Twenty years ago, if someone were to tell you that you could carry the entire world’s information in your pocket, you’d think they were crazy. Yet, in today’s world, information from all across the globe is accessible from a small device that fits into your pocket. The Internet is amazing!
The Internet is a huge help to education for three reasons. First, it makes research easier. Second, it encourages learning. Third, it makes it easier to understand complex concepts.
The Internet has made doing research a faster process with less hassle. In the old days we were limited to the library’s hours. If research involved archived articles, we might need to sift through endless reels of microfilm. How many countless hours I spent squinting at fine print searching for my target article!
With the Internet, a search takes place in less than a minute, and I can print at home for the price of printer ink. The Internet also enables me to find what I need right away without the need to pore through long 15 page articles to find the quote or reference that I need. I can simply press control+F (or command+F on a Mac) to find what is relevant to me.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the Internet is how easily accessible education is these days. When I attended University of Florida in 1999 and 2000, online courses were very new. The very first online class I took featured prerecorded lectures and online quizzes. A few years later, I attended Florida State College at Jacksonville, which was much more integrated online. However, most of their online courses consisted of text versions of lectures posted by the teacher with links to reference materials. Forums were sometimes included in online courses for students to interact with each other.
For my Digital Media major, the Internet is an intrinsic part of the in-person courses. We post projects in online forums and create websites on our student web space. In my major, it helps to be able to share video and projects online, so that we can communicate with professors in real time about our projects and grades.
Finally, one of the best parts about the Internet is that someone on the Internet can always explain a concept in terms that you understand. Sometimes a teacher may understand a subject in one way, but you may perceive it a bit differently. There are many people on the Internet, so someone is likely to see things your way.
A person may learn by reading books, listening to lectures, watching videos, and or by interacting the world around them. In my experience, I learn best by interactivity. I had read many articles trying to explain coding, but it was not until I was walked through step-by-step on the format available on Khan Academy that I could finally truly grasp the concept of JavaScript and jQuery. Also, videos are a helpful tool in education. YouTube videos like “CrashCourse” and “historyteachers” make history and politics fun. These videos explained complex subjects in simple terms that made sense to me.
There are three drawbacks to the Internet. One is the credibility of its sources. Many people go to Wikipedia as a reference tool; however, because it is editable by anyone, you may grab inaccurate information before the regulatory staff catches the error. As a result, you may cite incorrect information in your research paper, misinform your friends, or worse, post it on a public posting where others may use your misinformation as a source of reference.
Another drawback is that the Internet can easily become a distraction instead of a useful tool. While researching how to use a program for a school project, an email pop-up or Facebook message may interrupt a student's workflow and result in a late project or an assignment with less time and effort spent on it.
Finally, a major side effect of the Internet is that reading thoroughly has become less common and skimming has become the norm. With the constant influx of information, people have become lazier readers since the advent of the Internet. The biggest telltale signs of this are countless errors in people’s grammar and spelling that have become more prevalent in recent years. These errors have even become common on official documents like parking tickets and reputable sources such as CNN and the New York Times. Some of the errors I have caught included “Veihcle”, “correpondent”, and “rise to their feat.” Undoubtedly this has trickled into the classroom as more students give up reading real books in favor of quick-read articles on the internet and time-consuming social networks.
Although there are a few drawbacks to the Internet, the positives still outweigh the negatives. The Internet has made education much more accessible, therefore improving the opportunities for a more literate and cultured society. With better access to information, we can make smarter decisions for ourselves and for the world as a whole. Tomorrow’s Internet will depend on today’s students to cultivate it. Perhaps, in twenty years, the Internet will exist in dimensions unfathomable by today’s imagination.
