Jess’ E-Learning Blog

I was reading an entry from Huong’s blog today and she made an interesting point in passing that started me thinking:

 ”The most simple and straightforward definition that i found concerning wikis was from http://www.answers.com (some may not consider this the best source for information but i personally think its pretty cool as it displays definitions/results from external sources as well as its’ own).”

 Whilst researching for this e-learning subject, I have become aware of the two different types of information on the web: unsubstantiated information from individuals who write to put their ideas out there; and information from scholars or people referencing scholars.

I’ve always been told to reference quality sites which have references and/or are reliable. But I’m not sure that referencing like this on issues concerning the Internet is a fair representation of what the Internet actually is.

The beauty of the Internet for e-learning purposes is its informality, flow and exchange of ideas. Why compromise that by restricting the information which students are allowed to use in their learning? When a coach teaches soccer, he/she takes them to a soccer field, they use soccer balls and they recreate a soccer game. In short, they build an accurate representation of what actually happens in a soccer game. An e-learning class loses its integrity if it does not deal with the full reality of e-learning, informalities and all.

The Internet is a diverse and intricate world, we should view it in colour, not black and white.