The deadlines for reports, projects, assignments make the students grumpy and tired. The pressure of preparing manuscripts and taking out those fine print make them work no end. However, little do they realize when the aspiring scientists had no access to online literature. Fortunately with Google, things are simpler today.
Internet is the greatest source of information, humans could ever create. It has taken over the university libraries wherein the thesis and the rare archives are gathering dust. It is not uncommon to observe graduate students completing their projects and assignments with their mastered copy-paste job. It's fast paced, comfortable access to the literature with one click, or its multiple clicks with the mouse.
Considering the fact that the material is enormous on the net, how does one pin down the concerned material for their topics. I found the answer that the person does not look for good authentic information, but those web information which suffices and confirms their prejudices.
The ability of reasoning is at the prime stake, needless to say, once the reports and projects are submitted, students imbibe not even an iota of information of the topic. This is a saddening picture in the graduate schools over the globe. It is necessary to challenge our own beliefs and knowledge to harden the concept of the topic. Library referencing is dropping down with most university and college libraries opting for an internet access cabins in their campus. Most of the graduates even do not realize that they have not used the Google effectively.
On second thoughts, universities must come to terms with online networking which is yet elusive. It is believed that the pedagogy is at risk since it is seen as anachronisms in recent internet savvy world. Michael A. Peters, a professor of educational policy studies in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s College of Education and a co-author of “Creativity and the Global Knowledge Economy,” says that while forms of social media and social networking are transforming all of major institutions, including business, media and government, higher education has fallen behind the curve in adapting to the realities of information flow in the 21st century.
“When the scholarly ideas and information contained in a PDF file can be downloaded, viewed and shared by hundreds of millions of people worldwide in a matter of minutes while an ink-and-paper version languishes on a dusty library shelf, what that does is radically de-center forms of educational authority,” Peters said. “It also flattens the academic playing field, and puts a greater emphasis on the social aspect of learning.”Needless to say, students still need teachers for catapulting knowledge further.
“Openness sets up all new knowledge ecology, especially in a networked environment, and these new ways of communication are based on social principles and cultural logic. As professional educators, we need to think about how our curriculum can be rebooted so they fit better into a networked environment.” The prime reason behind the Encyclopédie was to compile and publish a compendium of human knowledge in order to cultivate a well-informed populace.
The repositories like Wikipedia cannot be considered as the ultimate scholarly material. Even with all the reasoning given by Peter, I guess his theories require more exemplary structure. In actual sense, academics and the academicians need to grow up with the ever-demanding generation. The common module of learning is followed year after year and students are learning the concepts given in ink, paper or the www. It is imperative for the universities and graduate schools to collaborate with online services which can enhance the pedagogical value of matter. To say a final word, nothing can replace a book no matter online content is available and that to free of cost. All in all, culminate the concept of online web service and the library repositories to aid the propagation of material of concerned subject.
In the age of internet researching or should I say when Google is now more of a verb, everything is on the platter or ahem! at the desk of the aspirants. On a lighter note this is what can happen when we turn into real grey-haired researchers, something similar to Waldorf&Statler