Education and schooling
The Internet will never replace traditional course books in schools. How far do you agree
with this prediction?
There is a huge range of resources available to the modern teacher, and the right selection is
crucial in delivering effective lessons. I agree that there will always be a place for course books
in the school curriculum, despite the many benefits of the Internet.
Firstly, course books (whether conventional or digital) have been developed by pedagogical
experts and designed to be incorporated into a subject syllabus, leading to testing procedures
such as formal examinations or continuous assessment. This means that they are proven to
improve students’ academic achievement, enhancing their potential for progression to further
or higher education. Furthermore, the use of modern course books allow pupils to coordinate
their studies as part of group work, hopefully making their lessons less teacher-led and more
about autonomous learning. This in itself teaches study skills such as independent research
and synthesising sources, rather than old-fashioned rote-learning. This is where the Internet, in
fact, can play a useful part: to supplement and add to knowledge which the students are
assimilating via their course books. However, it is the role of teachers and school management
generally to ensure that use of the Internet remains a guided learning process, and not an
exercise in data-gathering form Internet sources which may be unreliable or even misleading.
It is true that the internet can be invaluable for adults (for example distance learning or self-
study modules) who are able to discriminate between sources and sift information to marshal
their facts. However, this is a mature skill and we should not assume that school age pupils are
ready to do this.
Overall, it appears that course books, with their quality and depth of material, are set to
remain an integral part of the syllabus. The Internet can be judged a useful supplement to this,
if used carefully and under supervision.
