Have you ever wondered what the people in the ‘90s had to go through to learn? If you don’t have an answer for this, I bet all you had to do now to get your answer is pick up your phone and browse “how difficult was it to live in the 90s?”.

Well, that’s the point! The fact that you have developed this unconscious habit of relying on the internet for everything is phenomenal. Gone are the days when people had to storm the library searching different books for answers to their questions.

Come to think of it, the internet knows everything ranging from public to private matters. You ask all your questions and it gives you answers. You also upload updates of your private life to it believing in its powers to keep them safe. You rely on it for basically everything and just like the oxygen you breathe, you can’t do without it. It has somehow managed to gain a stronghold in every area of our lives including education.

Whenever the question “influence of internet on education” is raised, the first thought in your head is to go through the Internet to find explanations on how exactly the internet has influenced education.

Getting fast information at the tip of your finger without stress is amazing. Without further ado, the Internet has brought with itself a lot of advantages especially to the process of learning. Here are some of the positive impacts the internet has on education.

1. Access To Self Learning

It is common knowledge that during the era of no internet, only the privileged few could gain access to learning. During those times, gaining access to basic information was a task only the minority could get. The right to education which was supposed to be one of the fundamental human rights wasn’t available to many because of the lack of internet.

The story is different now. The Internet has provided the opportunity for many regardless of their financial status or ability to gain knowledge. With the internet at the disposal of millions, countless data and information are now made available.

The popular notion “you have to go to school to be knowledgeable” has become nothing but a fable now due to the presence of the internet. To gain knowledge on a particular topic, all you have to do is search the Internet, rather than spend hours in a library. Long gone are the days when people had to fill a part of their room with books on various topics. Currently, countless online stores sell ebooks you can buy and learning is now made easy! All thanks to the internet.

2. Better Understanding

The Internet has created the platform to see diverse opinions on a topic thereby widening your horizon. Whenever you punch your keyboard in search of a topic on the internet, you are exposed to a world of possibilities with various information and viewpoint on that particular topic. The information on the internet isn’t limited to a particular person’s perspective, but various standpoints have been made accessible.

The bottom line is, the internet has discovered a way for you to compile knowledge based on various conclusions. This impact the internet has on education and the way you learn is very remarkable as you will be able to gain a better understanding of that topic due to the different viewpoints.

Before the advent of the internet, knowledge was limited to what could be found in books or what was taught which resulted in a good number of less informed people. However, with the introduction of the internet, the amount of knowledge and level of understanding one can acquire has become boundless.

3. Different Methods Of Teaching

The Internet has provided many ways for knowledge to be passed across to students. The typical classroom approach of teaching isn’t convenient for some especially those with disabilities or difficult work schedules.

These days, apart from the usual settings familiar to many which involve taking notes on the board and verbal explanations, teachers have adopted ways like using video explanation to pique the interest of students. Many who find it difficult to understand verbal explanations tend to do better with visual explanations.

Similarly, without the internet, understanding a language was difficult for linguistic students as they had to read and memorize words. However, in the present day, learning new languages has been made fun and lots of apps and software teach languages. The Internet made this possible.

4. Long-Distance Learning

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of people who apply for online classes. At your convenient time, with the internet, you can gain the same knowledge those in school acquire.

As a matter of fact, many of the dishes I know how to prepare were learned from the internet, not in a catering school. The internet has provided you and me with the ease to learn whatsoever from the comfort of your home. This wasn’t the case 60-70 years ago when humans had to travel to teaching institutions to learn a skill.

The internet has opened opportunities for those in faraway countries to attend universities of their choice without travelling to the universities. Without the internet, many people around the world might struggle to get a degree or education.

5. Personal Development

Let’s get it said! There are currently things that have been brought to your knowledge that people your age in the 90s didn’t know of. These things were never taught to you in class, none of your school textbooks had that kind of information but you were able to obtain it from the internet and in one way or the other, this information has been of help to you.

Without the existence of the internet, room for self-development wouldn’t be made available. The internet gave you the privilege to acquire knowledge outside your horizon which can be of great assistance in self-development. With this knowledge at your fingertips, gaining a better understanding in school or any learning environment will be easy.

6. Access To Affordable And Quality Education

Once upon a time, quality education was a luxury many could not afford. You had to be in the upper-class society to be educated but this is no longer the case. Thanks to the internet and the use of search engines like Google. Information is now made available to both the rich and the poor at a very low cost. Not only is it affordable, but education has also been made practical through the use of various teaching methods. With sites like Youtube, you can learn everything for free.

7.  Motivation To Learn

There is a vast amount of information available on the internet. With video tutorials, you could learn new important skills. Since these skills have been made easy to attain, lots of people including you and I are eager to acquire them.

Now, imagine a situation where you have to spend hours or days in a library browsing through different book collections on a particular topic like “how to code”. After a couple of days spent searching for information, you would probably get tired and trash the idea of gaining information on that topic.

Not only that, the inspiration to find out more facts related to other topics would be tiring for you but with the existence of the internet, the appetite to learn new things is on the rise. There are lots of self-taught programmers who, with the help of the internet, can acquire knowledge.

8. Improves Communication

Sharing of opinions is common among students of all categories. Most times, when you are faced with difficult homework, you quickly grab your phone to text your friend or coursemate for explanations regarding the problem. In this way, information is transferred to you.

Do you know there was a time when texting your friend or sending an email to your teacher was impossible? Of course, you know! Instant messaging apps were not available and this hindered communication among students and teachers. With the presence of the internet, a communication bridge has been built which encourages learning.

9. Access To Fast Information Outside Classroom

You can decide to wake up in the middle of the night to search for a topic on the internet. Funny thing is, the information you need will be made available to you in a matter of seconds. This is the work of the internet!

Libraries and classrooms were the only places information could be collected in the 60s, but with the aid of the internet, you can access information wherever you are. There is no limitation to learning. This is one of the positive impacts of the internet on education.

10. Multi-tasking

If you are curious about the way students who lived without internet survived, well all I can say is their life was well spent in bookstores, libraries, and classrooms. Even though they had no problems socializing and making friends, one thing was sure – they found it difficult to solve different problems at a time.

Working on several projects may be something common to you now. With the internet at your disposal, you can work on various tasks that will hone your problem-solving skill and improve your learning.

Conclusion

As you have seen for yourself, the positive influence of the internet on education outshines the negatives, but this doesn’t render useless the valid notion that the internet has a few adverse effects on education. All in all, the internet has been of great help to the world of learning.

Author profile

Abimbola Joseph is the Founder of Explicit Success – an informative blog that connects different categories of people to success. Explicit Success also provides top-notch content writing services at friendly prices to meet your personal needs and business goals.

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