More hand-wringing over the Internet
Filed Under (Internet) by Don C on 22-06-2008
Eleanor Coner, the SPTC’s information officer, said: “Children are very IT-savvy, but they are rubbish at researching. The sad fact is most children these days use libraries for computers, not the books. We accept that as a sign of the times, but schools must teach pupils not to believe everything they read.
“It’s dangerous when the internet is littered with opinion and inaccurate information which could be taken as fact.
Dangerous? Oh my freaking god, it’s dangerous to use Wikipedia.
At one college in Vermont in the US, a history professor found several students repeated the same error in exam papers. On discovering the information came from Wikipedia, the college outlawed its future use.
How about educational institutions adapt and improvise. Instead of banning Wikipedia, how about teaching students how to do research in the information age, you know, using the Internet. How about teaching how to corroborate information from different sources; teaching the different technologies used to ferret out plagiarism; teaching how to ensure that they are not falling for a bunch of bullshit. This is what today’s students need. What they don’t need is for some dumbass professor banning portions of the Internet because they failed a history question. What a fucking moron. I think it might be time for some educators to consider retirement or a change of profession if they can not get with the new paradigm of the information age.
