e hear a lot of talk about how the Information Highway will change
our lives by supplying endless amounts of entertainment and
services like home shopping and video on demand. However, what I
find interesting is that Canadians, when asked what they most want
from the Information Highway, almost unanimously say "education."
That makes sense to me, too. The promise of the Information
Highway lies in what it can do for teaching and for learning.
Every day, more museums and libraries are putting their collections on the Internet. As more resources are mounted on the "I- way," students and teachers have immediate access to a wealth of Canadian historical materials. Think of being able to use your classroom computer to browse the National Archives for a photo of Nellie McClung, the National Film Board for footage of MacKenzie King, or the CBC for a recording of Stephen Leacock. Universities are going to be online 24 hours a day, enabling researchers to gather rare print information and original historical documents. As a resource tool alone, the Information Highway is quickly becoming invaluable for students and teachers.
Just as exciting are the communication possibilities offered by a
network that links schools. Teachers can get in touch with other
teachers who are grappling with the same set of issues and concepts.
For example, a teacher who is researching a unit on post-war
immigration to Canada will be able to locate colleagues across the
country who are working in the same area. Through the electronic
network, they will be able to share ideas, lesson plans, and even
resources.
This ability to create quick electronic links can offer remarkable learning opportunities for students. We now have the potential to operate out of so-called "classrooms without walls," a process that will bring Canadians together as never before. Students in Winnipeg and Fredericton or Inuvik or Quebec City can actually be team members on the same project - sharing ideas, collaborating in their writing, and pooling audio-visual resources.
When students create projects on the Information Highway,
they break through the traditional restrictions of class-assigned
schoolwork. Instead of writing essays to be read by their own
teacher, students who "publish" their work on the Internet have a
chance to reach a world-wide audience. The teachers I work with are
overwhelmed by their students' excitement for electronic
communication. Students who communicate through the Internet
take great pride in the quality of their work, and consistently show
more imagination and care in their assignments.
The new technologies also expand the ways that students can learn. Unlike the textbook, which holds mainly text with some charts and photographs, the Information Highway promises true multimedia learning resources. We all know that students learn differently - some prefer reading, some listening, while others are predominantly visually oriented. On the Information Highway, students will be able to customize their learning environments according to their particular learning styles, while teachers will create a range of ways to link and present information.
The Canadian Information Highway is already making a
difference for History and Social Studies teachers. As more historical
archives go online and more schools link together, the educational
opportunities develop and expand. I think it is remarkable that the
technologies of the future are giving us exciting and powerful
methods of exploring the past.
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