Classroom for the World

Many people think of the internet as an instrument of social connectivity. It helps people connect with friends and others with similar interests. That is true. I think the connectedness that the "internet generations" (those who grew up with the internet as an unremarkable fact of life) have with others is something that makes their lives different than mine. While I appreciate the ability to email family and friends, send text messages, call them at any moment with a cell phone that is always with me (if I wanted it to be) and even to write this blog, I don't really use the technology that way. (As my family and friends know!) I don't have the need or desire to continually be in touch as part of my personality and also because I am not a "native speaker" of the technology. I use computers and other technology more than the average person my age,but I didn't grow up with them as a natural part of my life.

For me (and others of my generation? an interesting research question!) the natural use of the internet is as a research tool. Finding out things has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. One of my favorite activities as a child was to go to the library and browse around in the stacks. If I wanted to know about something, it was in the library. If I couldn't find it, the librarian could. I learned about things I didn't even know I wanted to learn about. An accident of which aisle or shelf would lead me to books I hadn't planned to read and subjects I hadn't yet wondered about.

I think of the power of the internet not as social connectivity or networking but as a 24/7 classroom. It is the ultimate learner centered classroom. I can find out what I want, when I want to. And now, with so much video, I can even choose the method for learning. Some people (like me) would rather read the lesson, others can choose a video lesson. It doesn't matter what you want to know about. How to make a loofa gourd into a loofah sponge? It's there. How to keep backyard bees or chickens, it's there. Want to know what show that guy played in? It's there. For me the beauty of the internet is that it is a Giant Library with infinite stacks!

All this philosophical pondering came from this: a lesson on how to put a zipper in a knitted sweater. I need to do this and I hadn't done it before.

So I looked it up. I <3>