Internet and Its Effects on Education - Assignment Example

1. Computers have made information processing as well as communication quite simple and easy. The advent of the Internet has revolutionized the different forms in which people interact in many ways in the contemporary world. Instead of engaging in traditional inter-personal communication every time, different individuals are finding it relatively easier and cheaper to transfer or access information on the internet. Information dissemination is instantaneous and can reach a large number of people in geographically spaced areas. With the internet, it is also easier to get any information you may need. However, there are various communication options in the school set up in the given scenario and other options are more viable than the others. In the event that a school is attempting to set up a communication network, the following options are available but some have great advantages than the others. Blogs, wikis, threaded discussions, listervs, cell phones and emails are some of the options available. A blog is essentially an online journal or diary where one can post messages, photos, music and video on their own mini website. They have become very popular in recent years and are excellent for personal and up-to-date opinion and information. However, blogs cannot be used effectively for internal communication purposes by the school since they are designed to provide information about a particular person or company not for direct communication among members of staff especially in this particular case. Wikis are simple forms of websites that provide with generalised information about any particular subject. For research purposes they are quite helpful as they can provide with information on any particular subject. However, though they are becoming popular these days, they unfortunately cannot be used as the official channel of communication in the school. They are used for the purpose of providing with research information and other data not for direct communication purposes. Cell phones are very fast in terms of direct personal communication but the main disadvantage with this form of communication is the aspect of cost. The tariffs are high and exorbitant especially during the peak hours which may be costly for the school to make this form of communication their official channel of communication during business day. The cell phone would be proper and convenient to use during other periods especially when another member of the staff is away from the premises. Since the computerisation programme at this school in the given scenario has also brought with it internet connection, as an advisor, I would highly recommend the use of e-mail as a noble form of communication both during business hours and even after hours. Indeed, the Internets number one feature is email. The number of users logging on continues to skyrocket day by day during the contemporary period. The email is fast and user friendly and can be accessed from any computer that is online. It allows one to stay in touch cheaply with family, friends and acquaintances next door, in the next town, in the next state, in the next country and so on. Given the scenario of the computerised school in the case, it would be highly recommended to make use of the e-mail as the official communication channel given that it is very cheap, accessible and easy to use. Given that every staff member would have access to the internet, it would be more efficient and effective to use email as the smart official channel of communication which would be very convenient to all the connected users. The school can have its own domain address which would be used by all the staff members. Basically, the internet is not only cheap but it is very fast and efficient to use. Threaded discussions and listservs can also be used but in most cases they would require a face to face communication setup or can be done with the aid of a communication sound device but people have to be physical involved from one end. Whilst they are an effective from of communication, they can be inconvenient in some instances in that not everyone would be free to attend the discussion at that particular time. It may also be costly to install the communication sound devices. 2. There is little doubt about how useful the Internet can be to everyone. The internet has led to the birth of a new era particularly in the educational sector in many ways. Students can receive help with their school work. Instead of embarking on the traditional way of doing a research using piles of textbooks, the internet has made access to information related to any subject relatively easy and very fast with very little cost at the same time. So basically any relevant information to a particular subject can be easily accessed in the comfort of your room which makes life easier when carrying a research. It is common knowledge that some books are not readily available in the libraries or even book shops which used to hamper the efforts of carrying out detailed, well researched studies. However, with the internet any kind of information can be found through the use of powerful search engines such as Google, Msn or yahoo for instance. The internet is very fast and efficient hence it is a useful commodity in the educational sector. The schools computerisation programme that was recently launched by the government, albeit not for profit basis, will go a long way in improving computer literacy among the citizens of the country. Indeed, we are now living in the digital world where most of the information processing is done by computers hence the government’s initiative would serve the purpose of improving literacy in computers from the grassroots levels. Though there is no short term expectations of reaping profits from the computerisation programme, the society would benefit immensely as their computer skills would be improved to meet the contemporary standards of information processing which would in turn improve their efficiency in processing data in their own businesses which would yield profits for them. So in actual fact, the government is not earmarking to reap profits directly from its initiative but to empower the members of the society so that they would be able to improve their own businesses which would ensure their competitiveness in the contemporary world which is highly characterised by advanced digital technology. Whilst computers have more advantages which outweigh disadvantages by a wider margin, the over use of computers from a childhood age has detrimental effects especially to the young generation which is still growing up. In most cases, children who grew up playing with the computers and the internet are more often spoiled. One main disadvantage of computers to the young generation is that it diverts attention and focus. With a computer everything is possible such as playing games, media and entertainment at the expense of concentrating on doing academic work which is regarded as the gateway to success in the contemporary world. Addiction to computers at a tender age is tantamount to spoliation as the kids would be exposed to explicit content at times which would have a negative influence on their behaviour. In some cases, the kids would be preoccupied with entertainment such as playing games, watching movies or playing music which would all affect their concentration on school work. One of the main disadvantages of overusing computers by youths is that it destroys the spirit of hard work. In most cases students are now lazy to carry out their own researches as they would simply search for any content on the internet which would negatively impact on quality and originality. It can be noted that originality is being replaced by plagiarism which is getting rampant especially in the academic circles where learners would simply copy and paste information downloaded from the internet. However, in my own opinion, I would concur with the assertion that computers have greatly improved the lifestyles of our societies by a wider margin. Quite a number of changes have been seen that were caused by the availability of computers especially in schools. Our societies are slowly moving away from various traditional methods of doing business. It is a common sight nowadays to see at least a computer even in small business enterprises some which are not very formal in most cases. Most people now opt to process and store their information on computers which are efficient and accurate. In most cases, those people with basic computer knowledge can perform such tasks hence it can be said that the computerisation programme of the schools has greatly helped the people in local communities to make use of the computerised system of processing data. The local societies have also benefited in that most of them are now utilising the knowledge they gained from school to effectively use the internet which has greatly improved the efficiency of receiving or sending messages through the use of the e-mail. This is a step ahead of the traditional conventional use of postage mail which at times took ages to reach the recipients. With the internet, sending a message is an instant process that only takes a few seconds and above all is much cheaper compared to postage mail which takes a long time to reach its destination. Advanced technology always has dramatic effects on society. With the ability to work at home, a lot of people are leaving their offices since the internet allows them to set their own hours, spend quality time with family and not have to deal with the often hassle life of commuting to and from work. In most communities, internet cafes are a common feature which was not the about a decade ago in most communities. The sprouting of internet cafes is testimony that at least the majority of the people in the society now have at least the basic knowledge about computers such that they can harness it in their every day lives in conducting the personal businesses. Basically, it can be said that the computerisation project of mainly schools has improved greatly the computer literacy especially of the current young generation which has the opportunity of learning computer courses from grassroots levels. The use of computers has also seen a reduction of the overuse of papers for office work or for any other purposes of storing information. Computers have two major advantages over the use of hard papers in that information stored on a computer would be secure and a computer can store as much information as that which can be found in all the books and files tightly packed in the office shelves. Storing information is made easy and simple. On the other hand, computers are environmental user friendly in that they reduce the use of papers which in most cases end up being disposed as waste material which would cause environmental pollution. In some cases where there is no option of recycling these waste papers, the only solution left would be burning the waste papers which would contribute towards the emission of carbon dioxide which causes green house warming. Therefore, a reduction in the use of hard papers is an indirect benefit to the societies as it would mean a reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions that would be contributed by burning waste paper. In fact, with computers, all unwanted information can be deleted smartly from the data base without causing any environmental damage. 3. The new information and communication technology has brought sweeping changes on the society as a whole. The advent of the internet for instance has affected especially all facets of life in that we are very dependent on it in our every day life in most things we do. The internet has greatly affected the way we are socialised in many ways and also the way we communicate and interact. The internet affects the society in many ways and this in turn would affect the way we behave. With the internet, it is easy to access any content of information without any barrier. The main disadvantage of internet is that no one has direct or ultimate control of the content or information made available on different websites. Basically the internet is not controlled by anyone. Indeed, we are from different cultural backgrounds and we have different cultural values that distinguish us from other groups. These values are very important as they form the backbone of our identity which makes us different from other groups. However, with the use of the internet different groups from diverse cultural backgrounds are exposed to different information about other cultures. In fact, different cultures across the globe are brought in close contact through the internet and any individual has the opportunity to consume any content related to other different cultures without any hindrance. In view of the above argument, it can be noted that the internet has great potential to influence especially the erosion of other cultures as different individuals would be exposed mainly to cultures of the dominant states, particularly the western nations who have greater influence on the internet compared to other developing nations who have limited influence by virtue of their low state of technological advancement. The result would be that most youths would end up adopting other cultural values at the expense of their values which would lead to what is commonly referred to as acculturation which is loosely referred to as the process in which members of one cultural group adopt the beliefs and behaviours of another group. Although acculturation is usually in the direction of a minority group adopting habits and language patterns of the dominant group, it can be reciprocal in that the dominant group also adopts patterns typical of the minority group. This state of affairs would negatively affect the weaker cultures in that they would slowly face extinction as the members of their communities would opt to adopt foreign cultures that would negatively erode their own cultures. It can thus be noted that the internet has a powerful influence over our lives. In most cases, the internet has powerful effect on our lives especially when it comes to consumption of the information we can readily access from it. We normally have little control of the information we get hence it will affect the way we are socialised that can lead to instability of different communities. Each particular group is guided by the values derived from its culture which distinguishes it from other cultures. In the event that these values are eroded, the social fabric would break and disintegrate which would lead to instability and social upheavals in the communities that would be greatly affected. Given this scenario, it can be noted that the new information and communication technology has power and great influence over our lives. Since the internet is not controlled by anyone, it is difficult to curtail the flow of information or access to it. Some messages are not fit for consumption especially to the youths hence their morals may be badly affected. Instead of focusing on the educational requirements only, their attention would be diverted mostly by explicit things and culture would suffer. Assimilation of one cultural group into another may be evidenced by changes in language preference, adoption of common attitudes and values and loss of ethnic identification. Over and above, it can be concluded that the internet the internet has several advantages and benefits to the educational sector and the society as a whole as the people’s lives are dependent on it for various informational requirements as well as in conducting their own personal businesses. The internet is fast and user friendly though in some cases it may have negative influences over our lives. References What is a blog? http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/02/05/what-is-a-blog/ [Accessed 27 November 2008] Web definitions of identity http://www.google.co.za/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:identity&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title [Accessed 26 November 2008] Marc Hermeking Culture and Internet Consumption: Contributions from Cross-Cultural Marketing and Advertising Research http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/hermeking.html [Accessed 26 November 2008] Internet and its effects on education http://www.helium.com/knowledge/8730-internet-and-its-effects-on-education [Accessed 25 November 2008] Acculturation http://www.rice.edu/projects/HispanicHealth/Acculturation.html [Accessed 28 November 2008] http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/STUDENTS/Purdy/INDEX.HTM Read More