Linking schools to the internet, a computer network, is the top priority in education nowadays and various schools in advanced countries are already connected to the information superhighway. The fascination with the computer network has raised some rumblings. There are problems that require immediate attention like the lack of interest and indifference of students regarding their classes. However, the main stakeholders are convinced that these networks can serve as catalysts for fundamental changes in education to help the development of students to its fullest.
Computers make education student-centered or enquiry based which is not the case in the traditional system where the teacher was the repository of knowledge and the focal point of activity. Such a system which was relevant in the past is believed to be obsolete as it cannot prepare students in this information era where there is a high demand for workers who are creative and self-directed. Education should no longer consist in conveying to students a body of knowledge which doubles itself in a very short time and requires students to go on learning throughout their whole life. Through technology, students would therefore be given the skills to pursue knowledge. Tomorrow’s world will not require ‘knowers’ but ‘learners’. The world is now experiencing a social and economic revolution created by telecommunications and digital technologies. These technological enhancements that we prize today will soon become commonplace and new technologies will be developed. In this optic, children in schools today will be entering a new environment when they leave school and it is the responsibility of schools to prepare students for this changing world.
Kids are exposed to instant information and communication via cable television and computers at home as it has become a part of today's life. Computer networking make students enthusiastic and they cannot be expected to be only interested in textbooks alone. Students will be linked to a larger learning community and in this global classroom, they can access knowledge from students all across the world and feed their desire to learn and explore. Computers connect students with the real world and enables them to progress and learn at their own pace. The fear that technology would undermine the role of schools in socializing can be put to rest. In fact, networking actually encourages interaction and collaboration. Students are not communicating with machines and are not cut off from the world of people. The internet is a gathering place, where people meet and share knowledge, a place where collaboration and synergy occur.
Multimedia books with their sounds, images and words make learning interesting and stimulating. While learning a language, either the first, second or third, the student can listen to spoken pronunciation as he reads. While learning science, charts, diagrams, graphs and experiments move across the electronic whiteboard and a simple click provides the explanation of a word. ‘Notebooks’ would provide wireless connections to libraries, and the student doing a project or a presentation can access all the information required at home.
There are also people who decry this internet infatuation as they believe that this obsession with the new technology ignores the history and role of technology in education. They argue that television was extolled for its transformative power a few decades ago, but with all its advantages of sound and image, education was not revolutionized and the pedagogic approach was not abandoned. What is most important in a classroom is a good teacher interacting with motivated students. Children are indeed fascinated by high tech devices, play with them happily and willingly engage their minds in it but the question is if these, that are in the form of games, encourage seriousness and sustainable efforts. The question that comes out the most often is whether these gadgets will be of much use to students whose span of attention in class is short and fights shy of effort and puts off for tomorrow what he has to learn today. Also, students obtaining information from the Web may not synthesize it but maybe inclined to copy instead. This copy and paste mentality that the computer encourages may work against creativity.
True that a student availing himself of instant communication on the internet can be in contact with other students and experts across the world, but physically they are isolated. While he is seeking out strangers, he is distancing himself from his family and friends who matter more. He is staring at a computer for hours on end and accepting what a machine says. His world becomes passive; he does not have to think or analyze and gets the right answer only by clicking the mouse. Thus, discipline or hard thinking is not necessary for the key-stroke.
The internet will not replace the teacher. The internet, it is believed, is a technology destined to improve education and help students to meet the challenges that will come in their way in the future. Change is basic to progress and the long-term view of education requires schools to commit themselves boldly to computer technology. by Rohan Sonoo
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