CHAPTER 5: THE INTERNET AS A TOOL FOR

COMMUNICATION

“INTERNET APPLICATIONS CAN BECOME VALUABLE TOOLS

WHEN YOUR STUDENTS USE THEM TO LEARN THE SKILLS
AND KNOWLEDGE APPROPRIATE TO THE CONTENT AREA
YOU TEACH.”
The internet can play several roles in education. Within these roles it
can be used as a tool which can be used to accomplish many
meaningful tasks. The internet can be used as tools for
communication, tools for inquiry, and tools for construction.

As a tool for communication, the internet provides efficient methods

for exchanging information and communicating with others. As a tool
for inquiry, the internet provides methods for solving information
problems. Teachers must acquaint students with technology tools
such as the web browser and then provide learning tasks that
encourage content-area learning and the development of inquiry skills.
As a tool for construction, the internet becomes a vehicle for
presenting products that students create to summarize a learning
activity. Students learn to use multimedia tools and work with images,
sound, and video.

“TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS INDIVIDUALS WITH COMMON

INTERESTS TO INTERACT OVER GREAT DISTANCES, BUT
IT ALSO ALLOWS LEARNERS WHO MAY SEE EACH OTHER
EVERY DAY TO INTERACT IN WAYS THAT INCREASE THE
COMMITMENT TO CAREFUL REFLECTION AND THUS TO
LEARNING. ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL USES OF
TECHNOLOGY IS PUTTING PEOPLE IN TOUCH WITH
OTHER PEOPLE.”
There are several ways for students and teachers to communicate
through the use of technology, such as the computer and internet.
One easy way is through the use of email. Students can engage in
projects where they have to do email exchanges with students of a
different culture or to email back and forth to learn a different
 language. You can also do a pen pal type project but with the
computer and internet it is referred to as key pals. Also with email you
can send an open message to a defined entire group. This is called
using a mailing list or listservs. By doing this you can email a mass
group of people about a topic or issue and get several responses which
everyone can see and respond to. Another approach for exchanging
messages within a group is by creating a conference or a forum. It can
hold hundreds of messages and can be read by people all over the
world. The more people that participate the more material that will be
available for everyone to view. All of these types of message
communication are described as asynchronous because the messages
are made available to the reader at one point in time but will be
reviewed by the reader at a later point in time. One type of message
exchange that is synchronous, or made in real time, is chat or instant
messaging. Chats can be made available to a whole group whereas
instant messaging is for two people to engage in their own
conversation. One last type of communication available through the
internet is videoconferencing. It is synchronous video and audio
communication, so video and audio is being sent and received at the
same time. Depending on how much money you can spend will
influence the quality of the videoconference. This application allows
an instructor of a course to teach to a remote site and be displayed on
a projector screen or someone’s computer screen. This can be used in
a classroom to allow students to listen to and watch an expert and
then ask questions and get back immediate answers.

“INTERNET COMMUNICATION PROVIDES THE OPPORTUNITY

FOR MANY KINDS OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES AND
PROJECTS.”
Teachers need to understand the “activity structures”, the properties
of different kinds of projects, and then apply them to the content being
studied in their classrooms. By doing this teachers are not duplicating
projects from others but they are taking the building blocks of projects
and focusing on the content they are teaching to create a meaningful
assignment for their students.

There are three main activity structures to understand. One is

interpersonal exchanges which is some form of talking amongst
individuals and groups. This can include key pals, electronic
appearances, or impersonations. Another type of activity structure is
information collections. This is working together to collect and compile
 information provided by participants. This can be achieved through
electronic publishing, tele-field trips, or pooled data analysis. The last
type of activity structure is problem-solving projects. This is where the
focus of interactions amongst individuals involves solving problems.
This can be done through information searches, sequential creations,
and social action projects.

“AS THE OPPORTUNITY TO COMMUNICATE BY WAY OF

THE INTERNET HAS BECOME MORE PRACTICAL, IT HAS
BECOME IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THE
EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED
COMMUNICATION (CMC) IN CONTRAST TO FACE TO FACE
COMMUNICATION.”
It may seem that actual face to face communication between students
and also between teacher and students cannot be replaced. But there
are some good things about using CMC in the classroom. First of all, it
is place independent, which means that individuals do not have to be
in the same location to communicate. Some forms of CMC are also
time independent, such as email and conferencing. They do not
require the participants to interact at the same point in time. For
these two reasons, CMC offers practical solutions to some very real
educational problems relating to time and location.

CMC also has a very positive impact on class discussion. It encourages

more productive discussion by increasing the number of active student
participants and extending the time available for discussion. When
there is a face to face class discussion going on often only a few
students are able to participate and students are not given much time
to come up with a well thought out response. It helps those students
who cannot think quickly, have language barriers, or may be shy to
express themselves in class.

“DESPITE THE ADVANTAGES OF CMC, THERE ARE SOME

DIFFICULTIES THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE .”
There are forms of CMC that make use of interactive audio and video,
such as video conferencing, but the most commonly used forms rely on
keyboarding skills. This may be challenging and frustrating for
students who have poor typing or keyboarding skills. Another difficulty
is with the lack of cues from the environment. Although it might
increase student participation it has also been associated with
immature, insensitive, and unproductive behaviors. When a student
cannot see the reaction of his peers, these inappropriate comments
can become more and more likely. Also, CMC can result in more
evaluative comments, including comments that are too critical. If a
student had to deal with the people they were making comments to
they may not say them or they might say them differently.