Pew Study: Students Prefer 'Virtual Library'

Since little research exists on how students use the Internet for schoolwork, the Pew Internet & American Life Project surveyed approximately 2,000 middle- and high-school students this past summer and learned what many librarians already know: students overwhelmingly (78 percent) prefer to use the Net to do research. Students also told researchers that many teachers need more training on how to use the Net, that their teachers aren't using the Internet to create assignments that challenge them, and that their access to the Net while at school is too limited and too heavily filtered.

The study is titled The Digital Disconnect: The Widening Gap Between Inter net-Savvy Students and Their Schools. "Studies had been done of what the parents thought, the teachers thought, and the administrators thought, but we wanted to get a sense of what the kids thought [about the state of the Internet in schools]," says Amanda Lenhart, research specialist for the Pew project. "That was a voice we felt hadn't been heard." The report discusses at some length how the students consider the Internet "a virtual… reference library"—in fact, they see it as a worthy replacement for a school or public library. In a traditional library, students say they must "wait in line to check out books and other materials and pay to use a copy machine to duplicate important material for reports and projects. Material online, however, can be printed directly from the Internet onto a local printer." Students also told researchers that while the Internet has a world of material accessible from anywhere at any time, a library in a small town often has few print materials on a topic, and those are out of date.

Perhaps the survey's most damning comment about librarians came from a middle school girl who used the Net for a poetry assignment. The Internet, the student said, "made looking for these poems a whole lot easier than having to go up to some strange librarian who was enjoying her Diet Coke and would do just about anything to get these people out of the library to go on her break. The Internet is like having a virtual librarian minus the bad attitude and [bad] breath."

The study did not focus on issues of specific interest to librarians, such as how often the students used library-provided subscription databases, such as the SIRS or bigchalk products. But if what Lenhart says is true, they must not be using them much: "To be honest, in the discussions the use of subscription databases never came up," she says. "There never was a thought [among students] that there was a difference [between the databases and the Web]."

Students also said the quality of online access in their schools was poor, that filtering of the Internet and school acceptable-use policies made it too difficult to use, and that adults watch whatever they do while they're online. One high school boy said, "A lot of times when you use the Internet at school, you'll get on a site—even for educational purposes—and you'll be blocked out." Another high school boy reported, "Whenever I'm on the Internet here at school, there's always somebody walking behind you, checking over your shoulder to make sure you're not doing anything inappropriate. I think if you're going to learn, you have to do some inappropriate things."

In the interviews, many students acknowledged that their teachers were under a lot of pressure to improve test scores, and often didn't have much time to investigate how to add technology to what they taught. Unfortunately, the students said, their teachers often didn't have time to create assignments that used the Net in appropriate or creative ways. "Sometimes teachers just want you to use the Internet because it's the Internet," said one high school girl. "Sometimes teachers just don't know… when it's easier to read a book and when it's easier to use the Internet." Many students agreed that their teachers needed more classes in how to be comfortable enough with technology to use the Net to challenge them.

Lenhart, however, says that during the interview sessions, it was sometimes surprising how little the students themselves knew about the technology with which they claimed to be so familiar. "The kids often didn't know how a search engine works," she says, "or even how the Internet works."

Media specialist Jo Dervan of Strathmore Elementary School in Aberdeen, NJ, says the study rightly shows how many teachers seem to regard the Internet "as an optional resource, [plus] they feel that their students know more than they do about the Net. These are the same teachers who are shocked when they discover that their students have plagiarized from Internet sources," she says.

The Digital Disconnect can be downloaded as a PDF document from the Pew Internet & American Life Project Web site at www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=67.—W. M.

Integrating technology and the Net into classroom instruction is undoubtedly a goal for the 21st century educator. Toward that end, Plato Learning Inc. recently established a new division, TeachMaster Professional Services Group, that offers online courses to help teachers use technology in the classroom. The courses also provide schools with flexible staff development options that are focused on online standards-based instruction. "We believe in quality professional development, not just how do I use technology, but how can I integrate standards-based instruction into the classroom," says John Super, Plato's vice president for strategic planning.

The educational company recently joined forces with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), a K–12 education association, to offer 21 courses delivered online for teachers. Specifically, Plato will distribute the ASCD PD [professional development] Online product line, with 21 teacher training courses in five topic areas: assessment, teaching strategies, learning processes, curriculum development, and instructional leadership. The courses are Internet-based and interactive.

Visit www.plato.com and www.ascd.org.—Meg McCaffrey

Scholastic Library Publishing has revamped its popular general-reference online encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia Americana (EA). Jim Hendricks, reference supervisor for the Anoka County Public Library in Minnesota, gives high marks to the 2003 EA's layout, content, and handy browse feature. The new edition boasts additional enhanced features. For example, most of the articles now link directly to the Online Computer Library Center's (OCLC) WorldCat bibliographic database, which contains the merged catalogs of libraries around the world. It contains more than 50 million cataloging records. Users can even have results sorted by zip code to locate libraries holding works in their area. There's also expanded coverage in the Americana Journal, a searchable database of current events organized by country and date. Put together by Americana staff, it features about 250 news blurbs weekly, many including Associated Press photos, plus links to online newspapers and journals. The Profiles section features 1,500 of the most consulted biographies of public figures. The "Editors' Picks" section contains Web sites EA's editors recommend each week.

Grolier Online is in the process of creating Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)/Section 508-compliant versions of all its encyclopedia databases, beginning with EA.—M. M.

Connecting with other educators and students from all corners of the world is one of the Internet's greatest uses. However, doing so in a secure environment is understandably crucial. EPALS.com aims to provide such a safe monitored forum while linking classrooms. Its database contains access to 4.5 million students and educators in 191 countries. When teachers register a class, they're asked to fill out information about their respective school, including the number of students, and particular academic and cultural areas of interest. For example, if one class wants to communicate with another about the aftermath of September 11, ePALS would locate other classrooms with a similar interest in the tragic event.

The ePALS Book Club aims to link teachers and students via literature. For students, there's moderated discussion boards where talk centers around everything from arts and entertainment to social issues. For teachers, there are teacher-led chats offered in real time. Visit ePALS at www.epals.com.—M. M.