Problems with Internet
The Internet has its obvious benefits – easy access to information, social connections, news and music. However, students and professors say it can also be a burden.
Some of the problems students and teachers face today include inaccurate online information and using Internet sites to buy prewritten papers to cheat.
“The thing that bothers me most is that students pull information from the Internet without knowing where it’s coming from, who put it on the site and what their slant might be, whether it’s accurate,” said Cathy Bullock, journalism professor. “Students aren’t the only ones who fall into this trap. We seem too quick to believe what we see on the Internet. We need to be thinking more critically.”
One fifth of college students used the Internet for the first time between the ages of 5 and 8, according to “The Internet Goes to College,” a 2002 study called the Pew Internet & American Life Project. By the time students were 16 to 18 years old, all of today’s college students had begun to use the Internet. Since new pages are added online all the time, it makes it hard for some students to filter out incorrect information.
Alice Chapman, history professor, said the Internet is useful because students can read a wide variety of viewpoints and information. However, articles are not always consistent, she said.
“Often times students have a difficult time discerning between reputable material and reliable material on the Internet,” Chapman said. “This can lead to students becoming misinformed.”
Students may appreciate that finding information online is fast, but Bullock suggests they still take the time to find the best resources.
“The Internet makes it incredibly easy to find information, but you still have to work at it to make sure the information is solid,” she said. “Of course, the same is true with television, newspapers, books and so on. At least with these media, you tend to have an editor trying to maintain some kind of quality control. With the Internet, it seems to me that you’re more apt to run across information that hasn’t passed through any kind of editing process that might catch errors.” Cheating can also become easier for students when using online resources. Chapman said she’s had students buy papers online and turn them in as their own. Common sites include Papers4Less.com, Cheathouse.com and Schoolsucks.com. According to a national survey by Rutgers’ Management Education Center of 4,500 students, more than half had plagiarized work they found on the Internet. Alexa Hamblin, freshman in dental hygiene, said she’s heard of students getting papers online and thinks it should be harder for students to cheat.
Chapman said she’s had quite a few students use the Internet to plagiarize. “I have had quite a bit of cheating during my time at Utah State. However, I have talked to professors in other universities and I don’t think there is more cheating here than in other places,” Chapman said. “I think this is quite easy to do. However, professors can often tell if a paper is professionally written.” Access to Internet doesn’t necessarily mean students cheat more than they used to though. “I suspect we have higher instances of cheating, but people have always found creative ways to cheat,” Bullock said. “So, has cheating increased? I’m not sure.” Chapman also said even if students aren’t cheating, homework isn’t always done well if they are only using information from the Internet. “I think research has suffered because students do not take time to learn how to find information in a library,” she said. “This is a very important skill and essential to future academic success.” Jamie Reynolds, senior in ecology, works at the Natural Resource Library and said students don’t check out books or journals anymore if they can get information online. “It’s interesting how many people don’t even know how to look for (books),” she said. Even if the information doesn’t come from books though, Scott Bates, psychology professor, said the Internet is better than nothing.
“Students have always resisted reading. The Internet doesn’t change that. In fact, that something was read, even if it wasn’t in the ‘assigned book,’ is occasionally better than not having read at all,” he said.
-manette.n@aggiemail.usu.edu