Week Seven

Chapters Five & Six

Question 1: What is the Internet? What value does it hold for educators?

According to our text by Lever-Duffy & McDonald, the Internet is “a collection of interconnected individual networks” which has adopted a common communication format called TCP/IP and is not “owned or operated by any one entity.” The seeds of the Internet began to sprout when government agencies and research universities devised ways to share information with one another by networking their computers over long distances. With the advancement of computing power and telecommunication, the Internet grew organically as more organizations were linked to the existing networks. Internet service providers sprang up to provide Internet access to local schools and average citizens. Although relatively slow by today’s standards, data transmission via phone lines made the internet available in homes and school libraries across the nation. Now, the wealth of the internet is brought to us at much greater speeds by DSL service, cable modem, satellite, and even cellular technology. Just in the last 10 years, the Internet has paved the road for an information explosion which has changed the world as profoundly as did the invention of the printing press. Think about all the rapid communication tools used by many millions of people each day: email, internet forums, discussion boards, list-serves, instant messaging, online chat, remote desktop, file sharing, newsgroups, blogs, twitter, etc.

Before I studied chapter 7, I was unclear about the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web (or just “the Web”). The term Internet refers to the complex interconnection of thousands of servers using the TCP/IP communications protocol to make digital information available to billions of individual users throughout the world. The Web refers to the digital content of the Internet arranged into accessible websites comprised of individual web pages residing on the servers which are the backbone of the Internet. Truly, the advent of the Internet is one of the most significant developments of modern civilization.

The Internet and the resources of the Web hold tremendous value for educators in three aspects: instant access to a vast knowledge base, global communication, and web-enhanced learning.

The Internet is the world’s largest knowledge base. Search engines, directories, and portals allow teachers to find resources for a variety of needs such as subject area content, professional enhancement, and classroom management. Examples of resources for subject area content include government and non-profit websites for public information, online encyclopedias, and public domain materials. Teachers can also take advantage of resources for professional development found on the Web. Professional organizations maintain websites or portals containing research articles and publications. ERIC is a free, online collection of articles relating to educational research and issues maintained by the U.S. Department of Education. Education stakeholders share best practices and various tools with one another via the Internet. Examples include grade book applications, lesson plans, templates, worksheet and quiz generators, and diagnostic surveys.

Educators should definitely tap into the Internet’s capacity to facilitate communication. For example, teachers can maintain current communication and promote parental cooperation by means of email and class websites. By posting homework assignments, schedules, weekly lessons, and even grades; parents and teachers can work together more effectively to make sure students are staying on track. Another example is students in a French language class corresponding via email and voice/video chat with students in a French-speaking country. These are opportunities that would have been unthinkable just 20 years ago.

Finally, creative educators can use the Web to enhance teaching and learning. As bandwidth and computer storage both have become less expensive, more and more rich multimedia and virtual reality learning experiences are available on the Internet. We see wonderful examples of web-enhanced learning in this IT645 course: podcasts, streaming video, e-book, blogs, web-based learning management system, and file-sharing (slideshows, syllabus, examples, etc.). In addition, the developing Web 2.0 phenomenon is making it possible for students to collaborate across schools, states, and even nations with text, video, and audio communication and group editing rights for project documents.