Sunday, December 19, 2004
It's About Time
If you've read my post from Thursday December 16th you'll know that it's not just me but other bloggers have been writing about "How Students Research" for some time now. This topic has caused many teachers and parents much angst, because (from my experience) they don't know whether to encourage JUST print resources or negotiate with the students...OK you can use 1 Print, 1 internet source, when researching for a class project ONLY. I hear this bartering all of the time and I've always felt that if a student can find valid information (digitally) from home, why stop him/her? Do they have to visit the library first? Finally, I can get that off my chest without feeling like a loathsome, library, loser. I love libraries and I also love the fact that books are now available in digital form, as they should be. And finally, the big Universities are accepting the fact that their students' (in undergraduate classes) primary source of research comes from digital information see New York Times Article Questions and Praise for Google Web Library By FELICIA R. LEE
"This year Ms. Wittenberg's group completed a three-year study of research habits that included 1,233 students across the country. The study concluded that electronic resources had become the main tool for gathering information, particularly among undergraduates."
But, "What I've learned is that libraries help people formulate questions as well as find answers," Ms. Wittenberg said. "Who will do that in a virtual world?"
This is great news! Google and big universities working together to digitize libraries of information! Wow! But why does it take Google to put a spotlight and its "seal of approval" on this very obvious fact that the WWW is the 21st Century library. Eat your heart out Ben Franklin.
Educators and librarians will have to accept this fact and train their students (just like Dewey and from very early) on how to assess websites and search for information. I smell some huge technological changes coming to the schools in the very near future. Thanks Google, it's about time.
"This year Ms. Wittenberg's group completed a three-year study of research habits that included 1,233 students across the country. The study concluded that electronic resources had become the main tool for gathering information, particularly among undergraduates."
But, "What I've learned is that libraries help people formulate questions as well as find answers," Ms. Wittenberg said. "Who will do that in a virtual world?"
This is great news! Google and big universities working together to digitize libraries of information! Wow! But why does it take Google to put a spotlight and its "seal of approval" on this very obvious fact that the WWW is the 21st Century library. Eat your heart out Ben Franklin.
Educators and librarians will have to accept this fact and train their students (just like Dewey and from very early) on how to assess websites and search for information. I smell some huge technological changes coming to the schools in the very near future. Thanks Google, it's about time.
# posted by Mrs.Bowllan @ 11:18 AM 
