Play and Problems

The Internet has put our world into a time of instant gratification. When arguing over some fact at the dinner table: Google it, when wanting to find a new place for dinner: Google it, or when wanting to see what an old is up to: find them on social media. The Internet has the potential and power to be an incredible learning tool but it is all in how people utilize it.

I grew up going to sleep away camp, 3,000 miles away, in Pennsylvania. When I reflect on how the Internet has impacted my communication and sense of community, I instantly think about how it brought me to my best friends in the whole world. I lived ten months of ichatting, skyping, emailing, and following their lives on Facebook until the two months I had to be face to face with them. Because of these services, it was made so easy, and now is even easier, to keep in touch and feel as if our separation is not from one end of the country to the other. 

Another example of the Internet creating a sense of community is Facebook's ability to create interactive groups. I am co-president of the B+ Foundation Chapter at Chapman University and as just one of the many chapters of this organization, having a place of open communication between the other chapters allows us to learn and grow from our peers. In this group we share fundraisers we are holding, questions for other chapters, advice we might need, and inspiration for each other. The work we do at our individual chapters is literally changing lives when the efforts are all brought together and Facebook has had a huge impact in this success.

The Internet can help and distract from my learning at the same time. For instance, when I go on Twitter, I often see tweets about political issues and current events. In one way this is helping my learning because it is keeping me current with the happenings in the world nearly at the time it is happening, but it is distracting from 'good' learning because frequently such posts are extremely biased, strongly opinionated, and lacking full detailed information. When such posts appear, it is important to then utilize the Internet's strengths and do research on that newly learned information from sites that are reputable and trustworthy and cross check facts and information.

The experience I have had multiple times on an Internet platform such as Twitter is something that students can experience all over the Internet as well. In their own way, the internet can be so vital in their learning and making learning fun, interactive, and relatable through the many online educational websites; these sites turn learning into games and fun videos which allows students to combine their playtime with learning. The difference with students, especially the younger ones is that if they come across information that is inappropriate or potentially biased, they might not know to talk to an adult or cross check information and therefore believe everything they read and find online which very often is not accurate.

As an educator, a huge goal of mine is to instill a love of learning within my students. I can support this goal using the Internet but introducing my students to educational online programs that we can access in our classroom as well as when they are at home. I also believe it to be so vital to teach students the dangers of the Internet and issues with trusting particular information and websites and also tools for how to determine if information is liable from that particular source.