Advocate Online

As an English teacher, I am struck by what appears to be an unwillingness on the part of most of my students to take an active role in their own learning. Or, perhaps, these students don’t even know how to take an active part in their own learning because of the learning malaise brought about by technology in general, and computers in particular.

The lower quality of learning begins before the students even start to do research or write their papers. Our culture has become bound to technology in all of its mind-numbing guises, and this trend has become ever more pervasive in the lives of our students at progressively younger ages. I believe this over-reliance on technology has robbed some of our students of the imagination and energy required to ensure higher learning.

Students, like all of us, have been told they are living in the age of information—and that the Internet is the preeminent portal to where that information is kept. Apparently no one has told them that much of that information is incorrect. Because of this misperception, research to many students consists of simply logging onto the Internet, plugging in a few keywords, and printing the first thing they come across that supports their opinion. To make matters worse, they can access a plethora of articles, Web sites, chat rooms, and blogs to support virtually any opinion, leading students to think that their opinion is based on fact.

The challenge for instructors is in overcoming students’ tendency to compile their research like ordering pizza, with the touch of a couple buttons. This means luring them away from the virtual world into a library that contains books and printed matter.

* Iris Gribble-Neal is an English lecturer at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington. She is an active member of the United Faculty of Eastern (UFE), and she is co-editor and publisher of the literary journal Heliotrope.

No, we should welcome Web-based research and make it a positive learning experience.
Michelle Pilati *

While the use of the World Wide Web for student research and learning may result in an increase in plagiarism, it has also improved the quality of student learning by providing students with a vast array of resources, an accessible means of seeking alternative explanations for course material, and an ideal opportunity to employ critical thinking in a meaningful manner.

The Web provides diverse perspectives on virtually any topic, requiring students to learn to discriminate between good information and bad information, fact and opinion. Students must filter through commercial and biased information to find the accurate information they need to write a quality paper.

Conducting any online search can aid the student in learning how to distinguish between the relevant and the irrelevant, and the resulting product is likely to benefit from the student’s ready access to diverse sources. Guidance, however, in accomplishing this task is necessary. Thus, while the use of the Web can benefit students, it requires more work on the part of faculty and/or support staff.

The Web can also aid the student who is unable to understand course material based on classroom and text presentations alone. Students can go online to seek alternative explanations, images, or animations to clarify course concepts and make learning a more active process. Used correctly, the Web provides students an opportunity to develop and practice critical thinking skills.

As we are bombarded by advertisements and biased data by more media outlets than ever before, shouldn’t we appreciate the opportunity to enable our students to become responsible evaluators of these messages?

* Michelle Pilati is an associate professor of psychology at Rio Hondo College in Whittier, California. She is a second-time delegate to this year’s NEA Representative Assembly. She has developed numerous online and hybrid courses.