THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF
USING ICT FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING
- 1. Introduction
Many
of the Internet projects require students to communicate with students from
different states or countries via electronic mail or mailing lists or other
news groups. Furthermore, The Internet should be a part of an integrated
teaching system. It should be seen as a tool that supports and enhances
learning and not as a means by itself. A poll result conducted by Global
Strategy in April 1997 shows that this is the only way that the Internet adds
value to the learning process.
Teaching
using the Internet does not by itself lead to achieving curriculum objectives,
because part from assisting in class preparation, a good knowledge of the
Internet allows us to assist our students in their class activities involving
the Internet. Besides, Professional Development is a key to updating skills and
for career advancement for teachers. Among others, we can use the Internet to
join a discussion group, subscribe to a news group, take classes, and keep in
touch with professional colleagues.
To
successfully use the Internet for teaching, we must know how to access the
various services available through the Internet. Moreover, it has been reported
that the majority of teachers who use the Internet in teaching are those who
believe that the Internet is a new way for doing things. These teachers also
use the Internet for shopping, banking, looking for mortgage rates, etc.
It is
not the computer by itself but how they are used that makes the difference.
They emphasize teacher training as a key to effective use of computer
technology in the classroom. Every new technology brings with it positive and
negative impact. Nobody has taken time to analyze the negative impact of
exposing students to the Internet may have on their social development.
- 2. How
the Internet Enhances the Teaching Process
We
can use the Internet to add value, manage our classroom or improve the
planning. We want to teach using the Internet because we want to change,
improve, add a new dimension to our teaching, or vary the types and increase
the quality of activities assigned to students. In learning, the students need
some motivation. Allow them to use the Internet in their learning is a
motivational push to who are bored by the traditional ways of information
delivery, and thereby expedite the transfer of information from the short-term
memory to the long-term memory. The Internet allows us to motivate some of the
lost students in the class, and thereby accelerate the assimilation process.
According
to an African proverb, a
person who asks questions understands a new language faster. Using the
Internet for educational activities provides a different avenue for discovery
through questioning, and for critical evaluation of information. It is also
important that we answer students’ questions properly and timely. This is why
we must constantly retrain according to the needs of the time. For this
information age, we must be vexed with the personal and educational uses of the
Internet.
Generally,
Communication is a way of using knowledge. It is a source for re-enforcement.
The Internet promotes fast communication across geographical barriers, and
therefore gives students an opportunity to communicate early in life with a
broad range of people not imagined possible before. Also using knowledge in
different settings give a better understanding of the different shades of
meaning of the concepts involved in a giving learning situation.
Besides
to manage the class room, you can post class lessons, homework problems, and
practice exams on the Net for students to access from home, from the library,
or from any place that has access to the Net. Parents can access the Web pages
to confirm the homework problems their children are required to do. Moreover,
the homework could be structured in such a way that the student can progress
from simpler to more challenging activities by means of hyperlinks. In addition
to posting class lessons and homework, we can have a class bulletin board on
web site. In this way, students can get involved in class discussions in a
manner not possible in the classroom. This medium can also be used to resolve
problems between class periods.
In
conclusion, the Internet allows you to add content to your lessons and to
disseminate useful information to students and parents without waste of
valuable class time and those give many advantages for students in learning.
Hilts
and Turroff (1985) and Hilts (1994) suggest that this flexibility supports
collaborative learning among students who can therefore participate at times
and places of their choosing. Hilts (1994 : 10) states that : Students may participate at any
time of the day or night that they have the time and the inclination.
Opportunities for feedback from the instructor and interaction with other
students are not limited to a few fixed times per week.
- 3. Advantages
of Students Using ICT
for Learning
As
was pointed out previously, the Internet provides students with the tools they
need to discover and own knowledge. And give students the hooks and templates
they need to fasten information to the long-term memory. There are some
advantages of student using ICT for learning :
- 1. Motivating
Factor.
The
Internet can act as a motivating tool for many students. Young people are very
captivated with technology. Educators must capitalize on this interest,
excitement, and enthusiasm about the Internet for the purpose of enhancing
learning. For already enthusiastic learners, the Internet allows you to provide
them with additional learning activities not readily available in the
classroom.
- 2. Fast
Communication.
The
Internet promotes fast communication across geographical barriers. Your
students can join collaborative projects that involve students from different
states, countries or continents. This type of learning experience was not
possible before the Internet. This is a unique learning experience very
essential for each of our students, as the world is becoming one big community.
- 3. Cooperative
Learning.
The
Internet facilitates cooperative learning, encourages dialogue, and creates a
more engaging classroom. For example, a LISTSER V for our class will allow your
students to get involved in class discussions through e-mails in a way not
possible within the four walls of the classroom.
- 4. Locating
Research Materials.
Apart
from communication, research is what takes many people to the Internet. There
are many more resources on the Internet than the school library can provide. We
can encourage students to take advantage of this wealth of resources on the
Internet for their research.
- 5. Acquiring
Varied Writing Skills
If
students are required to publish their work on the Internet, they have to
develop hypertext skills. These skills help students gain experience in
non-sequential writings. Moreover, and since the Internet is open to all with
access, students publishing their work on the Internet are forced to be mindful
of their language and to write to non-expert audience.
- 4. Disadvantages
of Using ICT
for Education
The
use of the Internet for education is not without problems. Therefore, one
should expect the problems to be encountered in using the Internet in teaching
to be evolving as well. There are some disadvantage of using ICT for teaching
and learning :
- 1. Plagiarism.
Apart
from Web sites that claim to help students write term papers, there are
numerous cases of students downloading information from the Net and turning
them in for grades. We can minimize this problem by requiring students to cite
research sources. There is an online service, Plagiarism.org athttp://www.plagiarism.org/,
which can assist us in minimizing cases of plagiarism in the class. This
service claims to prevent plagiarism by determining if a term paper has been
copied from the Internet or not.
- 2. Student
Privacy.
Criminals,
marketers, and other persons can easily get information from students when they
are online. These could post danger to students’ lives or may even lead to
litigation against the school. To avoid this problem, students should be
educated on the dangers of giving information to people online. Parents and
teachers need to supervise students’ online activities.
- 3. Low
Income Groups.
According
to the US Department of Education, over 50% of public schools with a high
minority enrollment had a lower rate of Internet access than public schools
with a low minority enrollment in 1997. The same was true of instructional
rooms in those schools. In addition, students from low-income families may not
have computers at home or may have computers at home with no access to the
Internet. Consequently, students in low-income communities may be
disadvantaged. To reduce the effect that social or economic status may have, we
should give Internet assignments that students can easily complete while in
school. If necessary, schools may need to keep computer labs open for longer
and/or odd hours. The use of computers at public libraries should also be encouraged.
- 4. Preparation
Time.
It
takes a lot of preparation time to effectively use the Net for education. In
addition to designing Internet based lesson plans, we may have to surf the
Internet to download lesson plans and adapt them to support the curriculum
objectives or visit sites to select those appropriate for classes. We have no
choice but prepare in order to help your students become responsible user of
the Internet.
- New
Administrative Responsibilities.
Teaching
using the Internet brings to bear a new set of administrative demands on the
teacher and the school administration. These include development and
implementation of acceptable use policy, training, developing new evaluation
criteria as needed, and addressing parents’ concerns.
- 5. Conclusion,
In
sum, not all lessons can be incorporated into the Internet. In teaching using
the Net, we have to convince that using the Net adds something new, some real
value to our teaching. But also, students should be trained to use the
available technology efficiently. We should collaborate with other teachers in
the school and in the system, because cooperation and mutual understanding is
very important especially when the school has few Internet accounts. Through
the net, the student can communicate or collaborate with other students or
experts in the field across geographically boundaries. Moreover, they can join
a news group on a particular topic of interest. What is most interesting about
the Net, as far as communication is concerned, is that it is race, age,
national origin, and gender blind. The Net also enables students to publish
projects’ findings to be seen by their peers around the world. This might give
some students the motivation they need to complete their work on time, to be
mindful of their language. Therefore, every student can benefit from a Net
communication project.
THE REFERENCES
Ahmad,
K., G. Corbett, M. Rogers, and R. Sussex. (1985).Computers, Language Learning and Language
Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ebiefung,
Aniekan. 2000. Teaching Using the Internet. University of Tenneessee at
Chattanooga. Retreived on July 02 2009, from:cecasun.utc.edu
Hartoyo.
(1993) Creating Computer
Assisted Learning (CAL) Using Hypertext System: A CAL Tutorial Program for the
Learners of English. Thesis
Master of Arts (Unpublished). Sheffield, United Kingdom: Sheffield University.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICT (education)
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