Reflections on the Internet in Education
For many years now, the internet and other emerging technologies have become an integral part of the educational system. This is true, whether you work with pre-school children, or upper-division college students. By integrating new uses of these technologies well, we as educators can try to hurdle some of the obstacles associated with this new challenge. Some of these new challenges are increases in plagiarism, reliability of information from the internet, and student’s social norms that are changing each day.
There is no denying that a good portion of students are going to utilize the internet on their own, whether it is incorporated into their education or not. They use it for quick information gathering, communicating with friends through email, instant messages, and message boards, and even to keep online journals. We have a responsibility as educators to help keep out students out of dangerous territory, while helping them to find new ways to expand their self-education abilities. Every day, students find new ways to use these emerging technologies, and unless we understand and appreciate them, we will be left behind in the world where our students communicate and develop. How then can we teach them effectively?
There are a number of positive attributes that the World Wide Web offers us. The wealth of information that is available quickly and easily to not only our students, but to teachers and educators alike. This information can be accessed in numerous ways, some reliable, and some not so reliable. The internet offers us and our students the chance to connect with other classrooms and other educational institutions in ways that we never have before. Through the use of telecollaberative projects, message boards, list serves, and countless other innovations, our students can and will be exposed to other cultures, communities, and ways of thought that we could not offer them otherwise. Students in other states and countries can participate in classes now through the use of internet ready cameras and communication devices. These students can add experiences and perspective into the classroom that never would have been taken into consideration before, opening up an entire new world of education.
On the other hand, some doors are being opened that we do not always feel have a place in a traditional education. Along with all the new and positive information students are being exposed to come some elements that are more questionable. These range from pornography to financial scams to something as simple as misguided information that could change the way a student looks at the world in a negative way. For any subject, students can create general or quite refined searches. The websites available for any given topic could range from creditable research to someone’s online journal of uneducated opinions on a subject. As educators, where do we draw the line as to what is useful and what is not? At times, I feel like any exposure to a topic can be honed into useful knowledge in the proper educator’s hands. Even the most questionable and controversial topics in our society can be educational if handled in the right fashion. Students are discussing issues with or without us.
As an example of what you can find on any given search, I did an internet search on http://www.google.com. I searched for “art education”. Two of the links from the first return page were for http://www.crayola.com/educators/index.cfm (A site by Crayola) and http://www.naea-reston.org/ (The homepage for the National Art Education Association). While both of the sites offer useful information, and activities, I have to wonder about the bias of the Crayola site. After all, this is a consumer product that the company wishes to sell. Are the activities and information I find on that page as valid as what I may find at the NAEA site, which is a non-profit organization, or are they designing there information so that I will use my educational and personal finances to buy Crayola products?
Not only do
these questions come to mind for me, but it also makes me wonder how my
students may or may not filter this information. I happen to know about the NAEA due to my
professional affiliation with them, but would a student be able to do a search
on the internet and apply the proper filters for themselves for what is a good
source and what is not? A student at
Our students also often feel as though they are navigating a different world when using computers and the internet. Often, we are finding that students do not bring the same set of ethics and morals to this parallel universe that they maintain in their outside lives (Sumner, 1996). In a study done in the summer of 1996, at Southern Illinois University, students and practitioners were asked to participate in various case studies concerning ethical decisions made while using new technologies. While the majority of practitioners made traditionally ethical decisions about computer usage, a portion of the students made some alarming observations. In one situation, 10% of the students surveyed felt it was alright to crash another student’s computer by generating a program that sends the individual more emails than their computer can handle (Sumner, 1996). 24% of those students felt it was alright for students to access one another’s work assignments, even when prohibited from doing so. While these numbers represent only a minority of these particular students, the numbers are still high enough to alarm me as an educator, and realize that people can and do represent themselves differently on the internet than they do outside of their computer usage.
I assume one of the reasons that students feel as though they can make less ethical decisions on the internet is two-fold. One is the anonymity individuals feel when they use the faceless internet. The other reason is a lack of education or conversation about internet and computer usage. What better place to discuss and debate these issues than in the educational system, kindergarten through college.
While taking these issues into consideration, it is hard to deny that we will have to make some changes in the ways we manage our classrooms, activities, residence halls, etc. Students are changing, and we need to be able to change with them. The digital divide does not just occur between social classes, but amongst students and practitioners as well.
As we are asking more of our students and their use of the internet (assignments, research, online journals), are we asking ourselves how we are keeping tabs on the validity of what the students are turning in or being tested on? Knowing that students have a greater propensity to cheat on an assignment, do we change our practices, or simply consider that a cynical point of view?
There is also
the question on cost. Not only do
schools not always have the resources they need, but more often than we
consider, students do not have the resources to use computers outside of
school. Are we inadvertently leaving
some of our students behind by catering to the students who can afford to use
these resources in greater amounts? Some
research shows that this divide is becoming smaller, but I am not convinced
yet. Some organizations, such as the
Speaking of social constructs, students are changing in subtle, but massive ways. From my observations working with college students for many years, individuals between the ages of 18-24 are less able than ever to work in groups effectively, communicate with one another in a positive fashion, or find ways to solve problems using basic deduction skills. Unfortunately, many students do not feel as though they need to do these things anymore. Email, Instant Messaging, and Message boards open up an avenue of communication that allows individuals to communicate in passive aggressive ways.
When I work with students that live in the residence halls, often times when they conflict with another student, they will send them an electronic message through the internet, rather than have a face to face discussion with them. When this does not solve the problem, they then email me or another administrator, asking for us to solve the problem for them. When asked to meet in person, the mere thought of that is somewhat frightening to students who have become used to not having to face problems in person. When forced to, many of my students, who are quite articulate online, are not able to articulate their concerns or needs in person. This compromises their ability to become future leaders, teachers, etc.
College students are also finding it easier to stay connected and therefore dependent upon their family and friends. There are a great portion of students that use the computer along with new cell phone technologies to contact their parents at least once a day. When these students face problems, they are more likely to refer to their parents, rather than to problem solve on their own. This is hurting their ability to live independently outside of the educational environment. Problem solving is an essential skill. It is something we need to be helping students to form on their own early on. I very much enjoyed the resources found at:
This site goes through various problems and scenarios that students can use the internet along side their common sense to solve. By working side by side with students to solve these problems can role model positive internet usage, while still working with others in an effective way.
These examples, along with the ethical questions students must ask themselves, discussed earlier, when computing only solidify my feelings on the need for technology to become a regular part of the educational curriculum in this country, along with explorations of communication and social development.
It is a fact that these issues are not only present today, but will become more prevalent in the future. If not managed well now, they may become far too overwhelming for students and practitioners in the future. Technologies are progressing faster than we can possibly keep up. What does this mean for us as educators? For me, it means teachers and educators finding ways to manage students, while understanding at least the basics and trends presented before us. We are all committed to students. We are all committed to the development of education in our communities. It is time to get back on board with where our students are, and where they are going.
Beyersdorfer, Janet M. (2000) Vacationing with the Michaelsons.
Learning & Leading with Technology, v28 i2 p14
Kamber, Tom, & Ross, Alec (2003) Jumping with Both Feet
into the Digital Divide. Broadband Business
Report,
Poftak, Amy. (2002) Net-Wise Teens: Safety, Ethics, and Innovation. Technology & Learning, 23(1), 36-49. [Online]. Available http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2002/08/netwise.html
Sumner,
Mary R. (1997) Ethics Online. Educom Review. 31(4), 32-35. [Online].
Available http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewarticles/31432.html
Crayola
Art Educators resource (2002) Binny and Smith,
http://www.crayola.com/educators/index.cfm
National Art Education Association home page,
Digital Divide' Shrinking, Study Says. (study by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting)
Communications Today,