Education in a Technological World
By Alison Larson
One of the fastest-growing uses of the Internet today is in education. According
to a 2000 survey from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), nearly
90 percent of all U.S. public schools in that year had connections to the Internet,
and 71 percent of all classrooms had a computer with Internet access. By 2002,
another survey from the NCES found that virtually all (99 percent) of the nation’s
schools are now connected to the Internet. While the Internet is beneficial
to both teachers and students, there are many obstacles schools face in maintaining
Internet connections.
From a teacher’s perspective, the Internet can be a very useful tool in
the classroom. Teachers are able to bring a wider range of resources to their
students and to have access to that information almost instantly. The Internet
also provides teachers with greater communication tools, allowing them connections
with other schools all over the world, which can help enhance cultural and global
awareness within the classroom. For such subjects as current events and international
news, teachers can use the Internet to provide students with up-to-date information
from newspapers around the globe.
Students are perhaps one of the largest groups of people involved in the use
of the Internet. The virtually limitless amount of sources available online
makes the research process much less tedious than it used to be. Rather than
having to go from library to library and dig through endless stacks of books,
students can access the databases of nearly any library in the world right from
their homes.
Despite the many benefits derived from using the Internet for educational purposes,
teachers and students are faced with many new problems associated with the Internet.
One such problem that affects both teachers and students is learning how to
navigate the Internet efficiently to find the needed information. Unless they
know what they are looking for, searching for information can be a rather time-consuming
process for both teachers and students. According to a 1999 survey from the
NCES, only 23 percent of teachers interviewed reported feeling well prepared
towards using the Internet in their classrooms. For many teachers, learning
to effectively implement new technology within their curriculum may require
additional training, an expense of both time and money that many schools cannot
afford.
Keeping up with modern technology presents another budget problem for many schools.
In most cases, there are simply not enough computers to go around. One computer
in a classroom does not provide sufficient Internet access for a class of 25
or 30 students. And, as new technology develops, older equipment often goes
out of date within a few years and needs to be replaced frequently.
Perhaps the greatest challenges regarding use of the Internet in the classroom
are the accessibility of questionable materials and the reliability of the information
available. In their book Youth, Pornography and the Internet, Dick
Thornburgh and Herbert Lin reported that along with the advancement of the Internet
has come an increase in the availability of pornography and other sexually explicit
material.
According to Mark Walsh in a July 2002 issue of Education Week, the
Children’s Internet Protection Act, which was passed in 2000, “requires
both schools and public libraries receiving federal technology funding to equip
their computers with [filtering] software” to prevent children from viewing
Internet pornography. As of May 31, 2002, the law as it applies to public libraries
was ruled in violation of the First Amendment and was overturned by a Federal
Court. However, as of now, all public schools are still required to install
filtering software on their computers.
In addition to sexually explicit material, the Internet seems to have an overwhelming
number of unreliable sources. A general subject search through an Internet search
engine such as Google or Yahoo can produce a results list numbering in the millions,
ranging from scholarly publications to personal websites.
The rapid expansion of the Internet makes it virtually impossible for anyone
to know everything there is to know about the vast quantity of information available
online. Traditionally, before a print source such as an article, book or other
scholarly work can be published, it must go through some kind of review or editing
process. With the Internet, however, there is no regulating body that monitors
the information posted on a website; therefore anyone can post anything regarding
any subject on the Internet, whether the information is true or not.
In order to conduct more accurate research, students must learn to distinguish
the difference between reliable and unreliable sources. Some things to consider
when looking at a website are the appearance of the site and the sponsoring
organization. Websites that are overloaded with flashy graphics and advertisements
may not be the best sources for scholarly research. Also, in general, a credible
website with reliable information should give some kind of credentials regarding
the author and/or the sponsoring organization.
When used properly, the Internet can be a very effective tool for both teachers
and students. However, only through continuous education and practice can teachers
and students learn to avoid the kind of problems associated with using to Internet
for research and other educational purposes.
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Copyright © 2002 by Alison Larson. All rights reserved.
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