And Vernon Levy answered:
>>You are not alone! I am raking around for similar material...basically
>>what I have established (in my own mind at least) is that the Internet
>>supports collaborative learning and constructivist practises.
On Sun, 7 Jul 1996, Fred Shouten replied:
> ... but I always was under the impression that Master's theses and Doctoral
> dissertations were supposed to generate new information. That is, they are
> supposed to be designed as research projects themselves, rather than just a
> long term paper citing other people's research in support of a hypothesis.
Vernon replies:
My worry is that although the available literature all cites the case
that the Internet and multimedia supports collaborative learning and
constructivist practises and that constructivist practises and
collaborative learning is the *best* model of learning particularly
in Science and Mathematics there is a lack of evidence that the use of
multimedia that The Internet and multimedia is actually good for Education
My questions which I will be refining are:
Does the Internet and the use of Multimedia truly enhance the learning
experience of pupils?
Which activities lend themselves best to attainment enhancement?
( an area which does not appear to have been addressed anywhere and when
one gets down to the nitty gritty good exam grades are what all schools
want irrespective of their mission statements which place a lot of
emphasis on personal and social development)
What is the most cost effective (in time and money) deployment of
Internet and multimedia in schools where financial and skill resources
are limited?
These stem from what appears to be the assumption that learners have
almost unlimited access to the Internet and multimedia machines when in
reality the Internet connection is one computer serving 1200 pupils
during school time only and the multimedia machines are not widely
available to all curriculum areas. Not to mention the lack of training
and confidence the teachers have in the new technologies.
Having originally thought that the new technologies were the answer to
all of educations' problems....I am not sure that this is the case yet.
The whole premise that the Internet etc is good for education does appear
to be built on rather shaky foundations.
tttfn
Vernon Levy
Head of Science
Buttershaw Upper School
Reevy Road West
Bradford
West Yorkshire
U.K.
x10955@bradford.ac.uk