Internet and education.

Today, my topic will be about the relationship between Internet and learning. You will find here two articles about the impact of internet on learning and education.

Article Review:

Krikwood, A. (2007). Getting it from the Web: why and how online resources are used by independent undergraduate learners. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24, 372-382.


This article was about the use of the Internet in education first and how the undergraduate students using the Internet for different purposes in general. The main question was to investigate why and how independent learners use resources on the web while undertaking their normal coursework. The investigation was concerned not only with the academic context of courses being studied, but also any personal, domestic and employment-related experiences and circumstances that were pertinent.

Method:
Semi-structured interviews by telephone were used to investigate each student’s prior familiarity with and experience of locating and using electronic resources via the Web. Their approaches to using Web resources in relation to specific learning activities and tasks were also explored. Factors that encourage or discourage students’ use of Internet resources during their study of OU modules were investigated.
The interviews sought to contextualize students’ learning in relation to any relevant experiences. These included both personal circumstances and educational experience.

Procedure:
The five male and five female volunteers selected to participate represented a reasonable geographical distribution, with some living in remote locations.
A sample of adult undergraduate students was drawn for interviewing, using the following criteria:
They were studying one of four specified second level course modules (two modules from science and two from health and social care);
They had completed at least 1 year of study with the UK OU before commencing their current module.

Findings:
The findings suggest that it is not communication technologies by itself, but a wide range of contextual factors (personal as well as educational), that are important in determining whether and how students use Web resources in their learning. Most adult independent learners will use the Internet for personal, domestic, social and employment purposes, as well as for educational goals.








Article Review:

Mitra, A., Willyard, J., Platt, C., and Parsons, M. (2005). Exploring web usage and selection criteria among male and female students. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(3), article 10. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue3/mitra.html

This study addresses three questions related to the evaluative criteria used by men and women to make judgments about Web pages:
1: What are some of the major criteria used by students to evaluate Web sites? 2: What are some of the different kinds of Web sites used by students? 3: Is there a difference in Web site preference and use based on gender?

Participants:
The participants for the study were recruited from the undergraduate students at the university. The participants were offered a small monetary incentive to participate in the completion of a short Web-based task. The participants were asked to bring their laptop computer to a large classroom where they were instructed to locate what they considered the best Web site about women from Afghanistan. The participants were then asked to list that Web site and answer the questionnaire developed for the study.

Method:
For this study, it was decided to develop an instrument for the study by beginning with a set of focus group discussions so as to gain an in-depth understanding of the criteria used by students as they decide on using specific Web sites. They used focus groups with students at a small liberal arts university. The students were recruited from across the campus and were offered a small incentive for participating in the focus groups. The protocol for the focus groups included questions about the participants’ level of Internet use; the categories of Web information sought; the participants’ feelings about the usefulness of the Web. Also, the focus group discussions were followed by the development of a survey instrument to answer the exploratory research questions raised here.

Findings:
Questions 1: The results suggest that the fit of the information on the Web site is considered to be the most important criterion for evaluating the value of a Web site. Those sites that seem to have appropriate textual content are considered to be most valuable.

Question 2: The data suggest that other than search engines, the Web sites that are used most frequently need to have some direct relevance for the students’ work-either class work or their special interest.

Question 3: In general, there was little difference between men and women with respect to the different kinds of sites they visited.


Discussion:
This finding could potentially inform the ways in which the Web could be used in pedagogy. The students reported less use of special interest sites, and greater use of sites that are of practical interest to them. It is thus important to be able to evaluate some of the predispositions of the students, as well as to consider the specific use of a Web site before it is used in teaching.

By: Abdul