided the "Internet in becoming a commodity service in
global information infrastructure." (Barry, 19).
With it, came the recognition of its potential in a classroom environment. However,
in order to serve as a tool to students, the Internet and its technology also
needed to be introduced into the home environment. In
addition, teachers were not alone in embracing and incorporating the Internet
and its technology into classrooms. Such technology offered ways for families
to increase their involvement in their children's education. Furthermore, by providing a student with a
home computer and connection to the Internet, it presented the student with the
potential of contacting the teachers from their home. Furthermore, it
facilitated the students with a 24-hour virtual library that could
be referenced and searched at any time. This in turn instigated the
schools to introduce the Internet into classrooms and offer distance education
courses via the Internet.
The
Internet has changed much in the two decades since it came into its existence. It
was conceived in the era of time-sharing, but has survived into the era of
personal computers, client-server and peer-to-peer communications. It was designed before LANs existed, but has accommodated the
new network technology that is now commonly found within educational
institutions. However, the Internet will, or rather must, continue to evolve at
the speed of computer the industry if it is to remain relevant to the
educational system.
One must
also recognize that classroom technology is not usually associated with only
the Internet. Rather, a typical classroom is comprised of scanners, printers,
plotters, CD-ROMS, Internet and other compatible software programs. Thus, it is the combination of these technological devices that
teaches students how to learn better. However, with these massive efforts to
convert traditional teaching to something that can be delivered
via the Internet and its technology, many fail to recognize that this
technology's purpose should be questioned. Foremost, one should recognize that
the face-to-face communication between teachers and students is
reduced in such an environment. This in turn becomes a threat since the
traditional educational system believes that face-to-face relationship between
teachers and students is desirable for quality teaching and learning. One must
also recognize that the purpose of providing the technology to schools is to
"improve student academic performance and other educational outcomes, not
to provide state-of-the-art equipment for its own sake." (Barton, 2). Technology can indeed be effective in
incrementing a student's achievement, but this effectiveness depends upon how
and if the technology is used and not whether a classroom has the latest
technological instruments and software. (3) In simpler terms,
it is not the amount of technology available in the classroom that should be
the greatest factor, but rather if the teachers and students are willing to use
it correctly.
The
incorporation of the Internet and its technology into the classroom is not a
new idea. Teachers supported early technologies such as blackboards and desks, because they made
it easier for teachers to manage the classroom and convey information. Later
innovations, such as films and educational television, were
resisted because they would undermine the teacher-student relationship. In
simpler terms, teachers resisted these technologies because they did not
facilitate face-to-face communication with their students. In addition, these
technologies were seen as a substitute for teachers
since they would have less time to interact with students. Thus, historically
teachers have been resistant to technological innovations because they
minimized face-to-face relationships between students and teachers. Yet, the
use of films and television is common technology in every classroom today. Thus,
the Internet will equally become a common technology even though it tarnishes
the ideal model of face-to-face communication. Furthermore, one must recognize
that the near future is happening today since schools are rapidly introducing
the Internet into the classrooms and distance education via the Internet is growing
each year.
The
incorporation of the Internet and its technology into the classroom is also not
a new issue due to its conceptual origins in the first industrial revolution. Heffron argues that
"the
division of labour; the rise of interchangeability
which introduced the idea of sequential or continuos
flow, a precursor of the modern assembly line; the national unification of
production, marketing and distribution in the late nineteenth century of
systematic management; and the invention of such early controlling devices as
Analytical Machine" (501)
is the
antecedent of a control revolution involving information processing,
programming, decision and communication. Furthermore, in the environment consisting
of a human and a machine, face-to-face communication is
minimized, if not eliminated all together. Thus, the procedure of
operation and computer's functionality is not a new concept one should need to
get used to. He implicates that the educational
systems should therefore embrace the Internet and its technology and it is
essential that they teach the students of tomorrow with the tools available
today. In simpler terms, many recognize that by the 21st century, "60
percent of all jobs in the nation will require skills in computer and network
use." (Benefit of Technology Use, 3). This means that students who do not know the
essentials of using the Internet and its technology will be at a distinct
disadvantage. Furthermore, face-to-face communication is not the backbone of
future working environments and thus perhaps face-to-face should not be the
only desirable form of delivering quality education. Conceivably, this has been recognized by today's educational system. That is,
schools today are rapidly introducing the Internet into classrooms and are
increasingly offering distance education via the Internet since they recognize
that the Internet and its technology will be incorporated
into the jobs of the future. Through an examination of Internet technology as
well as its associated tools and machinery, one can see the importance the
technology plays in a student's educational environment.
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Incorporating
the Internet into the Classroom
The
Internet is an innovative piece of technology that serves many purposes. In
fact, it is now being introduced into classrooms as an
educational tool. Educators are aware
that the introduction of the Internet, as a teaching implement, will change the
classroom environment, as well as the teacher-student relationship. Although
this change will occur, face-to-face communication will remain important and a
top priority in the educating of students with this new technology. The
introduction of the Internet into the classroom is a recent development,
therefore the outcomes of its presence in the classroom are still being
evaluated. Certainly, it has many positive qualities, like encouraging students
to be self-motivated, but it also carries negative qualities, such as the task
of censoring explicit materials. Therefore, the topic of the incorporation of
the Internet into the classroom is a vast one.
Let's now
examine the purpose of the Internet in the classroom and how it can be used for
teaching. As Ann Heide explains in her book, The
Teacher's Complete and Easy Guide to the Internet, the Internet is becoming an
essential aspect in education because of the increased role of computers in
every part of life. Therefore, "it is important that all students today
learn to access, analyze, and communicate electronic information
effectively." (Heide, 7) This means that the
emphasis on the educating of the Internet is essential to train children in the
knowledge that they will have to know later in life. Preparing children for the
future is what education is all about and if teaching
children to use the Internet will help them succeed in the future, then
it should become a high priority in the curriculum. Teaching children to be
independent is also imperative in the educational process. The Internet can be integrated into the curriculum as a teaching tool
with success. Using the Internet is an excellent example of interactive
learning for the students. It allows them to learn about things
which textbooks cannot offer. In
fact, the Internet can be used to help educate
students in every subject because of the high availability of resources. Children
can learn about physics by visiting the
An outcome
of implementing the Internet into the classroom is the fact that the educators
must monitor the material that children can access on the Internet. When
technology, like the Internet, is introduced as a
teaching tool into the classroom, new concerns can arise. Since a single controlling body does not
regulate the Internet, many dangers can lurk which can jeopardize the
Internet's credibility as an educational implement. The dangers that are
prominent and accessible by anyone are pornography, racial hatred, and
violence. It is key to maintain control over the
accessibility of these types of sites by careful monitoring. To combat this
problem, schools have begun investing in devices to censor unacceptable,
un-educational material. There are many different systems
which schools have the opportunity to select. One particular system is
filtering software, which evaluates the addresses and keywords describing sites
that contain explicit material, and placing them in a list of unacceptable
sites. (Mather, 39) Schools can also administer
Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs), which layout the
appropriateness of sites for users in a policy form which
is determined by the school. (Mather, 39) Systems
that rate the suitability of a site can also be used
within schools to monitor Internet activity, such as the Recreational Software
Advisory Council. (Mather, 39) In reality, the
monitoring of material is the responsibility of the teachers because they are
the ones who are implementing the Internet into the curriculum.
With this
idea in mind, one should also inspect all other possibilities of the teachers
and educators in the facilitating of learning on the Internet. Another outcome
of the introduction of the Internet as a learning tool is the new
responsibilities and role that the educator will have to take on. Besides the
censoring of certain explicit material on the Internet which
is inappropriate for viewing by children, the main responsibility of educators
facilitating learning on the Internet is the assurance that the work being done
has educational value. If the Internet is introduced
into a classroom, there must be a good reason for its entry. The students must use the Internet in a
productive manner, rather than simply "surfing" the web and playing
games. To guarantee that learning is occurring, the access may have to be
restricted to point children in the right direction. Educator Ragen Tiliakos, uses bookmarks to make sure that the children are using
the Internet effectively and appropriately for their class work. (Mather, 42) By restricting the sites available to his
students, Tiliakos can ensure that the Internet is being used as a learning tool and not for recreation. This
is incredibly important when new technology is introduced
into an educational setting. Another responsibility of educators in
facilitating Internet learning is to teach the skills required to use the
Internet. In order to use the Internet, the children must know how it works and
how they can use it. This is an added responsibility for the educator because
they have to know how to use the Internet themselves. Ensuring the productivity
of the work on the Internet and teaching the skills to use it are important,
but once students are on the Internet, it is the educator's responsibility to
maintain face-to-face communication with the children. When new technology is
introduced into a classroom, the students and the educator must adjust
to it. This means that it is the teacher's responsibility to learn how to teach
differently. Using the Internet as a teaching tool does not mean that the
face-to-face communication will decrease with the students, but rather it means
that the role of educator as a lecturer will evolve into the role of a
facilitator. In fact, the face-to-face communication still occurs in
Internet-directed education, only in a different context. To make this type of
educating successful, it is the educator's responsibility to ensure that they
are qualified to act in their new role.
Qualifications
of teachers and educators facilitating learning on the Internet must also be examined. Since it is evident that the
relationship between teacher and student will change with the introduction of
the Internet as a teaching tool, educators must know how to facilitate rather
than lecture. For example, teaching students how to use the Internet to learn
about how the Egyptians built pyramids is not the same as standing in front of
a class discussing the topic. Teachers
must be able to effectively communicate with their
students while they use the Internet in the classroom. This might mean that
educators would have to take courses on how to facilitate learning, rather then
lecturing, to ensure that the students are gaining educational value from their
Internet experience. If educators are going to facilitate learning via the
Internet, it is imperative that they know how to use it fully. This is a
problem that arises in many schools where the majority of the teachers did not
grow up with computers, and do not have the required knowledge of the Internet
to facilitate its use in the classroom. As indicated earlier, it is the
teacher's responsibility to monitor how the Internet is used
as an educational tool and this includes proper teaching of how it works. Introducing
the Internet into the classroom may not be possible for many teachers because
they do not have the qualifications to teach with the Internet. In the
One must
also examine how educators, teachers and students benefit from using the
Internet as a learning tool. When new technology is
introduced into a classroom, changes are inevitably going to occur. Implementing
the Internet into the classroom is quite beneficial for teachers and for
students. Teachers are invited to try new ways of
teaching. If they are familiar with the lecturing style of teaching, they can
add variety to their work when the Internet is incorporated. At the same time,
they can practice facilitating the learning process rather than lecturing. Children,
too, benefit from the introduction of the Internet as a learning tool. Students can learn to become more independent
with their work. Some children, once they feel confident with their skills on
the Internet can become experts for the rest of the children. They can take on
the "teacher" role by peer tutoring their friends. (Sandholtz, 77) This is beneficial, as well, since children
learn to communicate face-to-face with their peers, whereas in traditional
education students only engage in teacher-student face-to-face communication. When
students are placed in the position of being the
expert on something, they begin to learn how to deal with leadership. This is a skill that sometimes is not focused on in elementary
education. There are many other benefits that come
from introducing new technology into the classroom. For example, the students
who have difficulty in learning might find that learning information from the
Internet is easier for them. (Sandholtz, 81) As well,
in a group project like the "MayaQuest,"
the students in the classroom work as a team, which may not
be as easily done in a conventional classroom. Thus, the Internet is
quite beneficial for students and teachers because it introduces new roles that
both must take on to make sure learning is successful.
One must
not forget the study the downfalls of using the Internet in the classroom. Just
as there are a number of advantages to the implementation of the Internet into
the classroom, disadvantages plague the introduction of this technology. One
downfall is the loss of central educator focus in the classroom. (Sandholtz, 136) From the students' perspective, the teacher
may lose credibility as a reliable source because the children begin to trust
their peers over the teacher as the experts. Another disadvantage is that for
some students, the teacher-student face-to-face communication in traditional
education may be the only way they learn.
They might be incapable of self-directed learning via the Internet and
need the teacher to tell them exactly what to do all of the time. Another downfall that exists is when new
students who come into the classroom come from a school that did not have the
funding or expertise to use the Internet. As a result, all of the children in
the class will have prior knowledge and the student with no knowledge of the
Internet will find it difficult to adjust. One final downfall of the
introduction of the Internet into the classroom is the loss of some part of the
curriculum to make room for using the Internet as a learning resource. If the
Internet is introduced, the curriculum will have to be
reorganized to determine what is not necessary so that education on the
Internet can be inserted. That is, something will have to be
removed from the curriculum to fit in learning on the Internet.
One last
outcome that should be addressed is the cost of
implementing the Internet as a learning tool and who will fund it. In the age
of government cut backs, the possibility of implementing the Internet in every
classroom in every school seems unrealistic. The idea of having the Internet in
the classroom as a learning tool is positive and innovative. However, in order
for its successful implementation, it has to be done
for every school, regardless of the jurisdiction. The cost of having the
Internet in every classroom is high. The cost not only includes the price of
the software for the web browser and a modem, but also includes the operational
and capital costs. This means that
somehow there must be funding available to pay for the equipment, the
renovations of the rooms where the computers will be located (installation of
phone jacks, etc.), service contracts for when the hardware and software
malfunction, replacements or upgrades for existing outdated equipment, a server
for the school, and usage costs. (Burge & Roberts, 67-68) This is a great deal of money that schools will need to incorporate
and execute the new technology. However, it is not the school which is funding this endeavour,
it is the jurisdiction. As it is known, not all
jurisdictions collect the same amount of taxes. Therefore, funding from
jurisdictions will ensure that the wealthier, suburban areas will continue to
have the best technology because they pay the most taxes. As a result, the poor
urban or rural areas will not be able to afford the implementation of the
Internet into their schools. Until this unequal funding can be
solved, future of the incorporating the Internet into the classroom is
uncertain.
The
introduction of the Internet into the classroom as a learning tool is a
relatively new development, thus the results of whether it is more effective in
educating than face-to-face communication in traditional education, are still
being determined. It has
been shown that, the use of the Internet in the classroom has proven to
be beneficial because it allows students to explore and learn in new ways. In
fact, the use of the Internet in the classroom introduces children to the
technology that will inevitably play a huge part in their lives. The overriding
advantage of implementing the Internet as a teaching tool is that it permits
students to still have the face-to-face communication
with their teacher and peers, while learning how to use this new technology.
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Distance
Education
Distance
education is a form of education in which "the teaching and learning
process involves activities where the learners are at a distance from the originator
of the teaching material" (Phipps, 11). "Since distance education
will be about 100 years old by the year 2000" (Saba, 3), it has been used
to teach all ages in many areas of study, with the help of a number of media
technologies. The collaboration of distance learning and the Internet, however,
is a fairly recent phenomenon for those interested in
higher education. As university students become aware of the Internet and its
applications, higher education institutions realize the potential of the Internet
in the role of education at a distance. In fact, there are "very few
institutions of higher education not practising
distance teaching." (
The
Internet has a multitude of applications that illustrate how the Internet can
facilitate higher education in ways that face-to-face education cannot. Firstly,
it does not restrict education geographically whereas F2F education does. Students who live in remote areas do not have
to travel great distances to get to classes or access reading materials. (Southard,
428) Secondly, with the use of email, students can maintain one-to-one correspondence
with instructors. In F2F education, students must make appointments with
instructors, which can be time-consuming and difficult to do since students' and instructors' schedules may not coincide. Conversely,
students can receive feedback from instructors quickly using email. Moreover,
email between students has been shown to "facilitate group dynamics that
are likely to encourage collaborative learning" (Schneider, 54) which can
enhance learning for students. Thirdly, the World Wide Web can
be used to post answers to common questions asked by students so that
other students may benefit. It is also a convenient way to access a vast array
of sources to facilitate assignments and essays. The WWW also offers
instructors the option of creating a classroom homepage with information such
as the course syllabus, exercises, and specific links to the WWW that have to
do with course content. Lastly, the
Internet can be used to apply course content to the
real world. For example, commerce and MBA students at
Since the
Internet has so many applications that may facilitate learning, one would
expect research on distance education via the Internet and F2F education to
show that students do better on on-line courses than they do on traditional
courses. However, this is not the case.
The results of current studies range from showing that "Cyber-learners
perform significantly better than Traditional learners" (Russel, Sig.. p.2) to "a
higher percentage of students participating in a distance learning course tend
to drop out before the course (is) completed compared to students in a
conventional classroom" (Phipps, 25). Also, there
are numerous studies showing that "off-campus students perform just as
well as their on-campus counterparts in the same courses" (Russel, The no..., 4). Therefore, the research available
does not prove or disprove that distance learning via the Internet is more
effective than F2F learning, it merely shows that they
are equal in effectiveness.
There are three possible outcomes that may result from the growing trend of the
incorporation of the Internet into higher education. Knowing that the research
shows advantages and disadvantages to distance education via the Internet, each
outcome may have very different consequences.
The first possible outcome is that faculty and students resist the
advancement of distance learning into their schools. The consequences for
students who attend a school that completely extinguishes distance learning
from the delivery of education are obvious. Firstly, students would be unable
to take advantage of all the benefits that the distance education via the
Internet, which were previously mentioned. Also, they
would be lagging behind a world that is moving forward with the incorporation
of information technologies into virtually every job and area of research. Thus,
it simply would not be in a higher institutions best interest to eliminate
distance learning from its curriculum.
A second
possible outcome is that schools completely incorporate the Internet into their
curriculum and reduce the delivery of F2F education. This outcome, of course,
would have important implications for both teachers and students. Firstly, the
Internet tends to be time consuming. Some studies show that for teachers,
"presenting content at a distance is usually more time consuming than
presenting the same content in a traditional classroom." (Willis, 3) Other studies concerned with the students
perspective show that factors which take up learning time
include "time taken to download material through WWW server, system
crashes necessitating rebooting individual machines, unavailable links and
sites, and log on times" (Oliver, 284). Therefore, the technology itself
can put time constraints on the ability of the teacher to convey lessons as
well as the ability of the student to receive them. Secondly, students'
accessibility to the Internet may limit their ability to participate in
distance courses. Many students who cannot afford to purchase personal
computers can only access the Internet on campus. This has important
implications in distance education since "convenient access from home or
work may influence student success." (Willis, 3) Also,
many students are not comfortable using computers. Since computer illiteracy
puts those inexperienced students at a disadvantage, equal opportunity is not ensured for all students. Thirdly, distance education via the Internet
is more costly than traditional forms of education. "Experience to date
demonstrates clearly that computer-based teaching, with...equipment, upgrades,
maintenance, and technical and administrative support staff, costs more... than
traditional education." (Noble, 42) Fourthly, there is a concern that
education at higher institutions has a more profound effect on students than
simply feeding them with information. Students learn about themselves and
undergo "psychosocial changes, such as identity, self-concept,
self-esteem, relating to others...,(and) development
of attitudes and values." (Phipps, 24) Learning at a distance simply does
not provide the opportunity for this type of growth to occur. In essence,
distance learners are robbed of the experience of
going away to university. In short, the incorporation of the Internet can have
a variety of negative effects on students learning and the delivery of
education.
An example
of the complete incorporation of the Internet into education and its
disadvantages is found at
Simon Fraser University (SFU) in
A third
possible outcome is that higher learning institutions incorporate a hybrid
learning system, that is, the incorporation of distance teaching into F2F
teaching, into their delivery of education.
This way, the "inclusion of Internet-related
activities as an augmentation to classroom-based instruction can help to
provide students with the best of both worlds" (Southard, 430). Coupling
the Internet and F2F education would ensure that students who are unable access
the Internet as well as students who cannot afford to purchase a computer are
not at a disadvantage, and it would not deprive them
of the experience of going away to university. It would also give students who
are not comfortable working with computers an
opportunity to gradually incorporate computers into their studies. Instructors
would have some control on the extent to which the Internet is
incorporated into their courses and could choose the applications that
would be most beneficial to their students. Thus, the incorporation of distance
education into F2F education could prove to be very beneficial to students and
thus would be in the best interest of higher education institutions.
While the
extent of the collaboration of the Internet and higher education varies from
school to school, it is likely to alter the way that the majority of university
courses are offered. As Kenneth Green states, "what's ahead for most
faculty and most students is some kind of hybrid learning experience in which
technology supplements, not supplants, both the content and the discourse that
have been part of the traditional experience of going to college" (Green,
2). Perhaps the best option at this time is to keep from transforming F2F
courses into distance courses all at once. For now, "the higher education
community has a lot to learn regarding how, and in what ways, technology can
enhance the teaching/learning process, particularly at a distance"
(Phipps, 29). Thus, research on the effects of the augmentation of distance
education and the corresponding reduction of F2F education on students and
instructors must continue. Until research can show that distance education is
more effective than F2F education consistently, or vice versa, it is unwise to
eliminate one for the other.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Education
and Policy Recommendations
The Internet and information technology has
penetrated almost every aspect of life and has changed the work force. Due to the fact that almost all jobs use computers and
information technology it makes sense that the education system should
incorporate these skills into their curriculum. If computers continue to enter
into the classroom, and change the learning environment then policies and
regulations will have to be enforced. How should the changes in the education system take place and who is going to formulate
the new public policies around these issues?
The main
goal of the education system is to strive for better and equal public education
across differing communities and socio-economic status. This has been the goal
for sometime, as low-income schools seem to correlate with worse education
(Jones, 1). With the increasing
importance of information technology and the extra costs that are associated
with new computers and software it has been a difficult goal to
consistently reach. The first policy recommendation (1) "Equality
of Technology" is the fact that a standard of equality of technology among
all public schools must be achieved. A certain number
of computers and up-to-date software per student will have to be installed in each school, creating the new classroom
environment. This will ensure that all students have equal opportunity to
access the Internet and its technology in the school environment. The next issue is who will be teaching these students the
technology and will all the teachers be qualified to do so? This
question leads into the next recommendation called (2) "Trained
Teachers" indicating that all teachers will have to possess a certain
degree of computer knowledge and information technology skills for the grade
level that they teach. This will have to
be regulated by a mandatory teacher's test that sets a
standard for appropriate results. If these results are not
achieved, they will have to enrol in an
information course and retake the test. There are many possible ways to educate
teachers; independent learning, group learning with independent practice, and hands on computer instruction. (Harris 2) This
will ensure that the quality of teaching is above a certain level and that all
schools will have not only the equipment to facilitate this new learning, but
also a knowledgeable teaching staff to accompany this new technological
classroom.
The
equipment and the teaching staff will have to be assisted by a new design of
class time and the incorporation of new computers and information technology
into the curriculum. However, importance must be drawn to the necessity of
retaining as much face-to-face communication between
students and teachers as possible. There are a number of ways to use the
Internet and incorporate it into other subjects. This may have an impact on
upper level students after the essential computer skills have
been engraved in the lower grades. For example, a grade seven class may
have to do a small research project using only information found on the
Internet. These types of assignments are important for learning to use the
Internet and the information found in its pages properly and resourcefully. The
third policy recommendation entitled (3) "New Integrated Curriculum"
involves a new design of appropriate classroom activities and scheduling equal
amounts of time for each academic level on the computer. Each grade should be given
access to the computers at least once a week for classes on the Internet and
other computer-related skills. The new curriculum will have to be developed, implemented, and revised as new technology develops. This
will ensure that by the time children reach high school, they will posses
significant experience and skills to use computers and its associated
information technology, thereby giving them the confidence to enrol in related courses later in their schooling. The
growth of equal education in computer and information technology may help
children of lower socio-economic status compete with the children of higher
socio-economic status who may have the advantage of computer access at home.
The last
policy recommendation (4) "Censorship of Content Accessible" deals
with the issue of content on the Internet, and regulating various inappropriate
sites. If young children are given access to the Internet at school it will
have to be the
school's responsibility to ensure appropriate material is being
used. It will be very difficult to control this in a classroom full of students
with only one teacher. A server could be created specifically
for schools and controlled by the board of education. This would be monitored so that offensive and inappropriate
materials would be removed at the source, preventing access for students at
school. This way, all of the school's computers could be connected which would
in turn allow for online conversation about subjects related to school, peers,
social events and even pen pals. Parental discrepancy would have to be expected in the home of students who owned their own
computers. The school would
not be held responsible for activities on the Internet outside of school
time, and parents would be advised that their children should be using the
Internet in an appropriate manner. These recommendations would all have to be discussed and implemented by the government, teachers and
the public sector. In order for the schools to implement this policy they may begin by censoring out sites by
inappropriate words contained within the site. This would not be the best way
as valuable sites may be lost, however this may be the only way to implement
such a policy quickly and efficiently. Over time the
board may come up with better ways to censor material entering the schools via
the Internet.
Not only is
education being effected in the classroom, but as
entertainment, shopping, and other activities reach the home via the Internet,
so is education in the form of virtual universities and distance
education. This relatively new
advancement may have some issues that need to be regulated
through the creation of new public policies. The first policy recommendation
for distance education called (5) "Distance Education and Copyrights"
involves educating teachers and users on deciding what material is fair to use.
Since the passing of the copyright law there has been
a large advancement of technology for distance education, therefore making the
copyright law unclear for the distance education classroom. This causes a
problem in deciding what material is fair to use. For this reason, educators
must be very careful when using material that is not their own. A possible
policy recommendation is that staff and instructors of the distant education
class must be informed of the copyright laws and these
laws must be obeyed (Willis, 3). Proper citations will have to be used and this should be enforced through lawsuits.
Computer
skills and the use of the Internet for distant education may affect the marks
of students who do not acquire as much knowledge about the Internet. Also, it may take away from the experience of "going
away to university". If distance
learning via the Internet is an option that students can choose then it may
open a new door to education and it may be a better option for those students
not quite ready to leave home. However students should
not be forced to take their degree via the Internet unless they choose to do
so. Policy recommendation number two then (6) "Distance Education cannot
be Mandatory" should be formulated and relates to the educator not being
able to make distance education via the Internet mandatory, and that the student
should have a choice. If some classes are only offered via the Internet, this
may disadvantage some students who may lack necessary computer skills to enrol, it
may also take away from the interactive class environment. Some students may
also want to experience the change in lifestyle that goes along with university
because some of the greatest learning experiences can come from outside of the
classroom. For example, students may learn to become more independent and
interact among new peers and extracurricular groups.
A major
problem at universities and colleges throughout the educational systems is
academic dishonesty. This is something that schools do not tolerate and try to
control through seating arrangement, signatures and student picture identification.
How will academic dishonesty be controlled through the Internet, and will
student work be secure from the public? Policies
must be drawn up to control (7) "Academic Dishonesty via the
Internet". One possibility is that registration would have to be made in person, this way a student card could be issued
with picture identification. Assignments could be done and submitted over the Internet, however, final exams would have to be written in
person so that identification could be verified. In this way, exams could be
worth at least half of the mark to ensure that students produced their own
work. Another possibility that could be used in the
future is video conferencing so those students could be monitored during their
exam. The problem of academic dishonesty still has not been
perfected at non-virtual schools. It is therefore difficult to come up
with a perfect situation for a virtual classroom. The major point is that
academic dishonesty cannot be forgotten and it will
need to be monitored in some manner. Some policy recommendations may be more
effective than others and as such, all should be
discussed and evaluated.
As students
submit their work over the Internet they need to know
that it will be secure and not open to the public. For this reason, student work that is submitted must be protected to ensure copyrights and
prevent plagiarism. The next policy recommendation (8) "Student
Protection" must be created to protect the work
of the students from outside sources, and personal information that the
university may have online about their students. For example, all schools could
have their own access code that could be followed by a
student code, which in turn would be encrypted. Therefore, the school could
monitor students to ensure that they do not release their passwords to others,
thus preventing the public from having access to the private aspects of the
school. Marks would also have to be privately distributed
to the students with the aid of cryptography, in order to keep this information
private from the public.
As schools
continue to incorporate the Internet into their curriculum these policies will
have to be discussed, organized and delivered to the
public for evaluation. Once passed some will involve financial needs, equipment and time to
become familiar with the new system. Policies will then have to be revised as the Internet becomes a more prominent tool and
as difficulties are found within the new system. Since the field of the
Internet and education is relatively new, it is constantly changing and needs
to be governed even though it is difficult to foresee
into the future. Only time will help these policies develop and become
completely effective in the educational system and ensure that the quality of
education is not being effected in a negative manner.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
As the
Internet and its technology evolves and becomes an influential part of the
everyday life, its incorporations into the educational infrastructure becomes essential.It is therefore imperative that the Internet and
its technology becomes integrated into every classroom in order to prepare the
students of tomorrow for their future. Furthermore, higher education systems
are beginning to recognize the importance of these technologies and are thus
incorporating distance education via the Internet into their curriculum. Although
implementing the Internet is important in the advancement of education, the
implications it will have on face-to-face communication between educator and
student must be assessed. Many outcomes will result
with gradual replacement of the traditional classroom setting with a
technologically advanced one.These outcomes, whether
beneficial or not, will change the relationship of the educator and the
student, thus causing the kind of face-to-face communication found in
traditional educational settings to evolve as well. Therefore, it is essential
that new policies accompany the alteration of the traditional educational system.
However, consideration should be given to the fact
that current research available is not conclusive in determining the most
effective way to teach students with the aid of the Internet and its
technologies, or the effect it will have on face-to-face communication between
educator and student. Thus, the incorporation of this technology into the
educational system still raises the age-old question that the traditional
educational system introduced, What is the most
effective way to teach the students of tomorrow?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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