Net-power in the classroom

Net-power in the classroom:
Learning benefits, problems, and strategies

Diana Tien Irafahmi

Introduction
The continued use of internet in teaching and learning holds implications regarding the potential as well as the problems of the use of the internet in education. I had little understanding about this, until I myself experienced the regular access to using the internet and found that the internet is really advantageous for both students and teachers. On the other hand, I also believe that there are problems facing educators in creating an ideal process of teaching and learning with integrating internet. Therefore, this paper mainly explores the benefits and the problems arising from going online for educational purposes that are discussed in the relevant literature. It is significant to consider these issues as we need to find out the strategies based on the strengths and weaknesses that have been encountered and to use these accordingly.

Since education and the internet apply to a wide range of contexts, I will not discuss distance education, internet pornography, WebQuest, blog and wikis, or virtual classrooms in particular; rather my purpose here is to concentrate mostly on the internet as a vast source of information that is potentially used as an instructional medium in a real classroom, creating a collaborative learning culture, and revolutionizing classroom culture. Instead of choosing an entirely virtual learning focus, I choose a blended learning focus for this paper based on two understandings: Firstly, education should be perceived as “a deeply social practice that requires time and at least some face-to-face interaction between teacher and students”, therefore combining the internet within classroom activities is one of among many right options to enhance learning objectives (Snyder & Beavis, 2004, p. xv). Secondly, because learning is social activity and students learn from each other, the effective use of internet should be implemented in pedagogical circumstances which promote collaborative and active participation from students and their peers. The rest of this paper is followed by the possible strategy that might be effective to maximize the potential of internet use in educational context.

Internet as a vast source of information, instructional medium

“Give a student an answer and you satisfy him for a day; teach him to find out for himself and he is satisfied for his whole life” (Grey, 2001, p. 1)

When the US Department of Defense started their networking project in 1969, the initial purpose of this project was basically to link together scientific and academic researchers in the US in order to share information around military and scientific projects during the cold war (Shelly, Cashman, Gunter, & Gunter, 2006, p. 75). Today, four decades later, the network called internet or simply NET, has become a giant global network with millions of users worldwide that influence all sectors of life including education. In Australia, the proportion of internet access for educational purpose is consistent with the level of educational qualification. The higher level of education, the more use of internet. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows the data that by the end of 2006, people with postgraduate level degrees have the highest proportion (92%) of internet access ((ABS), 2006, p. 50). This phenomenon can be understood as the potential of the internet to provide educators access to a great purposeful source of information coming from a wide variety of sources such as publications (journal, databases, newspaper), formal and informal organizations (school, libraries, governments, companies, mailing lists, blogs), individual with the same interest (teachers, researchers, experts, etc), and also digital multimedia (audio, video, graphics, text, interactive media).

Considering my own background, I have experienced three different statuses; as an accounting student, a junior accounting teacher and later as an education student. I have encountered a shift from being stuck in an old paradigm of teaching and learning to the revolutionary accessibility of information. I spent my sixteen years of study in my country, a developing country where I had limited access to the internet and I relied too much on my teachers, as masters of each subject, and the books they supplied, to give the whole idea about the information I should get. But this is not the case when I moved to Australia, where I have free, quick and easy internet access during my postgraduate degree, to browse and find journals, library catalogues, and academic databases. I can reach any resources beyond the classroom. Perhaps, this is the reason why the internet has long been argued to expand the scope of the classroom.

Since the internet is obviously vital as a source of information, educators quickly recognized the tremendous potential of the internet to revolutionize the classroom (Shelly et al., 2006). The old paradigm of classrooms, where students sit, listen, memorize, and are asked to be quiet, is very easy to master. This practice of transmitting information is simple and will not take too much energy to deliver. Now, a teacher is no longer the only source of knowledge, though the teacher is the facilitator of teaching and learning (Heinich, Molenda, Russel, & Smaldino, 2002). Teachers should encourage students to learn by doing rather than by memorizing. In this process, the role of teacher and the way he/she delivers the material will determine the result of the learning process.

This brings implications regarding the pedagogy and the instructional strategies in which the internet takes a role as instructional medium in teaching and learning. Being used as instructional medium, the internet could transform the way teachers instruct, how and what students learn, and could alter the organization and structure of schooling itself (Finger, Russell, Jamieson-Proctor, & Russell, 2007, p. 8). In relation to this, Kopel and Dudley (2003) in their descriptive article, illustrate how the use of internet-based exercises in the classroom not only helps accounting students developing their competencies while learning to use information resources provided by internet, but also increases their awareness of current business issues and events.

Meanwhile, a survey study on internet uses in accounting education by Baker and White (1999) described the purpose for using the internet in education and the learning benefits of such internet use. The results indicate that the internet is mostly used to familiarize learners with the internet, locate current materials to promote in-class discussion, and help with the completion of research projects (p. 259). Educators also benefit from being able to research any topic from databases and the World Wide Web.

Collaborative learning, amazing connections

In collaborative learning, teachers and students engaged in a discussion or project, learn to recognize a problem, criticize the problem, search for relevant information, and solve problems together (Borthick & Jones, 2000, p. 181). In collaborative learning, students are highly involved to participate actively in learning process and build positive collaboration with their peers (Neo, 2003). The learning theory underpin this practice is social-constructivism which emphasizes the active interaction amongst learners to construct new concepts and ideas (Neo, 2003).

In fact, the internet does not only provide access to many links of sources that make connections between ideas, it also allows teachers and students to communicate with other peers all over the world. Having students communicate with students beyond the classroom is a great way to get them to better understand the differences or the similarities in points of view for certain topics. Websites like ePals, Global SchoolNet, Oz-Teachernet, and iEARN are some examples of collaborative learning community that are available on the internet. These sites provide connections to students, teachers, and school institutions worldwide to do research, projects and gather information over the internet. As Russell (12/03/08, chat room notes) argues, the process of communicating with people around the world without isolated by geographical distance is known as collaborative ‘online’ learning.

Yet, the internet is not only ready for making connection to other people beyond classroom, it is also available to use as a tool to actively engage students in a collaborative work inside classroom. Kopel and Dudley’s paper (Kopel & Dudley, 2003) has given useful guide for teachers to use internet as an instructional medium where students work collaboratively in groups to achieve learning objectives. For example, in financial accounting course, teacher may ask students to work in groups. Each group has to obtain annual reports from different firms. The Public Register’s Annual Report Service (PRARS) (http://www.prars.com) enable students to obtain current annual reports, either printed or electronic. Each group must prepare a report about the company and the country. Each group member works on different topic, such as the income statement, the balance sheet, the environment disclosure, etc. After combining their reports, each group will make a presentation to the whole class. The class maybe asked to criticize or to add new ideas regarding the report or presentation. This activity will help students to develop research skills, evaluate different source of information, and enhance students’ business perspectives (Kopel & Dudley, 2003, pp. 299-300).

The effect of collaborative learning on students’ outcomes in this respect is supported by Cabrera, Nora, Crissman, and Terenzini (2002), who studied the impact of collaborative learning on students’ development and diversity. By using a large sample (2050 second-year students at 23 institutions), the results show that exposure to collaborative learning practices influenced positively the students’ attitudes to be more accepting and tolerant of others and become active learners in the educational process.

In summary, the internet needs to be seen as a source of information which potentially used to expand the scope of classroom and to become an instructional medium. Moreover, the internet is also appropriate to create collaborative learning culture.

Problems of using internet

Despite the clear benefits for students’ learning that have developed with internet use, there are inevitably problems associated with this medium. Two main groups of problems that I would like to capture are technical skills and personal skills.
Technical skills involve the basic ability to save, edit, copy, send e-mail, and navigate through internet (use search engine to find required information). The basic skill of operating a computer and the internet is essential if we want to be successful and confident learners. Indeed, many teachers find work more stressful in an ICT-aided learning classroom than in a more conventional classroom. This is due to the fact that often students are more competent in using the internet than teachers. Further, since the range of information provided by the internet is far more complex and unsystematic than what we want to find, students often get lost while navigating the internet. Therefore, we do need to select which information is worthwhile and which is not. Hence, learning how to use the internet, how to find useful information, and understanding search strategies for our studies is crucial. Generally, we can learn this skill through the internet as well. The website of the “internet for education” (http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/) for example, provides a wide range of knowledge for learners, directing them to important educational websites, and helping them to develop effective search skills. Another option might be to use library training to get the ability to locate materials through the internet. Once acquired, these skills can help make the Internet an effective tool for supporting our academic work.

Personal skills include information-handling skills to cope with the information we receive. Research conducted by Burton and Chadwick (Burton & Chadwick, 2000) which investigate the students’ strategy to evaluate internet sources, revealed an interesting finding. More than fifty percent (63%) of students preferred to choose material that is merely easy to use and easy to find, both from internet or library. I think, despite the value of being easy to use and easy to find, the more logical criterion might be to choose material in internet based on ‘relevancy’. Not everything posted on the internet is entirely true. Students who do not have an understanding of the relevancy concept might search the internet that is used for entertainment purposes rather than educational purposes. The abundance of unexpected references therefore, will accompany their academic research. And this is dangerous; as Brabazon (2002, p. 94) warns us, “the internet is not a library” which organizes “the knowledge into preservable categories”. We need to be critical thinkers and readers who know how to evaluate information and how to avoid choosing materials that are “data rich and information poor” (Grey, 2001, p. 86)
Strategies for maximizing the use of the internet in classroom teaching and learning
The internet has brought potential particularly to be the instructional medium that promotes collaborative learning. Yet, it also comprises several problems accompanying the potential. In this regard, I may suggest not blaming internet for numerous problems that have been encountered in the use of internet. Considering the situation of the role of windows in a house might provide the analogy for the internet. Every house has windows. We need to open these windows in order to get fresh circulation of air. Yet, flies and dust are certainly coming inside through window. However, instead of closing windows all the time to not let flies and dust approach our house, the logical action might be to find out a proper way to exclude them without losing the chance to get fresh air.

A similar action might be taken for the internet use. It is important for teachers and students as well as institution to concern about the problems and to look for strategies that could be well suited for the use of internet. I point out some strategies as follows:
Firstly, above all, the personal belief of institution, teachers, and students about the potential of using internet as instructional medium will significantly influence the use of particular technology, that is the internet (Sugar, 2002 cited in Chen, 2007). Further, as Chen (2007)reminds us, the personal belief about transforming teaching and learning for future education will significantly control the attitude to be constructivism oriented. Being constructivist means to be able to deal with any change including technological change, to be able to shift the paradigm from teacher-centered, individual and passive learning toward student-centered, collaborative and active learning.

Secondly, the teachers’ accomplishment to enhance a better understanding of such material for students really depends on how they deliver the instructional design. The internet is a ready use media for this purpose. Teachers need to be creative in developing appropriate tasks, classroom discussion, and collaborative assignments, which create an interactive environment where students solve problems together with their peers. Moreover, to be confident users of ICT, teachers need to educate themselves about ICT.

Thirdly, considering that anybody can post anything including untruthful information on the internet, the skill of evaluating the material published on the internet is significant. Grey (2001) points out clearly that information-handling skill should be taught integrally to all subject areas by for example, building the steps into every task which students undertake (p. 89).

As a final thought, in terms of institution support, school needs to invest both in the form of financial and policy for the success of implementing educational technology (Chen, 2007). In regard to this point, Gulbahar (2007) demonstrates the technology planning process that was carried out in a school in Turkey. The planning process aims to successfully integrate technology into the curriculum.


Conclusion
The paper explores the learning benefits and problems for the use of the internet in education. The successes and difficulties revealed by some researcher are used to identify a few negative with the positives associated with the internet use. Using the internet to enhance teaching and learning is not a simple task. This needs a huge commitment from both teacher, and student as the main participants in education. The school institution however, plays a key role in establishing the practice of integrating technology into teaching and learning by giving opportunities for teachers to develop further skills, accelerating the upgrading process of technology, reducing in-flexibility to adapt to the change, and creating good circumstances for today’s and future schools.




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