The Internet and Education

The Internet has had an enormous impact on education. The most obvious example is the ability to take online college courses. I used to take courses at UML in the classrooms. For three nights a week after work I would sit in heavy traffic to get to the campus. Then I would sit in a classroom for three hours and listen to the professors give lectures. Most of the time I could barely stay awake and my mind would wander. I would think about the things that needed to be done at home. With online learning I can better mange my time. I can read part of a lecture then spend some time with my family, or do some chores, and then finish reading the lecture afterwards. My time is spent more efficiently through multitasking.

Children can now attend school through the Internet if they cannot attend a traditional school due to health reasons. My daughter attends high school through the Internet. Before that we would have a tutor come to our home. Sometimes we had to send the tutor away when my daughter was too sick to do her lessons. That was an inefficient use of the tutor’s time because she had already scheduled so many hours to be with my daughter and now she had to rearrange her schedule with her other students. Now if my daughter is too sick for a lesson she can put it off until later in the day when she is feeling better.

The Internet is also a great educational tool for anyone that just wants to learn something for the sake of learning. I’ve learned many things from the Internet that I was interested in. I’ve learned how to create virtual machines on my computers to run multiple operating systems simultaneously without the hassle of creating dual boot computers. I’ve learned how to create digital backups of my home movies that I had stored on old 8mm video tapes. I’ve even learned how to create DVDs of those digital backups so my family can watch them on a standard DVD player hooked up to our television. I’ve learned all that and more without having to any take specialized classes or buy expensive books.

Intoduction

My Name is John Russo. I am in the Information Technology program working towards a bachelor's degree. This will be my 15th online course at UMASS. I have taken some classroom courses as well. I live in Tewksbury, MA. I've been married for 26 years and I have two daughters. My oldest is going to be a senior next semester at the University of New Haven. My youngest is a freshman in high school.

I am currently unemployed. My wife works for a large bank so we can still get by with paying the mortgage and bills. Our youngest daughter has developed some health problems and is currently being home schooled. While I don’t like being unemployed it does have some advantages. I can be at home to look after my daughter and concentrate on my school work. It also gives me the time to do a lot of work around the house. My wife has compiled a long list of things that she wants fixed or changed. Now I have no excuses not to do them.
 
I have had some very good experiences with online learning at UMASS and I'm looking forward to another enjoyable semester. I am taking two other online courses along with this one this semester. I'd like to wish all of my fellow students the best of luck.