April 14th, 2009
Online Education 2.0: Study Buddies and Social Networking
I remember pulling long hours in study lounges stabbing at white boards and chalk boards. Call it nostalgia, but I miss those days of collaboration, when we’d take turns making coffee runs while cramming for tests. Homework was so much more fun when six friends were stymied together. This sense of unity made us feel justified when assignments were confusing–after all, six of us didn’t get it, and there’s strength in numbers.
This kind of study-group solidarity may be going the way of the dinosaur. Much like Web 2.0 has changed the way we use the Internet, new online study sites are changing the way students study together.
The Death of the Tutor?
Fees have increased at many universities, which means that broke college students have even less money than before. Once a great supplement to study group, tutors may be on their way out, too. These new online study sites are free, which is probably a large amount of their draw.
The Trouble with Web 2.0
Wikipedia is the best example of Web 2.0’s dangerous potential. Talking about this very topic with a physicist friend of mine, he gave me quite an example. I’m not sure if it’s since been changed (here’s hoping it has), but the definitions of cation and anion were switched on one physics-related page he’d come across.
The trouble with user-based content is that not everyone who posts knows what they’re talking about. I shudder to think of how many misguided students used this bit of information as if it were correct. For the sake of our students, let’s hope that these new study sites don’t suffer from the same misinformation.
I agree with you, with as much added knowledge the Internet gives us comes the risk of incorrect information. Recently jounalists relied on a quick search of an alleged criminals’ name and a woman with the same name from the same area ended up having her face published all over the place for a horrific crime she has nothing to do with. When it is really important to get the facts, people need to work a little harder to make sure information is correct. The new way of studying/ research is better, but there’s added responsibility in double-checking the info. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/griffith/detail?entry_id=38810
Comment by Lynn M — April 21, 2009 @ 2:10 pm