There is little uncertainty that the Internet has had a considerable impact on people’s lives, and not always for the better. Kids, in specific, are so into the virtual world that it is a task just to get them away from their laptops and smart-phones to engage in activities that children of just a decade ago indulged in as a matter of course. They do not have discussions; they chat. They do not have play dates; they have online gaming.
Adults and teenagers are just as guilty of this cut off from the real world. You will barely see one person who is not messaging, talking or browsing, even at the time of driving. To be unplugged is to be part of an interesting reality TV show which has nothing to do with real life.
World Wide Web And The Manner We Learn:
Market research has as well revealed that the Internet has influenced the manner people learn. Attention spans are shorter and knowledge retention is down to zero. It is no longer essential to focus on something or remember facts. Why take notes or memorize anything when you can access the details anytime you wish for? The apprehension is that people are losing the fundamental cognitive abilities like remembering birthdays. Though, there is a very bright side to the Internet. People have never been so linked or conversant before. The terms ‘community’ and ‘engagement’ have taken on entirely new meanings, and control has been conveyed to many people rather than just a handful of movers and shakers. The Internet has permitted people to select, influence and challenge the status quo.
Changing The Cognitive Landscape: From Long Lectures To Educational Videos
Online learning sites are not high-tech institutions. It is a collection of numerous educational videos made in the bedroom closet that aims to teach viewers science, math, engineering, medical and many more. The videos are generally 10 minutes long, short enough to accommodate limited attention spans, and informal enough to sound more similar to a conversation as compared to a lecture. This works as it furnishes a new generation of learners which find it a refreshing change from long, boring lectures conveyed by professional academics that recognize the subject comprehensively, however have little knowledge regarding engaging the students.
Online learning sites like Homework Help are not career educators and do not charge anything for videos, which have been viewed and downloaded lots of times. Their goal is simple: teach, as you wish to be taught. The students say that the videos grant a valuable supplement to their regular studies, which is safe and adequate for such an eccentric approach.
Pattern Shift: Moving From The Theoretical To Practical
Though, these sites have bigger ideas. They believe that the unconventional techniques will work as the major source of instruction. As their original target audience is students in primary and secondary school, they consider that the similar principles can apply for college students.
They imagine a healthy combination of virtual and real-life interactions where students are ungraded however motivated to build up a portfolio of work and assessments from mentors which would exhibit their capabilities and skills much better than grades on a transcription of records.
This is an ambitious scheme and one that can seriously go wrong. Yet, it as well makes a full lot of sense. Student engagement and educational performance on all levels are matters of rising concern and conventional institutions are similar to boats without a paddle. The time has grown for change and these online learning sites might just be the oar required to guide the educational system out of troubled waters.
What Does The Future Hold?
Modernization sounds good, howev1er there is no guarantee that it will forever work.
They proved that students respond to their teaching methodologies, however the question is, can it in reality work on a bigger scale? How far can others like him take it? Does the idea of a reengineered college education encompass adequate momentum to carry it all the way through to journey’s end, or will it thrash in mid-stream and get sucked down the whirlpool of disastrous failure?
Only time says.
