In Chapter 10 of Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman discusses how television is not a fitting medium for education. He believes that it cannot portray the seriousness of learning because it either lacks complex thinking or turns it into entertainment.
While television still has a strong influence in our lives, I believe that the internet has grown beyond it in the past few decades. The question is whether the internet has benefits for learning. The internet has vast, almost infinitely amounts of information stored, but it also has many distractions. According to Postman, these distractions are diverting our focus and our brains have adapted to it as so. Also, it seems that it's only a matter of time until computers are used in the classrooms. I believe that learning should be assisted by the internet, but I don't think learning should be from the internet.
My point being said, what is your opinion on educational web surfing and making computers a part of school? Is there a difference? Will it yield evolved learning or will it be another distraction from meaningful education?
In my opinion I agree with you on the fact that the internet is distracting, yet it is the fastest way to receive the information you want. I don't think computers should be put in classrooms because you have seen how lazy the students are now a days. Think about it when we are going to the computer lab for a day in one of our classes most of the students think of it as a free day. Learning shouldn't be from the internet because most students just copy and paste information down and don't actually learn what they are supposed to be reading about. It is an excellent help to the students who do want to learn and use the information for good, but there are those students who just mess around on the computers and that is why I don't think computers should be let into classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the internet can be very distracting but students should still get a chance to use the computers. Some students may find getting to use the computers a distraction and just a day to mess around but I never did. I always found going to the computer lab a different learning experience and a chance to get out of the classroom. In my opinion, I don't think computers should be in the classrooms but I definitely think students should be able to get a break from classroom environment every once in awhile.
ReplyDeleteI believe that students and teachers should be able to use the Internet to further our learning in the classrooms. We should be able to use our technological advancements for positive learnings, not wasteful searching the web browser. The Internet can be very distracting, but the Internet can be way more useful and important for school. There just has to be a restriction on not useful searching, and computers could be our textbooks and teachers.
ReplyDeleteI think that the internet is a good source for research and things like that so I do think computers should be in classrooms, and teachers and students should use this resource. But, the internet can be a distraction so I think it's up to the user to stay focused because it is easy to wonder off task. Or, the school can take it upon themselves to have a restriction on internet browsing that isn't useful, like William said.
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