The internet can be a powerful tool for teaching and
learning. We, as teachers, should overcome the intimidation of navigating the
web, and make use of the web to answer the learning needs of our students. We can
also focus on the educational opportunities that the internet provides for the instructional
strategies. Now days, everyone must know how to surf the web, look for information,
and evaluate its accuracy; this is known as information literacy (Maloy, p. 99).
The internet is such a helpful tool that allows us
to navigate through learning environments. It provides us, and the children, to
learn the skills of navigation that are necessary for working in the modern
world. The internet also permits us to have access to diverse e-books that can
be read digitally on a computer or any other digital device. Although many
parents believe that having access to electronic books can affect negatively
their child’s desire to read, I think that it is wonderful how easy it is to
have access to books and scholarly information through the use of a computer.
In many elementary schools, students at an early age
are already learning how to use a computer. Teachers and students use computers
and other technologies in almost all subjects; this is called Information technology
(IF) fluency in schools (Maloy, p. 103). It is also important to know how to
properly use search engines to locate information, and also know what engines
are more appropriate to use in the classroom. We all know that Google is the
most common search engine used by almost everyone, but this engine is most used
for general searches. It is better to choose a search engine that allows
teachers and student to focus directly on the educational and academic topics.
The internet provides teacher with many useful tools
to organize lesson plans, note taking. And it is valuable that it allows us to
do so, since teachers spend so much time of the day moving quickly. It is also
important that teachers teach their students how to search for information on
the internet. Search engines can provide us with three ways to search online, which
are: free-text search that focuses on the title or keyword typed in;
keyword/exact match search, which gives us information that contains the exact
words that were typed in; and Boolean search that uses the terms and, or,
and not to narrow a search. Teachers must
find what material on the internet is appropriate for the class curriculum, what
are the best for learning, and teach students how to search the web by
themselves. Teachers also need to teach students the how to conduct an
effective search and to critically evaluate the search results. It is important
to point out the difference of a scholarly and not-scholarly webpage, such as Wikipedia.
And explain the differences about those web pages; for example, encyclopedias
are better to search for scholarly information because experts write and review
them; whereas internet readers who may or may not know the field of study are
the ones who write and edit Wikipedia (Maloy, p. 114).
The Internet is a dynamic teaching and learning medium with
which teachers can facilitate learning, enhance comprehension and provide rich
contextual learning environments for their students. Today, students are more
familiar and adept with these technologies, so teachers need to take advantage
of these student skills to rethink teaching as a collaborative journey. We, as
teachers can provide guidelines and pathways for students to learn more about
technologies.
References:
Maloy, R., Verock-O’Loughlin, R. E., Edwards, S. A., &
Woolf, B. P. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies.
2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
