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ICT in Education (research-based essay)

The potentials and the pitfalls of the Internet in education to accept or avoid?
Introduction:
The Internet is one of the most significant phenomena to have bombarded our lives in recent
years. This powerful tool has unlocked and exposed us to information that was once
inaccessible. Not only this, but the wonderful World Wide Web has also enabled us to achieve
pretty much any task imaginable online whether it be communicating with others through
social media, paying our bills, sharing content with others through websites or blogs, or even
learning how to draw through a YouTube tutorial. These days, with the Internet being so
readily available on most hand held devices (including mobile phones and tablets) all of this
information is simply at our fingertips and can be accessed anywhere and anytime. As
fantastic as it seems, the Internet can also be regarded as a detrimental device when used
incorrectly. Cyber-bullying, invasion of privacy, distraction and addiction are just a few
examples of harm caused by the Internet. Therefore, the question arises; can the Internet be
deemed a valuable tool in education and should we be exposing children as young as five to
such a powerful contraption? Teaching and learning has evolved drastically since the
introduction of the Internet. Prior to these times, classrooms were organised in a didactic
manner, often with little classroom engagement and more teacher-directed learning.
Conversely, the welcoming of the Internet brought with it many opportunities for childrens
knowledge and learning to expand and grow. It has allowed children to develop a more selfdirected approach to learning and gain the skills to mature as independent learners and people.
These days, children are eager to learn as much as they can because they understand that with
the assistance of the Internet, it is possible to do so. So what is next? Where will the Internet
lead us in the future? The following essay will be focusing on the necessity and the
importance of the Internet in education from a past, present and future outlook as well as
highlighting some of the negative impacts the Internet can be responsible for.
Days prior to the introduction of the Internet:
It is sometimes easy to forget that there once existed a world before the Internet. People were
still able to contact one another and to gather and share information, however, different
resources were used, such as telephones, and books such as Encyclopaedias and Atlas.
Despite information not being as easily accessible as today, the world was still a functional
place and people did not know any better. The classroom in the 19 th and 20th century was one
that was controlled only by the teacher. Mass, institutionalised education saw that children
were filled with knowledge that was imparted by the professional educator (Emmitt, Zbatacki,

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Komesaroff, & Pollock, 2015). There was no opportunity to self-teach, challenge, explore or
research, due to this didactic manner of teaching prior to the birth of the internet. Since
teacher-learner talk (Emmitt et al., 2015) prevailed, people were often very limited in what
they were allowed to know. As society transitioned into the 21st century, there was a focus on
certain elements of knowledge, which differentiated from the past. Morin (1999) stated that
the in the past, education was deemed something that was fixed and non-changeable (Watson,
2001). However, in the following paragraphs, it will be noted that the Internet has been a
catalyst for change in many of these cases. Moreover, in the 19 th and 20th century, information
was not taught to cater for individuals specific needs. However, the 21 st centurys range of
diversity resulted in a need for many different learning styles that needed to be addressed. The
Internet has assisted in satisfying these individual requirements. Jean Piagets theory for
cognitive development was prominent in the early centuries of classroom teaching and
education. His theory focused on how children develop at different ages in their early lives.
Piaget was later criticised for his work due to many factors. Firstly, the developmental stages
he described were not invariant across individuals and cultures, he did not take into
consideration the fact that children are individual thinkers and build their own cognitive
structures, nor did he promote active learning (Marsh, Clarke, & Pittaway, 2015). The shift
into the modern day century, as backed up by the constructivist and social constructivist
models of learning (Zein, 2015), led to the belief that in order to teach successfully, students
should have the opportunity to be actively involved in their learning and construction of
knowledge (McLoughlin, & Lee, 2008). In earlier centuries, active learning was absent in
most primary school classrooms due to not only the style and manner of the environment of
teaching, but also, to a lack of resources available. Nowadays, almost every classroom comes
equipped with computers, iPads or interactive whiteboards, all with Internet access. These
technological tools allow children to become engaged and participate in learning activities
suited to their learning needs.
The introduction of the Internet:
The Internet can be defined as a cluster of innovations that was developed in 1969 (Green,
2001). This technological invention saw telephone lines communicating with each other,
computer files and informative messages being sent into cyber space from one computer to
another, and information in one location being controlled in an alternative location. Since the
introduction of Web 1.0 in 1991, and, later, Web 2.0, the environment and possibilities for
education have rapidly expanded well and truly beyond what they once were (Zein, 2015).
Web 1.0, often referred to as a read-only medium (Thompson, 2007), is the initial
generation of web technology that was created since the development of the World Wide Web

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in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee (Dumitrescu, 2015). This web technology contains static content
that could only be controlled by the Webmaster, limiting others from sharing their content and
ideas online. This is somewhat similar to the didactic style of teaching discussed in the
previous paragraph where the teacher (like the webmaster) had the power to share as much or
as little information as they desired for their students (or web users) to absorb. This was an
obvious flaw in Web 1.0 and due to pressure on schools to shift classroom practice away from
transmissive models associated with passive student reception of lectures and recitations, the
second web generation, Web 2.0, was introduced. Web 2.0 enabled all users access to share
and create content, ultimately encouraging active participation in the construction of their
own learning experiences (McCarroll, & Curran, 2013). Since then, the Internet has impacted
heavily on the classroom, however; the question that often arises is whether this impact will
be a lasting one (Green, 2001). These days, there is constant pressure on schools to ensure
that their teaching practices are made more constructivist in nature. Ultimately, the
constructivist theory is one that follows the idea that individuals are responsible for building
or constructing knowledge as they experience the world (Kafai, & Resnick, 1996) and the
Internet is a valuable resource which can assist people in achieving this. Therefore it is
important for teachers to include Web 2.0 in the classroom and into learning objectives to
ensure that knowledge construction is efficient and effective. Websites such as Scootle and
Sparklebox allow teachers to participate in online blogs and gain access to thousands of free
primary teaching resources of which other teachers have implemented themselves. Moreover,
it has been found that student activity is enhanced at school when there is a significant
motivator of which the student is familiar with. Since most children are being exposed to a
computer, tablet or mobile phone with Internet access within their family from an early age,
Internet usage is often something that children are very comfortable with, despite their
background and culture. Therefore, through the incorporation of the Internet within the
classroom, children are faced with something that they are already knowledgeable about,
which boosts their self-esteem and results in confident learning outcomes and experiences
(Green, 2001).
Where will the Internet lead us in the future?
From the previous two paragraphs teaching roles can be compared and contrasted when
looking at the times before and since the introduction of the Internet. Teachers are steering
towards a more constructivist approach to teaching and learning, with the assistance of the
Internet being incorporated through particular practices, lessons and tasks. It is not certain
where the Internet will lead us in the future, however, it can be expected that teachers roles
will continue to change, particularly since they will no longer be the key information

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providers (Deutsch, 2004). Instead, students will be relying on machines to generate answers
and responses to unknown topics or information. It is important to remember, however, that
teacher-mediated classrooms should not ever be entirely replaced by that of computermediated learning (Snyder, 2004). Moreover, technology is rapidly developing at a very fast
pace and if education does not keep up with current technological trends, the future of
information and communication technology (ICT) in education may be deemed somewhat
irrelevant and unsuccessful (Deutsch, 2004). According to Aureo Castro 2001, future Internetrelated trends include: an increase in the number of web enabled courses, an increase in the
number of children being home-schooled, changes in the purpose of the teacher and the
school and changes in overall pedagogy and content so that it becomes more ICT orientated.
These factors in conjunction with the fact that the Internet is doubling in size every year,
[and] the web is doubling in size every 90 days (Thornburg, 1998) will ultimately lead to a
paradigm shift in primary education which will call for a complete rethink of the structure of
educational curriculum. Furthermore, another issue related to the future trends of ICT in
education is the idea that there may be a lack of technologically fluent workers. According to
Thornburg, there needs to be a push towards technological fluency, as this will ensure that
children have the ability to use a computer as easily as they can read and write. Once this has
been achieved amongst students, the tools for lifelong learning will be in place (Thornburg,
1998).
The risks and dangers of incorporating the Internet in educational practices
As advantageous and useful as it may seem, the Internet can also be a detrimental tool when
used incorrectly. In education systems, teachers are battling the question of whether their
students are actually making use of the Internet resource to gather particular information,
rather than using it for other purposes (Maroki, 2001), which can lead to distraction and
misuse of time. If a child is distracted, he or she generally misses out on important content
and it can be difficult to return back to the zone of learning. Moreover, one distraction has the
capability of leading to many distractions of children within the surrounding environment
which, at times, can be extremely challenging for one teacher to control. Another, more
serious threat associated with the Internet is cyber-bullying. According to Tai 2014, the
number of children that have reported to have been cyber-bullied in primary school in 2014
was 1 in 5 and it is expected that these numbers will increase further in the future. Cyberbullying leads to psychological, emotional and social relationship issues and this personal
damage has the ability to manifest within the victim and result in degrading academic
performance. In some cases, the cyber-bullying has such an impact on a victim that it can lead
to skipping school, anxiety, depression and even suicide (Rivituso, 2014). It has been

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anticipated that the less-developed impulse control coinciding with immature social skills
are linked with the mental processes of a cyber bully when they navigate cyberspace (Tai,
2014). Teachers need to be instructed on how to promote engagement in positive cyberspace
activities and warn students of the harms and impacts of cyber-bullying from both a cyberbully and a victim perspective. This can be achieved through providing children with
examples of what is and is not classified as cyber-bullying as many children may be
unaware of what they are getting themselves into when they enter the online world. It is also
crucial for teachers to be trained in cyber-bullying management, if required. The final
negative impact of the Internet to be discussed in this essay is addiction. As defined by Sahin,
& Deniz, (2013), Internet addiction involves an individuals inability to control Internet usage
levels which often leads to negative consequences such as failing subjects at school, poor
academic results, fatigue, isolation, failure to manage time, missed meals, aggression, and so
on (Waldo, 2014). It is believed that individuals become addicted due to feelings of online
freedom and due to the ability to hide or alter ones identity (Sahin, et al., 2013). Ultimately,
educators need to be aware that this issue is one that is highly prevalent; more so among
upper primary school students and therefore management and prevention is necessary.
Through little amounts of exposure as well as monitoring Internet use and time in conjunction
with introducing other non-Internet focused learning areas within the classroom, students are
less likely to develop a craving or compulsive reliance on the Internet (Waldo, 2014).
Conclusion:
To conclude, there have been many phenomena that have revolutionised the world in the past,
including the invention of writing, followed by the typewriter, followed by the computer. The
Internet is one of the most modern master creations that has altered the way us humans lead
our every day lives (Thornburg, 1999). In the past, in the absence of the Internet, people
relied heavily on other resources such as books and radio, to collect information. These days,
it is a common trend to be connected and communicating through online devices (Thornburg,
1999). The birth of the Internet has sparked a lot of debate over whether there was a place for
the World Wide Web in the classroom. To this day, this is a question that remains
controversial. There are many positive impacts of the Internet in the classroom, including
engagement of students, new learning objectives, more interactive pedagogy, etc. In saying
this, there are also many negative impacts of the Internet in the classroom such as overuse,
addiction and cyber-bullying. However, if monitored and incorporated well into the
classroom, the Internet is mostly perceived as a useful tool in providing students with an
efficient and effective education and therefore, the future for information technology and the
Internet within the classroom can be regarded an affirmative one.

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