David Atkinson
Argument 76-100 O
Geoff Sauer
5/3/97

Implications of Computers and the Internet as educational tools

Computers are a large part of modern society. In the job market of today, ability to use a computer has practically become a requirement. (Hickman 55) It is obvious that teaching children to use computers is a valuable thing to do. The usage of computers to teach other subjects is tempting, when one considers how successful computers have been in other fields. However, there are certain disadvantages to using computers to teach other subjects. These disadvantages must be given proper consideration, because children deserve the best education they can get.

The disadvantages I speak of are threefold. First, there is a gender issue related to computers. Often is seems that males are more adept with computers than females, and this might be harmful to a female's education. Second, there is the problem that students may not be interested in computers, or may lose interest as time goes on. Third, there are issues with the internet. The internet is a valuable resource, but it has many drawbacks. These problems with computer use are important to consider, and they are not necessarily the only problems. If these problems can be dealt with, hopefully other problems will not be so daunting.

Gender Differences

Studies have shown that there are differences in the way children of different genders use computers. Having gender bias in schools is certainly not a positive thing. If computers are sexist, then their value as a teaching tool decreases dramatically. If there is gender bias for the children, then one gender could be educated to a lower standard than the other. If there are gender differences for the teachers, then entire classes of children could be educated to lower standards. In either case, one group of students could receive a lower quality education. This type of bias would certainly be a problem.

Most research indicates that males are more positive in their attitudes towards computers than females. (Robertson et. al. 73) "More positive" in this sense means that answers to questions about computer attitudes tend more towards "I like them" than "I hate them." In fact, studies show that boys are more positive than girls in almost every aspect of their attitudes on computers. Boys were more comfortable, more confident, more confident in themselves, and they used computers more. Interestingly, boys and girls seem to like using computers about the same amount in the Robertson study. (77)

These differences in computer attitudes may not be solely because of gender. Understandably, it has been shown that people who own computers tend to have more positive attitudes towards them. Aside from ownership, the amount one uses a computer also affects one's attitude. Studies have shown that boys are more likely to own computers and they tend to use them more. (Robertson 74) The correlation between attitude and gender may not be as important as the correlation between attitude and usage. In the Robertson study, the ratio of boys with sole use of a computer to girls with sole use of a computer was ten to one. (77)

As far as teachers are concerned , there is less difference in computer attitudes. In fact, there is not necessarily any difference in the attitudes of male teachers versus female teachers. (Robertson 77) Interestingly enough, students tend to be more at ease with computers than teachers and their attitudes tend to be more positive. (Robertson 77-78) It has also been shown that the amount students like computer learning programs depends more on the subject and the program, rather than the teacher. (Doornekamp 109)

The gender differences in teachers do not seem to be much of a problem. The gender differences in students could be a setback, however. Luckily, it has been shown that regardless of gender children exhibit improved performance when computers are used as a teaching tool. (Cox 48) One study found that girls seemed to learn more than boys on certain educational programs. (Doornekamp 111) One can also hope that in the future the differences in usage and ownership of computers between male and female students will be reduced.

Student Interest

All the wonderful things that can be done with computers are not nearly so wonderful if students are not interested in them. However, there is little evidence that children do not have, or lose, interest in computers. In fact, it has been shown that students want computers to be used in the classroom. (Doornekamp 109) It has been shown that computer usage goes down as students get older. This is largely due to less time being spent on computer games. In fact, students tend to spend more time using the computer for academic tasks such as word processing as they get older. (Doornekamp 108)

Implications of the Internet

One of the most promising aspects of computers in education is access to the internet. The internet is a worldwide network of computers that has grown to gigantic proportions. Through the internet people have access to a huge amount of information from all around the world. This is achieved through a variety of standard services that are available.

Electronic Mail, or E-mail, allows people to privately send text messages electronically to other people with access to electronic mail.

Usenet newsgroups allow discussion between many people about specific topics. People send electronic mail to the proper location, and their messages along with messages from many other users are made publicly available.

File Transfer Protocol, or FTP, allows transfers of data files from one computer to another.

Telnet allows people to remotely connect to other computers on the internet and use them to run programs.

HyperText Transfer Protocol, or HTTP, allows access to the millions of hypertext documents that form the World Wide web, also known as WWW or W3. Hypertext allows documents to have text combined with multimedia such as images and animation, as well as allowing certain words, phrases, or images to act as links to further information.

Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, allows real-time discussion of various topics in text based form.

All of these resources have potential as educational tools. For instance, project Gutenberg is working to put as many printed books into electronic form as possible. Materials from project Gutenberg are available on the World Wide Web and through FTP. Internet Relay Chat and Usenet Newsgroups allow discussion between people around the world, so projects would not have to be limited to students in one classroom.

With all these wonderful things there are many disadvantages. The internet is an almost totally unregulated entity. There is no centralized governing body for the internet. As such, the internet is often used for things that schools might consider less than appropriate. Within the 10,000 or so Usenet newsgroups one can find pornographic images, ways to commit suicide, recipes for making illegal drugs at home, racist and sexist propaganda, and a host of other unwholesome things. (Futoran 230) With all this unpleasant material available it would seem necessary to examine materials before allowing students to access them. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the internet, this would be nearly impossible once students had internet access. On the whole, it is difficult to keep student internet usage focused on academic, or even acceptable, topics. (Futoran 231,232)

Not only is there a problem of students gaining access to questionable materials, there is also the problem of students providing questionable materials themselves. This problem can be even worse than the previous, because it is possible for students to actually endanger themselves. For instance, a student could quite innocently give out an address or phone number to someone who seemed quite nice when they chatted on IRC, who was actually a pedophile. Students might also be able to engage in illegal activities such as pirating software. They could even get into trouble with the government by jokingly sending bomb threats to the white house. (Futoran 232,233)

How could a school cope with these problems? The educational possibilities of the internet are very desirable, but at what cost? Certainly the safest option would be to not allow any student internet access. This would mean that teachers could choose specific resources for children to use, but it almost nullifies the possibility for self exploration. Another possibility is teacher supervision. This possibility allows the students self-exploration and encourages them to stay on task. If students should become involved in things they shouldn't, the teacher provides a safety-net. Unfortunately, this method requires internet exploration to be done during school hours, which tend to be when internet traffic is heaviest. (Futoran 233) The third possibility is to rely on an honor system. In order for students to use the internet they must sign an acceptable use policy. This allows students to access materials at any time, but it relies on the student to determine what is appropriate. (Futoran 233,234)

If an acceptable method for allowing students to access the internet, the possibilities are gigantic. There is a huge amount of information available on the internet. One can quickly obtain access to materials about certain topics using a variety of searching tools such as Archie (Searches FTP space), Yahoo!, and Lycos (Both search WWW space). Even with all that is available now, there certainly is more to come. To date, usage of the World Wide Web in education has been focused on using it to deliver information. (Neilson 113) However, the World Wide Web has the capability to do much more. New possibilities for the web are being created all the time. For instance, Java, which is a programming language that allows people to safely run programs over the internet. These programs can quickly be downloaded from the web and used on the local computer. Education programs could easily be implemented in Java, allowing anyone with internet access and Java capability to use them. Also, features of the web such as the Common Gateway Interface, or CGI, allow communication between programs across the internet. (Neilson 114) These possibilities have not been explored to their full extent, and in the future the web could develop into something far greater than it is today. (Neilson 114)

Conclusions

Computers have become an essential part of life today. There are obvious advantages to getting students used to using computers before they enter the job market. Further, using computers as an educational tool has proven to be worthwhile. Even in topics that one might not associate with computers, such as English, students seem to learn better when computers are used. (Cox 48) The problems with gender must be dealt with, of course. If female students have trouble with computers, then perhaps extra encouragement is in order. These gender differences may not be a problem at all, though, since sometimes girls learn better than boys despite their seemingly worse attitude towards them. (Doornekamp 111) Usage of the internet is a touchy subject, and it may not be appropriate to allow internet access to all students. For instance, the internet might not be a good option for younger students. As children mature, they should be able to be trusted to use the internet responsibly. If schools can find acceptable ways to use computers, than many advantages are imparted. If nothing else, the students may become more at ease with computers, which is important in a job market where computer literacy is becoming an entry level requirement. (Hickman 55) It is simply necessary to be careful about how computers are implemented in the schools.

Works Cited

Cox, Margaret J. "Technology Enriched School Project - The Impact of Information Technology on Children's Learning." Computers in Education, Volume 21, No. 1 / 2, 1993, pp. 41-49.

Hickman, Betty L. and Corritore, Cynthia L. "Broadening the Scope: A new Approach to Computer Literacy Education." Computers in Education Journal, Volume V, No. 1, January-March 1995, pp. 55-63.

Neilson, Irene, Ruth Thomas, Calum Smeaton, Alan Slater, and Gopal Chand. "Education 2000: Implications of W3 technology." Computers in Education, Volume 26, No. 1-3, 1996, pp. 113-132.

Futoran, Gail Clark, Janet Ward Schofield, and Rebecca Eurich-Fulcher. "The Internet as a K-12 Educational Resource: Emerging Issues of Information Access and Freedom." Computers in Education, Volume 24, No. 3, 1995, pp. 229-236.

Doornekamp, B. Gerard. "Students Valuation of the Use of Computers in Education." Computers in Education, Volume 21, No. 1 / 2, 1993, pp. 103-113.

Robertson, S. Ian and Judith Clader, Pat Fung, Ana Jones, and Tim O'Shea. "Computer Attitudes in an English Secondary School." Computers in Education, Volume 24, No. 2, 1995, pp.73-81.