Internet at a crossroads of education

Abstract

The Internet has grown rapidly in the past few years to impact all aspects of modern life. While many areas of the Internet such as commerce has shown tremendous improvements in providing convenient and complex transaction services from shopping to banking, the area of education has seen less development in terms of meeting the potential of the Internet for education. The number of web sites related to education and the types of educational uses have clearly increased on the Internet but the overall consensus is that more should be done in the area of using the Internet to enhance the educational experience of learners. Many technological innovations have been previously touted as a new paradigm for education only to see it disappear from view quietly with time. In order to make sure that the vast potential of the Internet is fully utilized for education, more structured approach and a change in the mindset of educators are needed. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.