The popularity of the Internet as an educational contrivance has never been more evident than today.
The competency of higher educational institutions in obtaining access to the most current, reasonable and reliable Internet learning resources seems to be one of the measures of their efficiency in the rapidly changing world of graduate education.
Partly because of the nature of this advanced medium, the educational paradigm has also shifted from the mentor-centered to learner-centered classroom. This shift has effects on the attitudes and behavior of both professors and students.
Central in the success of the Internet use is the professor. When they play their role constantly in the configuration of the learning process, the students seem to perform at higher levels, according to Byron and Gagliardi (1998).
This role requires the professors to see “a clear relation between the use of ICT and the learning curriculum”.
Otherwise, if the professors will only use the facilities to perform functions of traditional teaching, the technological benefits for student learning will not be ensured.
Activities involving the use of the Internet need to be carefully structured by the professor for promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills among the students, according to Byron and Gagliardi. Professors should “assign well-designed project in which students use the Internet to gather information”.
However, the combination of unfamiliarity, time and extra effort demanded for the effective use of the Internet affects the professors’ attitude towards the technology. Providing the professors the needed support that allows them to be well adapted to their teaching situation is imperative, according to Egnatof (1996). Byron and Gagliardi further state that “… it is not only vital for equipping educators with the necessary skills for using ICTs effectively, but for helping them overcome their often strong resistance to these technologies and to develop positive attitudes towards them.”
Adequate training for professors, however, should not be a one-shot mission. Indeed, their skills have to be continually and regularly updated in order to meet new demands posed by the rapidly advancing technologies.
The most promising outcomes in teaching and learning by using the Internet appears in classes where professors are oriented to the effective use of online tools and resources and that their pedagogical performances are more advanced.
Therefore, they have to be confident and discriminating in using the technology; it implies the development and refinement of both technical and pedagogical skills.
The effective and creative use of Internet in graduate education demands long-term commitment on the part of the professors in order to overcome many technical obstacles and acquire considerable technical knowledge.
In addition to the technical requirements, there are questions concerning the values that Internet use expresses and what it means for a professor to use the technology wisely and effectively.
As many students are now much more familiar and competent than their professors are in using the Internet, professors need to adjust their traditional roles and become more competent or risk falling behind.
Dr. Julhusin B. Jalisan
Foundation University College of Business Administration
