Internet Use by Teachers

Although the potential impact of computer technologies on teaching and learning goes far beyond the Internet, the Internet's rapid growth in the last two to three years suggested that we devote our first presentation of findings from the TLC survey to Internet use by teachers and their students. An earlier analysis of the same data was presented at Tel-Ed 1998, San Antonio, TX, October 30th, 1998. This paper provides a revised and more extended analysis, and includes information about...

• How frequently teachers and students use the Internet and in what ways
• To what extent teachers value having the Internet in their own classroom
• How much access teachers have to the Internet

To be able to know on how  the teacher use the internet.How internet important in enhancing teaching and learning  of teachers.

A. TEACHERS' USES

1. USE IN LESSON PREPARATION

Most teachers report making some use of the Internet in their professional activities. Our survey asked about three professional uses in particular: finding information and other resources on the Internet; e-mailing with teachers at other schools; and posting information, suggestions, opinions, or student work on the World Wide Web.

2. TEACHER PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

The survey asked about two additional areas of professional use of the Internet by teachers—e-mail with teachers from other schools and publishing on the World Wide Web. Far fewer teachers engage in these types of communications than use Internet as an information-gathering tool to obtain resources for lesson preparation. Only 16% of teachers communicated by e-mail with teachers from other schools as often as five times during the school year. 

B. TEACHER-DIRECTED STUDENT USE

1. STUDENT INFORMATION-GATHERING (STUDENT RESEARCH)

2. STUDENT PROJECTS AND PUBLISHING

Beyond the traditional activity of using information sources to write reports, some teachers have had students use the Internet to contact other individuals, to collaborate with classes in other schools in joint projects, and to become experts on a topic and publish their findings on the World Wide Web. 

 MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS

So far we have shown that almost every variable we have examined, has at least some relationship to whether teachers use the Internet and whether they regard its presence in their classroom as essential to their teaching. These variables include…

INTERNET ACCESS

• Classroom Internet access
• Home Internet access
• Direct-LAN connectivity in their classroom
• Having many computers in the classroom with simultaneous Internet access

TEACHING RESPONSIBILITIES

• Subject-matter responsibilities and school level
• Prior achievement of students taught

TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCE

• Whether they have used computers with students
• How long they had had a modem at home
• Self-reported computer competencies

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Years of teaching experience and age
• Educational background: college attended, GPA, courses and degrees since BA
• Professional leadership activities

SCHOOL SUPPORT FOR TEACHING USING TECHNOLOGY

• Formal training on Internet use
• Informal contacts among teachers on a variety of topics
• Whether the school has supplied them with a computer on their desk

Along with word processing, the Internet may be the most valuable of the many computer technologies available to teachers and students. In its first few years of existence, the World Wide Web has become one of the most frequently used computer technologies in schools. In addition, hundreds of thousands of teachers have become regular electronic mail users, although that same degree of taken-for-granted access has not yet been provided to many students. It is clear that, even in its most obvious manifestation as "the world's largest library," teachers find the Internet to be an incredibly useful technology. Moreover, current applications only scratch the surface of the capabilities that the world-wide digital communications infrastructure will eventually provide for teachers and their students.

Education these days has been the top priority for any family or individual person, and no doubt amongst the latest technologies to promote and maintain the education standards the internet comes first.

Internet is not only an access to websites, these days there is knowledge and information on every aspect of the educational world over the internet. 

The most amazing thing about internet education is that the international education is no more a chance for only the wealthy and high profile family students because now via internet no matter if one can afford to study in top most universities, people can easily benefit from the international quality education and gain a respectable university degree sitting at home through the online educational courses provided by the world universities.