The Web's Impact on Student Learning Reflection

The Web's Impact on Student Learning:
A Review of Recent Research Reveals Three Areas That Can Enlighten Current Online Learning Practices

The main question of this article was how, if at all, does the Web impact student learning. This article discusses in detail three major areas of research material. The roles of individual differences, instructional design, and specific skills that are enhanced by online environments are three of the most important areas that have shown up in recent studies.

Individual Differences

This section of the article begins to explain the reasoning why online learning comes much easier to some than it may others. The success of Web-based learning is heavily influenced by what the student brings to the learning situation. Evidence proves that students with certain learning styles or behavioral types are more likely to learn better in the Web environment. On the other hand, passive learners may not do as well. "Furthermore, students with a high motivation to learn, greater self-regulating behavior, and the belief they can learn online do better; as do students with the necessary computer skills. These are not particularly profound insights, although they do tend to explain why online learning will work as other forms of education for good students, but may not work as well for students who struggle because of a lack of motivation or self-confidence," (Teacher, Schools, and Society Reader.)

Instructional Design

This section of the article discusses Web-based learning founded upon instructional design. Early research on Web-based learning focused mainly on the technology and completely ignored the instructional design embedded into the course. This has given people the impression that learning was produced from the Web instead of the instructional design that has truly helped students to learn. To say the Web affected learning may be inappropriate unless the powerful effect of instructional design has been isolated from the technology used to deliver it.

Improved Skills

This section of the article talks about the importance of content analysis. Researchers found that online students are more likely to make important statements and link ideas through online exchanges rather that a face-to-face comparison group. "This may indicate that online conversations are less suited to functions like brainstorming, or that working online encourages respondents to work in a more linear fashion by linking comments to earlier," (Teacher, Schools, and Society Reader.) Evidence also proves that having students work online can better their writing skills and techniques. Self-expression is another captivating skill that can impact the creation of adequate learning communities and could become a necessary new skill for online conversation.

All in all, I found that this article was well researched and was helpful in ensuring that the Web is used effectively for student learning and I believe that the Web is dramatically changing the way we learn today.