I find myself sitting down to a computer writing a blog about the history of the internet in education for a Master's level course that I am taking online. That in and of itself is testimony for the role of the internet in education. I am 32 years old and I find myself saying things like, "I remember when we didn't even have the internet to do our research". Pretty soon I will start rambling about how I had to walk to school in the snow uphill, both ways. All this is to say that the internet has had a drastic effect on the education system in a very short amount of time. Not only has this been true for the students, but it is just as true for the teachers and the parents.
I remember sitting in the UALR library as a high school student searching through anthologies of LIFE and Time magazines as well as rolling through reels of microfilm for a simple, freshman-level research paper. Now, thanks to the internet, I was able to research for this assignment without even leaving my desk. Oh, and it took a fraction of the time. I can also remember seeing my teachers writing down grades in the infamous green grade book every time an assignment was graded. Thanks to online grade books such as Edline, teachers today simply enter numbers and the program computes grades as well as other valuable information. The internet is education.
Learning is the act or process of developing skill or knowledge. Modern, web-based learning and computing provides the means for fundamentally changing the way in which instruction is delivered to students. Multimedia learning resources combined with CD-ROMs and workbooks attempt to explore the essential concepts of a course by using the full pedagogical power of multimedia. Many websites have nice features such as interactive examples, animation, video, narrative and written text. These websites are designed to provide students with a "self-help" learning resource to complement the traditional textbook (Arsham, 2002). Arsham, one of the pioneers of on-line learning, taught the first web-based course in the MBA program at the University of Baltimore. His statement can be summed up in that the internet has given the student a more active role in education than before. The student is an instrumental part in not only the learning process, but also in the process of instruction. Through online courses, more responsibility is placed on the student to remain current with assignments and materials. The internet lends itself to a more student-centered, constructivist approach.
A vast majority of classrooms today in the United States have at least one computer. In fact, the National Center for Education Statistics completed a survey entitled Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-1999. In this survey, that long ago, 95% of public elementary and secondary schools had access to the Internet (www.originami.com). This survey was completed twelve years ago, and the numbers were that impressive; it only makes sense that the number is even greater today. Schools that I have been in have had laptop carts that provides every student in the classroom a laptop for use in the class. As technology advances, schools must advance as well. The Internet has made education more accessible than it has ever been in the past. Students can do research, teachers can provide instruction, and parents can monitor progress all more easily thanks to the Internet.
A timeline shows that the concept of the Internet was created with the education system at the forefront. The following is a collaboration of two different timelines. I have omitted some of the information in order to concentrate on the milestones that deal directly with education and the education system.
1969 - Defense Department commissions ARPANET to promote networking research. First hosts of the ARPANET installed connect Stanford Research Institute, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. CompuServe time-sharing service is founded.
1970 - 1973 The ARPANET is a success as scientists access remote computers, collaborate and share data. Email gains popularity fast.
1971 - ARPANET now connects 23 universities and government research center hosts in the United States.
1976 - The Apple I is brought into a school for the first time by Liza Loop at the LO*OP Center.
1985 - Apple launches ACOT - Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow.
1993 - The White House commits to connecting schools via the Internet in Technology for America's Economic Growth: A New Direction to Build Economic Strength. The symposium "Reinventing Schools: The Technology Is Now" discusses integrating technology and the Internet into new instructional models for the classroom.
1994 - The Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 calls for the creation of a national education technology plan. According to the National Center for Education Statistics 35% percent of public elementary and secondary schools, and 3% of instructional rooms, have access to the Internet.
1995 - U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement's Technology Innovation Challenge Grant program begins.
1996 - Telecommunications Act of 1996 signed into law, which among other things, established the "E-Rate" funding of Internet connectivity for schools and libraries. In February, the White House announced the Technology Literacy Challenge. To support the initiative, in June the Department of education released the nation’s first national educational technology plan, Getting America’s Students Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge.
1997 -
1999 - Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-1999 According to the National Center for Education Statistics 95% percent of public elementary and secondary schools, and 63% of instructional rooms, have access to the Internet. In the fall, the U.S. Department of Education begins a year-long review of the national educational technology plan, Getting America’s Students Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge from 1996. Several white papers are commissioned and the Forum on Technology in Education: Envisioning the Future is held in December.
(www.originami.com)
2002 - Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH Act) becomes law. This broadens instructors' legal use of copyrighted materials in online instruction. Without this act, distance education in its current form would not exist. Instructors would be limited to what they could share with their students outside of a textbook.
2009 - Quest to Learn is the first school to teach through game-based learning. Texas Instruments debuts 3D projector technology designed for the classroom.
2011 - Immersive Education Initiative launches K-12 technology working group. Immersive Education is a learning platform that combines interactive 3D graphics, commercial game and simulation technology, virtual reality, voice chat, web cameras and rich digital media with collaborative online course environments and classrooms.
(www.timetoast.com)
As is made evident by this extensive timeline, the internet's effect on education is far-reaching and quite extraordinary. However, there have been critics along the way. In his book, High Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don't Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections, Clifford Stoll argues that schools should use funding to improve real education rather than invest in computer technology and rely on telecommunications for education. Further more, he indicated that the computer was often a crutch that diverted time and resources from programs that taught students to think and evaluate information. According to Arsham, online learning education does for knowledge what just-in-time delivery does for manufacturing: It delivers the right tools and parts when you need them. The opinion of Stoll, while intriguing, has not proven to be widely accepted. This is evident by the survey previously mentioned that was conducted by the NCES. Computer technology and the Internet are very much a part of the education system, and rightfully so.
The rapid growth of information, coupled with the ability to exchange it more rapidly among more people than ever before, is creating a new environment for education (Arsham, 2002).
To illustrate this point further here is a graphic representation of How the Internet is Revolutionizing Education
References:
Arsham, H. (2002). Impact of the internet on learning and teaching. USDLA Journal. Vol.16. No.3. Retrieved from http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/MAR02_Issue/article01.html
Author Unknown. (1999). Milestones in the Development of the Internet and its Significance for Education. Retrieved from http://www.originami.com/sp/milestones.htm
Author Unknown. (2011). The Internet and Education from 1981-2011. Retrieved from http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/the-internet-and-education-from-1981-2011
Stoll, C. (1999). High Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don't Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian. New York: Random House.
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