The Internet and Higher Education

Van Patten, J.J., & Chen, G. (2002). The Internet Culture, Student Learning and Student Retention. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from ERIC database: http://www.eric.ed.gov.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1a/4a/f6.pdf

Summary: This article discusses various aspects of the internet, including pros and cons, as related to higher education and student retention. At the University of Texas, students can access various types of student support and counseling help over the internet. Email is often used to keep in touch with college students who may be having difficulty with their new environment. On the other hand, the internet has some downsides such as offering the ability for students to purchase papers to turn in. Educators must be aware of this issue and think of ways to hold the students accountable, such as having them later summarize the main points of their paper. Also, student retention as related to distance learning can also be difficult to work with. If a distance learning class experiences a lot of technical difficulties, it can be frustrating for the students and deter them from those types of classes in the future.

The article also goes on to briefly discuss spam, filtering, and blocking information.

The quality of internet information is also important. As instructors, it is useful to teach students effective searching techniques to save time and to help find useful information.

Response: This article was more like a summary of different types of internet uses. I didn’t really learn anything new and I actually felt as if the article was jumping all over the place without any kind of focus.

I do agree that the internet can be a great resource for students if used properly. It’s very easy to get sidetracked when surfing the web. I have taught a short lesson to international students about effective searching methods and how to know if the information found is credible and reliable. Anyone can post information on the internet, so it is very important to determine if what we are reading is fact or fiction.