Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: internet and education

On Mon, 14 Jul 1997, Kyle Forinash suggested four ways that the Internet
can be used. These are all good, but I think a real advantage shows up in
my proposed #5. (First I summarize and comment on Kyle's ideas.)

1) source of reference/resource material

This really is a big advantage, in my opinion. No college library, and few
university libraries, could have as large a database of information as is
available on the Net. However, as someone else pointed out, we will have
to work hard at helping our students learn to judge the reliability of a
variety of Internet sources.

2) listserv/email discussions

Very valuable, but we and our students need to learn how to get past the
overload of information and dis-information in email discussion groups and
newsgroups.

3) collaborative projects which involves using the collective wisdom of
many people to create some thing new

4) access and manipulaton of equipment which is too expensive or remote for
direct student use.

I have used the small "teaching" radio telescope at Greenbank, WV via
email, and had students smooth and plot the data. This was very useful.

Now for my proposal of a fifth use of the Internet in education.

5) Interactive Internet usage, including the running of simulations under
student control and the interchange between students and between the
instructor and students regarding questions and projects.

With the advent of Java and JavaScript, web authors are now writing a
number of simulations that will run on any computer having a web browser
that supports Java and JavaScript. I have been having some fun this
summer writing some interactive web pages for IFS fractals and planetary
orbits. My preliminary work, in a program I call "Interactive Science
Activities on the Web" (ISAW), may be check out at:
http://www.bridgewater.edu/departments/physics/ISAW/
Other persons have already done a lot in this area.

I have also just begun to use the Internet as a means of students
responding to questions I pose for them or they pose for each other. If it
works well, this should enhance students "teaching" each other and thus
learning more effectively.

Richard
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Richard L. Bowman
Chair, Dept. of Physics e-mail: rbowman@bridgewater.edu
(and Dir. of Academic Computing) phone: 540-828-5441
Bridgewater College FAX: 540-828-5479
Bridgewater, VA 22812 http://www.bridgewater.edu/~rbowman/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------