Ch. 1—The Internet in Your Face!

The first Web browser was only introduced in 1995, yet every company and industry in the world marketplace understood that it was vital to establish themselves in the online community. The Internet allows everyone with the appropriate hardware and software to be digitally wired together, regardless of their location on the globe. Research no longer takes hours, weeks, or years. Information can be shared almost instantaneously, instead of relying on the speed of a messenger. For the first time, research, communication and publishing tools have converged in one place, and are available to “businesses, schools, and even the homes of ordinary people” (Jukes, Dosaj, Macdonald, 2000, p. 4).

“Many educators believe that access to the Internet can have a profound and positive impact upon education” (Jukes, Dosaj, Macdonald, 2000, p. 5). Yet the capabilities of the Internet have created two major challenges for educators. The first is developing mastery of basic information literacy skills. There is so much information available to students through the Internet that extra time must be spent teaching them how to clarify the task, locate appropriate materials, evaluate the information for relevance and authenticity, organize the findings, and apply the ideas to the original problem.

The second challenge educators face is how to effectively use the Internet in an educational context. Online resources and activities must be integrated into the curriculum in appropriate ways, so that they enhance instruction and create new opportunities for student learning. The Internet can open the door to endless possibilities for developing problem solving and critical thinking skills, as long as it is used correctly.

It is becoming vitally important for educators to lead students from the Industrial Age into the Information Age. They must teach students to become information literate, able to locate and evaluate information from the vast Internet, so that they will have the skills sought by employers in today’s ever-changing marketplace.

Jukes, I., Dosaj, A., Macdonald, B. (2000). net.savvy: Building information literacy in the classroom (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.