Books Vs. Internet

           

Vs.

            Before the coming of digital technology and the Internet books were the main source of information. Students would spend time leafing through books, newspapers, and journals as sources for information. The process of finding a large amount of information was tedious but creditable. Now today with the use of the Internet we can access information about anything and anyone. The Internet is used in every subject area to research history and specific topics. It is a great way to explore and learn about the world from the classroom.

In an art education class the Internet is used to either find sources of inspiration and reference or to research an artist and their works. I recently observed an art classroom where the students were given an artist autobiography project. The teacher stated “Sometimes I feel like I give this report to give myself a break”. But during this project the student still need instruction and guidance. But intern, this project can be useful for an art education class so that students can become inspired by new artist as well as develop good researching skills. The students were given an artist by picking a name out of a basket. This report was to be 5 pages long that included, a title page, a history page, an artwork page, and an opinion page. Before the students began the librarian informed the students of a library database and to make sure the sources being used were creditable. Making students aware than everything they read on the Internet is not true and must be checked and retrieved from well know or credible sources.

So this brings me to the question will the Internet ever completely replace books?

If books are eliminate and become obsolete, what will we do if technology fails us?

Will we lose all the information or will there be advancements that insure that data will not be lost?

Personally I believe that both are important to have in and outside the classroom, each with their pros and cons.