Internet cannot replace teachers
There is a need for teachers and parents to guide learners accordingly on internet-based studies.
What you need to know:
- OECD study found no evidence of higher learning outcomes in schools that registered increased internet use.
- Nick Gibb says constant reference to the internet is tantamount to outsourcing one’s brain to Google.
- The teacher ought to follow through and help the learner to contextualise content.
Just what is the place of the internet in the learner’s world? When learners are given assignments, many troop to Google even when they can access their libraries — whether physically or electronically. And upon doing so, one concept leads to multiple ones, hyperlinks and even web-based ads. Consequently, they get lost around the web.
According to education experts, web-based education can erode education standards if not handled well. An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study, for instance, found no evidence of higher learning outcomes in schools that registered increased internet use.
Nick Gibb, Britain’s Minister of State for School Standards, says constant reference to the internet is tantamount to outsourcing one’s brain to Google.
There is a need for teachers and parents to guide learners accordingly on internet-based studies. A teacher, for instance, may guide learners concerning sites that are profitable. The internet is a treasure trove of exploratory, extensive and self-directed studies but prior guidance on its usage is necessary.
Help the learner
The teacher ought to follow through and help the learner to contextualise content. This is achieved by relating the general web content to local experiences, thereby affording the learner an ‘Aha’ moment. The famous TED talks, for instance, may articulate a concept but fail to relate it to familiar experiences, yet we learn from the known to the unknown.
I previously wrote in these pages that the teacher is a walking curriculum. In this case, they are not only curators of web-derived content but also its interpreters. They are the first-stop learners’ encyclopaedia and, in worst-case scenarios, the only stop.
While learners are encouraged to use the internet for study, instructors must not lose track of their main duty — guidance and facilitation.
Directing learners to the internet, as some do, however, and coming late in the day to assess learning outcomes is defeatist. The train may just have derailed.
Mr Osabwa is a lecturer at Alupe University College. [email protected].
