Educación y Educadores ISSN: 0123-1294 [email protected] Universidad de La Sabana Colombia Gofron, Beata School in the Era of the Internet Educación y Educadores, vol. 17, núm. 1, enero-abril, 2014, pp. 171-180 Universidad de La Sabana Cundinamarca, Colombia Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=83430693009 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative School in the Era of the Internet Beata Gofron Akademia Polonijna, Polonia [email protected] Introduction School systems are challenged by today’s quickly changing world with new and com- plicated problems. We live in an era marked by an explosion of information, as illustrated by the fact that the amount of information doubles every year. The cultural change of a revolutionary nature we are now observing, one element of which is development of the Internet towards the Web 3.0 model, is associated with depletion the culture of writing and the cognitive apparatus associated with it; that is, cause and eff ect thinking, linear understanding of time, and an objectivist understanding of the world. The omnipresent electronic media, which use an entire range of audio-visual means of communication, are main “production techniques” of culture, including the current visual culture. They consti- tute the context in which schools function and, at the same time, they pose a considerable risk to them. The computer is almost as common today as a wristwatch, and the owner has immediate access, at any time, to all contents and services in all forms that are available on the Internet. It is worth considering how this popularization of access to the Internet infl uences education. Recepción: 2013-07-28| Envío a pares: 2013-09-22 | Aceptación por pares: 2014-01-12 | Aprobación: 2014-02-07 Para citar este artículo / To reference this article / Para citar este artigo Gofron, B. (2014). School in the Era of the Internet. Educ. Educ. Vol. 17, No. 1, 171-180. 171 ISSN 0123–1294 | Educ.Educ. Vol. 17. No. 1 | Enero-abril de 2014 | pp. 171-180. Universidad de La Sabana | Facultad de Educación 1. Development of the Internet from ital native, whose functioning at school is expressed Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 by the statement: If you want to teach me, you first The indicator of changes in education on have to reach me.2 The learning process of digital na- which this paper will focus is evolution of the In- tives consists of watching and viewing web pages, ternet from the first-generation Web 1.0 into the searching and combing information, scanning it, interactive network of the second generation Web hopping from website to website (“zapping”), get- 2.0, with which we have been dealing since 2001. In ting in touch with other network users , copying Web 1.0, a one-way flow of information dominated; and pasting files, discussing, chatting, taking part in network, there were static websites with “read in projects and presenting their results, obtaining only” options and there was no possibility of influ- knowledge from others, but also creating and pop- encing their content. Traditional search engines and ularizing it. portals, thanks to which only a passive reception of The Internet researcher N. Carr indicates the ready information was possible, were dominant.1 linear logical mind, accustomed to focusing on The network of the second generation Web printed texts for many hours, to which our civiliza- 2.0 makes the user an interactive participant in the tion owes the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the action, one who can change the content and form Industrial Revolution and modernism, departs from of the announcements. Internauts create active di- the past.3 New technologies are not only setting alogues with information; not only do they receive the course, but also influencing the way their users them, they also ask, follow instructions and con- learn and think. struct answers. They are no longer passive users of The homo sapien who is a network user is be- the Web 1.0 network, but interactive users of the coming a homo zappien. The first one thinks and the Web 2.0 network. The Web 2.0 model allows the ser- other zaps; he searches for information online, cop- vice user, like its authors, to shape the general image ies, chats, skips from information to information, etc. of the content dynamically by delivering articles, In the course of these activities, he acts holistically, photographs, own video recordings, music, links to not analytically and linearly; he develops the ability websites, blogs, etc. Development of the Internet to- for broad but not long concentration.4 This can lead wards the Web 3.0 model functioning in the form to ADT ( attention deficit trait). The differences be- of so-called semantic networks is soon to follow. In tween homo sapiens and homo zappiens imply we the near or more distant future, network users will are dealing with two completely different styles of cooperate with the use of implants in the brain, cognitive action. The former concentrate on reality, without the participation of keyboards or even a while the latter focus on living in the world of fanta- computer as it exists today. The information that is sy. For homo sapiens, work and play are two separate needed will be searched in a semantic way (linked kinds of activity; homo zappiens learn through fun. semantically) by computer programs. The former are disposed to act in the community, 2. Homo Sapiens or Homo Zappiens? 2 M. Gawrysiak, 2009. Homo zappiens i homo sapiens. O tech- The contemporary young person who was nicznym, ludycznym i intelektualnym dostpie do mediów, born and raised in the Internet era is a so-called dig- [w:] K. Wenta, E. Perzy cka (red.), Edukacja informacyjna. Neo- media w społeczestwie wiedzy. Szczecin, s. 36. 3 N. Carr, 2011. The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. New York. 1 K. Krzysztofek, 2007. WEBski wiat: mdro tłumów siecio- 4 M. Gawrysiak, 2010. Nie dostarczanie, lecz pobieranie infor- wych czy zbiorowe nieuctwo? (Wstp), [w:] A. Keen (red.), Kult macji. Jak komputery zmieniaj prac i szkoł? „Szkoła – Za- amatora. Jak Internet niszczy kultur. Warszawa, s. 15. wód – Praca”, nr 1, s. 55. 172 School in the Era of the Internet Beata Gofron but remain autonomous, the latter are disposed In a hypertext, the amount of threads is huge and to competition and function as an element of the they are not ranked in order of importance. network (are networked). The homo sapien is sin- According to G. Small, who experimentally gle-tasked. When performing any activity, he focuses researches functions of the brain, the longer and only on it; the homo zappien is multitasked (engages more frequent a person’s experiences with the In- in multitasking) and, like the computer, he can per- ternet, the faster the subsequent change in brain form several activities at the same time. The former function. In other words, the person programmes was shaped in the era prior to the Internet; that is, in himself to perform tasks that are forced by the the culture of press andis oriented towards text; for network.7 Among others, these include superficial the latter, an image is more important. The learning (discontinuous) reading, distracted thinking, con- process for homo sapiens is linear in nature, as text tinuous interrupting of concentration and constant in a book; they recognize the elements of text, join distraction of attention to other objects, simultane- them together and develop logical reasoning. Homo ous performance of a few activities, and exercising zappiens work in non-linear order, according to the hand-action coordination . Long-term network us- rules of the structure of hypertext, and demonstrate ers are characterized by the speed of their reaction higher activity than homo sapiens. The network user rate, the chaotic nature of their action, superficiality is unable to focus his attention on a single issue for in assimilation of information, and a mind-set that an extended period of time. His learning process responds to the fragmentary nature of the incom- consists of associating various items of informa- ing information. tion. His brain increasingly resembles a biological counterpart of the search engine Google in that it The cognitive costs of using the network are con- shows a list of associations with brief explanations.5 siderable, because intellectual processes are being Moreover, homo zappiens react differently to stimuli simplified. Absent-mindedness undermines a pro- . The reactions of homo sapiens are postponed, made cess of transmitting information to the short-term after a longer time, are well-thought-out and calm. memory, and from there to the long-term memory. The reactions of homo zappiens are immediate.6 The ability to concentrate on a text at length is be- ing suppressed. Also, processes that are the essence It can be assumed that access to knowledge of human intelligence are in disarray; namely, ab- through a text placed in a network and through a stract thinking, problem solving and assimilating printed text are two different ways of thinking and information with understanding. Working with two different visions of the world. The text in a book a hypertext makes it difficult to comprehend the has a linear structure, is generally organized and entire problem and to build more complicated proceeds from start to end. The knowledge gained structures. The development of visual-spatial skills from a network has a branched structure and usu- unfortunately does not accompany development ally involves a hypertext.