Педагогічні науки / 5. Сучасні методи викладання

викладач Стаценко Олена Миколаївна

Сумський національний аграрний університет, Україна

Using The Internet and Computer’s Technologies in the English Language Teaching.

When you go to a website, the first thing your browser does is see if it has the site saved in its cache - if it does, it displays it instantly. Then it goes and has a quick look at the original site to see if anything has changed - if that is the case, it updates the changed elements. If it can't find the site at all in its cache, it will perform its usual job of retrieving it from the Internet.

What this means to you is that if you visit the sites you want your students to visit just before the class starts, they will all be saved in the cache. When your students return to these sites a short while later, they will all come up much quicker than if they had to go and get them over the Net. Inevitably your students will want to branch out and visit sites you haven't stored in the cache, but even a little preparation helps.

There is little point planning an Internet class around a particular website unless you are sure that the site in question has a good pedigree and has been in existence for quite some time. While most professional websites are reliable and long-lasting, you may find the perfect site for a class, only to discover three days later that this site no longer exists. This usually only happens with personal homepages, but it has been known to happen with larger sites. The secret is to find two or three sites which deal with the same theme, leaving the lesson plan adaptable. Then if the site that you really want to use is not working, or has disappeared, you'll always have a back-up.

And while we're on the subject of back-ups, it's worth bearing in mind that any class which revolves around technology needs a back-up plan for when the machinery breaks, or there's a power cut. There is very little you can do with a broken connection to the Net, or a set of websites which refuse to download. A little forewarning of your students will avoid a large part of the disappointment, should the situation arise.

There is no really simple solution to controlling access to programs in an open environment like a school. If you must do it you have to choose between password-protecting the whole system or using software which requires user identification before running a program. A quick look at these options will explain why they are generally more trouble than they are worth.

With this option, the computers cannot be turned on without someone typing in a password. This provides very good security, but also reduces the accessibility of the machines, making it necessary for the person who knows the password to be present every time they are turned on. As anyone who works with computers a lot will know, they often crash and stop working when you least expect them to, and if you have to keep asking for the password to be entered every time this happens you will quickly find this inconvenient.

These mostly prohibit access to particular programs as defined by the person in charge, using combinations of usernames and passwords. They can be very effective as long as the password is not given to too many people. Again, though, people will share their passwords, forget them and find countless other ways of making this a troublesome procedure.

Having examined both of these options, I have to say that I am more in favour of relying on users' innate sense of responsibility, and on the assumption that there will always be a member of staff 'on duty' to control access to programs and Internet material.

This, coupled with a minimal installation of non-vital software (games, hardly-used applications, etc.) and an up-to-date anti-virus package usually proves sufficient. If you keep the programs installed on your computers to a minimum, and provide protection against viruses, you'll find your computer use should be as trouble-free as possible.

If you are using the Net with young or adolescent students, you should be aware that they could get access to some of this material and that it's your job to 'police' their activities while accessing information. There are two ways to approach this problem. This software usually works in one of two ways:

1. Pages are checked for a certificate issued by a 'recognized' authority before they are displayed. These certificates indicate what kind of content the pages have, and the audience it is suitable for. If the pages have a certificate and the content is deemed suitable for the person browsing, the page will be displayed. If there is no certificate, the program blocks the site and a warning is issued.

2. Pages are checked for words in a database (these are generally connected with sex, violence, racial issues, etc). If any of them are found, the page is not displayed and a warning is issued. These databases generally come pre-configured with a set of words to which it is possible to add your own.

They all do more or less the same job using one or both of the methods described above - but the results are never exactly what you would like, and can be more restrictive than really useful. With varied standards and different ways of 'grading' sites, it really is a hit-and-miss approach.

The conclusion has to be that censorship is a weighty matter, even when it does work, and with the plethora of standards currently under consideration, it becomes almost impossible to implement intelligently and with little fuss or negative impact on your teaching and your access to information. Common sense and a trust in people, along with good training and education should almost always ensure a fruitful and decent use of the facilities you make available to people.

There are a number of measures which you can take to ensure that your students are using the equipment as they are supposed to:

· make sure students realise that this is a facility which should be used, appreciated and not abused;

· make sure you're the only one to set passwords on anything;

· scan the hard drives regularly for .gif and .jpg images (the most common formats for images from webpages). If you suspect someone of downloading pornography or similar, check for new pictures after she has used the Internet;

· configure email programs to reject messages over a certain length, thus cutting down on the chance of someone having undesirable pictures and material sent to them by mail. Ask your technical staff or a friendly computer expert to help you with this;

· watch out for people giggling nervously over the other side of the room — it's a sure sign of something. Equally, notice whether the computer always suddenly crashes and needs to be re-started when you appear;

· check the Netscape Cache and Explorer Temporary Internet Files directories for suspect files;

· always have someone on hand to supervise Net access.

Most users won't even bother with the murkier side of the Net, but a firm warning of what is and what is not acceptable will do more good than an immediate ban.