There is a huge range of resources available to the modern teacher, and 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 allows 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 the 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 from 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.
There is a huge range of resources available to the modern teacher, and 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
allows
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 the 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 from 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.