Internet Advantages and Disadvantages

Enhancing subject-area expertise via the Internet

Advantages and Limitations of Computers and the Internet for Classroom Teachers

Deborah Healey

Three main areas where computers and the Internet have changed education: Resources, Communication, Visualization

Resources
Ever-growing number of websites: according to the Online Computer Library Center in 2002 there were 8.7 million unique sites, about 3 million of them where most or all of the content is public; this is a growth of 111% since 1998 in public sites (though their statistics show little growth in public sites since 2001).
Access to the Internet gives a wide range of topics and media which facilitates different learning styles. Use of computers and the Internet enables learners to become researchers more easily because they can have direct access to data.

Advantages	Limitations
Data- and information-rich, including a range of media	Knowledge-poor; information overload
Anyone can publish online (tripod.com and other hosting sites)	No librarians for quality control (with some exceptions, like KidsClick! and other sites for children)
Learners can become researchers because of easier access to data	Need for quality control in the data that students find and use
Search engines that are fast and powerful	Search engines that show results based on who pays the most
Easy to use	Not enough training for effective use
Smaller, faster, cheaper all the time	Push to upgrade constantly

Communication
Students, teachers, researchers can connect directly to each other. 619 million people are online, according to GlobalReach
No librarians for quality control (with some exceptions, like KidsClick! and other sites for children)

Advantages	Limitations
Ability to link to people and places immediately	Speed takes precedence over quality
Global dissemination of information	Risk of a growing information gap between haves and have-nots
Motivation for students in sharing their work online with the world	Copyright issues - it's easy to get caught, so teachers need to make sure their students follow the rules
Anyone can publish online (tripod.com and other hosting sites)	No librarians for quality control (with some exceptions, like KidsClick! and other sites for children)

Visualization and modeling
2- and 3-dimensional graphics, static and animated, and what-if modeling are enabled by computer use

Advantages	Limitations
Appeal to different learning styles	Flash over substance
Easier to understand complex subjects using visual representations ( imaging raytracer - use with IE; molecular modeling )	Easier to think you understand when you just have surface knowledge
Possibility of seeing different things because of the different perspective that graphics bring ( mouse expressing a protein , mouse genome )	Easier to misrepresent data in graphical form
More student control of learning (constructivism) when they can use models themselves - hands-on discovery rather than watch and memorize (zebrafish database )	Tendency to "click and guess" rather than to think first - especially with statistics

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Last updated 15 Jan 2003 by Deborah Healey, deborah.healey@orst.edu