ABSTRACT NUMBER 3

CITATION:

Reix, Romain. (March 2001). Surfing lessons. The OECD Observer, 18p.

SUMMARY:

A group of 29 students found that their teachers lack the skills required to use the Internet as a teaching tool.

This group of students met with OECD policymakers and experts to inform them of this “problem”. The students presented the information that teachers have little or are completely lacking the general knowledge and technical skills it requires using the Internet while using it correctly in the classroom. The students go on to say, because they have no initial command of student learning that objectives are not being met in the required fields of study. The students point out that basic training in Internet search techniques should be a minimum requirement for teachers whom are going to use the Internet in the classroom. Students complain that websites they visited were out of date or inaccurate and that teachers lacked the knowledge to guide them to a more useful and current Website. The article informed us that you can not teach the traditional way of teaching when using another part of technology, this creates 20%-30% shortage in a lesson and the outcome isn’t that great.

Students found that sharing knowledge is important in the learning process. As true for all subjects and of all teachers, it is vital for teachers to declare their objectives in their lessons. Their objectives set the pace of learning for the day. If by chance difficulties were to happen while using the Internet, which could take from objectives that should have been stated in the lesson. By stating the objectives, it keeps the students as well as the teacher on task. The students also noticed that if you put a high skilled person with a less skilled person the outcome of success is better then by oneself. It is stated that teachers must follow some kind of chain of command to accept the technology tool.

PERSONAL REACTION:

I think this article was particularly helpful in pointing out the problems teachers have using the Internet as a teaching tool in their classrooms. I like that this article is from students prospective. From their prospective we are able to define the problems faced with using this technology in the classroom. I think it is really sad that teachers don’t possess the basic search and technical skills to help their students. How are we supposed to teach our students to use this technology if the teachers whom are teaching them lack these basic skills? I think that making some sort of minimum requirement for Internet technology should be in affect. I feel the students in this paper had every to appeal to the higher up on the food chain to make this problem known. I think it takes students like this to keep teachers on the right track. I also think if a teacher cannot use the technology properly, he/she needs to go to some sort of training that will give the basics to them.