BOOK REPORT

CITATION:

Cahoon, Brad (Ed.). Adult Learning and the Internet. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Teaching and Learning Internet Skills:

Why are adults motivated to use a computer? Adults are motivated to use computers for the first time due to the popularity of the Internet. Before the adults can learn how the Internet they need to know some of the basic things of a computer first: motor skills (learning how to use a keyboard and learning to manipulate a mouse) and perceptual skills (learning to associate images and events on the computer screen with motor actions). Both motor skills and perceptual skills are highly used when using electronic mail (e-mail) programs (Eudora, Outlook, and free e-mail accounts), which means that the users need to be very fluent with word processing (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works-Word, and Corel Word Perfect). Once these programs and skills are mastered then the users tend to rely on them heavily, even when they are aware that they could learn more efficient procedures for achieving the same results. An example of this would be when the user wants to move down the paper: The user would move the cursor up/down the page by using the arrow direction keys verses just using the mouse to scroll up/down the page. Some people would declare that Internet skills can be described as the ability to use a variety in Internet client software, particularly Web browsers, e-mail programs, news reader, and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) clients. One way to know if someone is a skillful Internet user is to see if the user can send and reply to e-mails, search for and find Web information, download and install software from on-line archives, and participate in Web-based conferences or newsgroups. Some of the ways that adults can learn those important Internet skills are by the combination of self-directed learning (instructional material is available on the World Wide Web), informal learning within a work group, and participation in workshops or short courses.

Intranets for Learning and Performance Support:

First thing is first, what is intranet? Intranet refers to the technical infrastructure (physical connections between computers) and to the total collection of software and information made available through that infrastructure. An easy way to remember this is that an intranet is simply an internal corporate or organizational network, over which multiple users can share information and programs. Lots of corporations use something that is known as a firewall. A firewall is a security system that allows entry to authorized users only; creating a bound system from those outside the corporation. One of the biggest advantages is that users can share programs, information, and tools across different computer systems and configurations.

Course Development on the World Wide Web:

The World Wide Web (www) can be used in many ways not just for surfing the web for more information about a particular topic. Educators are beginning to the Web to supplement their courses in basic ways, gradually exploring more complex uses of Web technology. The success of the class that is done by the Web will depend on the software that the instructor opts to use for the class. The very first thing a teacher should when getting ready for a online classroom setting is to have the course syllabus as a Web page with a hypertext link allowing students to sent e-mails to the teacher. Then a page with a list of links to Web sites on related topics. For an online classroom the instructor should have the class write short reviews of Web sites and share them with their peers. Since the class is to contribute to and publish on the Web a list of guidelines or a tutorial about evaluating Web resources would further develop the project; this activity would draw on both their knowledge of paper-based information and their growing experience in navigating the Web.

Adult Learners and Internet-Based Distance Education:

There are educators that would characterize the success of adults learning by including the additional attributes such as collaboration, interactivity, application, democracy, constructivism, and a sense of community. Regardless what the Internet activity is, students must learn how to learn in these new instructional environments, and educators must recognize how different aspects of technology influence different characteristics of adult learning. There are three technology types indicate some of these connections. The first type is the traditional distance learning supplemented with Internet activities. This type has courses are primarily delivered through another distance means but that incorporate Internet-based activities and assignments. Students progressed from process management concerns (learning to use the technology for learning) to meaning-making (constructing new knowledge within their personal knowledge structures). Also, students worked together to overcome technical difficulties and supported each other in learning to use to deal with tangential conversations, to converse with unknown person, and to time their contributions so that they would be effective. The second type is computer conferencing. The Internet becomes the main vehicle of instruction and communication. Students that in this type of learning enjoyed these classes because the class was asynchronicity (accessing the class as it fit their schedule), group support (feeling camaraderie in their new responding), reflection (considering their words carefully before responding), control (feeling independent about studying), interactivity (giving and receiving feedback about on-line messages), text (engaging in intensive reading and writing activities), and democracy (feeling that each participant had equitable “air time.” The last type is the virtual courses and institutions. These kinds of courses can extend the textual resources characteristics of the type of computer conferencing with colorful graphics, audio and video segments, and hypertext links. Courses like this include off-line activities, but most aspects of the course are on-line: course guide, electronic discussions with the instructor and other students, the links to Web resources that support the course content and on-line activities, and the submission and return of assignments. The students that were in these kinds of classes increasingly saw on-line conversations with other students as contributing to their learning. The positive feedback that was given from the students were: hearing from all students, not just the most vocal ones; having freedom to express themselves in an environment of partial anonymity; and learning from students with a wide range of pertinent experiences and opinions. Of course, if there is positive feedback there might be some negative feedback. Some of the negative feedback is: conversations time-consuming disjointed, time-delayed, and intimidating.

PERSONAL REACTION:

This entire book was rather interesting to me because it dealt with the Internet and how things can be taught by the use of the Internet. The areas that were discussed in this book also related to other classes that I have taken in the past. My last Educational Technology class we discussed videoconferencing and how class are setup over the Internet. I still think that Internet courses have to be watched very carefully since of those phony college institutions out there. There are institutions that give diplomas because their students took classes via Internet but did they actually do anything? The classes that I have been in had a syllabus and all the homework assignments were announced over the Internet classroom. Every student had to submit the assignments by a certain date. Knowing the instructor, she probably keeps all that in a file, which proves that, her classes are actually legit.