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The Benefits of the Internet and Online Publishing
for Students
Research studies have shown that with technology
student achievement increases, students can learn more in less time and
undertake more ambitious school projects, and that students have more
positive attitudes towards classes that use technology (Riley & Roberts,
2000). More than any other technology, Riley & Roberts (2000) contend
that the Internet provides students with access to a vast array of information
and resources far greater than the traditional classroom can provide.
With such a powerful tool, collectives of teachers and students from all
around the world, such as those participating in the I-EARN network, work
and learn together to tackle and solve real world problems (Gragert, 2002).
Berenfield (1996) points out that students can
use the Internet to share the products of their work with a large, geographically
diverse audience outside the school, a practice many believe will increase
the effort students expend on their work (Stephens & Mandeville, 2000).
Also, some studies suggest that student use of e-mail application applications
with others can undercut the stereotypes students have about others and
broaden their horizons (Garner & Gillingham, 1996; Cummings &
Sayers, 1995; Davidson & Schofield, 2002).
In detailed data that Davidson & Schofield
(2002) collected on ninety-nine Internet activities, almost 18 percent
of these activities emphasized students placing their work on-line that
is, they engaged in Web-based publishing. This correlates strongly with
“The Internet and Education” research by PEW that showed 17
percent of high students created a web page for a school project (Lenhart,
Simon, and Gaziano, 2001).
Many scholars advocate placing learners in situations
where they use or experience disciplinary knowledge in more realistic
or authentic ways than they do in traditional classrooms (Bereiter &
Scardamalia, 1987; Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989; Smith, Snir, &
Grosslight, 1992). Internet access allows teachers to place students in
learning situations in which they experience academic disciplines in more
authentic ways than they had previously (Schofield & Davidson, 2002).
Writers, journalists, and poets usually do not write for only one person.
Also, they gather input and feedback in response to their work from a
community of editors, peers, and friends as they revise their writing.
After their work is published, writers continue to experience feedback.
In most language arts classrooms, students typically have a very limited
audience for their writing their teacher and in some classrooms their
immediate classmates (Applebee, Auden, & Lear, 1981). With the Internet,
many teachers are able for the first time to connect students to a broader
audience as these young writers published their pieces in school home
pages, e-mail projects, list servs, and websites. In many classrooms,
students who participated in such activities received responses to their
work from an audience beyond the classroom. As one student noted:
It just gets out all over the city, and lots
of people can look at it if they go to that Web site. Whereas if you
make it a piece of paper only the people that want can get it, whereas
anyone in the world can basically look at it on the Net. . . . [I]t’s
not just like a closed-in audience. (Schoefield & Davidson, 196)
Based on interviews for their study, Schoefield
& Davidson (2002) found that the vast majority of students in all
age groups enjoyed using the Internet more than participating in traditional
classroom activities. Reflecting this perspective, one elementary school
teacher reported to Schofield & Davidson (2002) that involvement in
a newsgroup “enhanced tenfold [my students’] enthusiasm for
writing.” Furthermore, teachers often supported their assertions
that students reacted positively with behavioral evidence as did a high
teacher they interviewed:
In the class where they were working on Web
pages they . . . Can’t get in the room fast enough. . . They
were killing each other trying to get to the computers. . . . When
I unlocked the door in the morning the kids are in the room before
I can get the key out of the door. (227)
In addition, Schofield & Davidson (2002) and
others have noted at least two factors appearing to enhance students’
motivation were related to particular attributes of the Internet. First,
the Internet offers students an extraordinarily wide range of information
and communication opportunities, which makes it easier than is typically
the case in school for them to connect their schoolwork with personal
interests. Second, the Internet gives students the ability to communicate
to with others and to produce work that others might actually use in some
way (Schofield & Davidson, 2002; Weber, 2002; Riley & Roberts,
2000). An exciting example is the fact that Nattawud
Daoruang, one of the student webmasters for Thai Students Online,
is the youngest columnist for The Bangkok Post. Every Tuesday, he writes
a column about life in Thailand, and his award-winning webpage titled
“Thailand Life” has received more than one million visitors.
Riley & Roberts (2000) reported a instance
where a New York students contributed useful resources to others.
. . . students in New York created a website
to inform and allay fears about orthodontic braces. On their website,
the students gathered and offered advice, information and pictures
from orthodontists; interviewed an oral surgeon; wrote a personal
journal of one of the group's experiences with braces; designed an
original cartoon story; provided recommendations of personal hygiene
products, recipes and links to related sites; translated material
into Russian; and encouraged other children to write about their own
experiences with braces. In these types of projects, it is the uses
of technology that actively engages students in the learning process
in ways that are simply not possible for classroom teachers to reproduce
without technology. (60-61)
Students also used the Internet to communicate
with others and to make their work available to a broad audience for use
or comment (Schofield & Davidson, 2002; Weber, 2002; Stephens &
Mandeville, 2000). These practices are also conducive to improving their
work. Schofield & Davidson (2002) reported that first students occasionally
received feedback from others that was useful to them in making their
work better. Second, the knowledge that others outside the school might
view their work was quite motivating to many students. As June, a high
school student, told them:
Knowing that other people are going to be exposed
to my work, makes me want to do it better . . . You know, work harder
on it and . . . You know, check for errors and complete it and make
it the best that I can. (239)
It was common for students to assert that they
attended more to the quality of their work when they knew it would be
placed online and read by others outside the school than they did at other
times. These reports are consistent with the results of other research.
For example, scholars have found that writing produced for outside peers
can be better than that done for a teacher (Means et al., 1993; Cohen
& Riel, 1989; Sperling, 1996). In addition, research and studies have
shown that writing produced for peers on an online network is often better
than that produced for local peers and teachers (Gallini & Helman,
1995; Karchmer, 2001). When their work is going to be published for a
wider audience, teachers not only can more easily convince students of
the need for revision, but students understand this and will act upon
it (Van Scoter, 2002).
Gretchen Lee (2000) offers her explanation for
reasons why students work harder on their writing for online publishing
and shows the powerful effects that online publishing has on her students
and their work ethics and attitudes:
The class was glued to the computer monitors.
Nobody breathed until—“I’ve got it! I can see the homepage!”
“I found my rap song! Come see!”
“My poem’s formatted wrong. How can I fix it?”
“This is soooooooo cool,” sighed Alisha as she clicked through
the class’s work. “When can we send in some more?”
“I hate mine. I’m so embarrassed!” exclaimed Aviel.
“I want to redo it!”
This was the scene in my English classroom when we took part in an
online class that published (on the Internet) my students’ writing
on our mythology unit. Every morning the kids raced each other to
the computers to see if their latest writing projects had been posted.
The Web site addresses were taken home to parents and sent out to
relatives. Nothing that they’d ever written for me for a grade
had caused this much excitement (or consternation when they found
mistakes!). They couldn’t wait to write more.
Teachers have known for years that publishing student work makes a
huge difference in the quality of the kids’ writing, but finding
ways to make this possible was sometimes difficult. Yes, there were
contests and vanity publishing, but by the time the work came back,
months had passed, and the work was often flat. The market for student
writing was saturated and difficult to crack, and many students got
discouraged before seeing any results. We teachers spent endless hours
typing and copying class literary magazines, but the kids weren’t
fooled. They knew who the audience was—the teacher and parent!
And sometimes not even parents—my homeroom floor used to be littered
with copies that never even made it home.
The Internet is changing all this. It is causing a revolution in the
classroom—a revolution the likes of which hasn’t been seen
since Johannes Gutenberg cranked out his first page of moveable type.
Teachers are helping students use the inexpensive resources of the
Internet to give their students’ writing an authentic worldwide
audience, with amazing results. Many schools have their own sites
and allow students work to be published there, but for those who don’t,
there are ezines (online magazines) like Highwired or Inkspots, sites
like Geocities and Yahoo! that are free for the signing up, and specialty
sites like Chapbooks and Online Classes. Because there are so many
different ways to publish, the Internet has the potential to be a
major democratizing factor among school-rich and poor alike can afford
to publish their students’ work on the Web. . . .
My students are perfect examples of what happens when the magic of
Internet publishing occurs. For years I struggled to find authentic
writing assignments for them. Most of them were from families who
cared about grades, so at least I got the homework turned in. While
some kids worked very hard, most did exactly what I told them to do
(and I have the tiny penciled-in word counts to prove it!) Often kids
just slobbered it down—it was just for Mrs. Lee, right? None
were very involved in the actual writing process. Revision and peer
editing were a nightmare. Why go through all that work? No one else
would read it.
When we started publishing on the Internet, suddenly all that stopped.
No one wanted to look “dumb” in front of the whole world.
Grammar and spelling suddenly mattered. I was asked for rules on punctuation.
Which “there” belonged in this sentence? How do you spell
“congratulations”? Out came the handbooks and dictionaries
(at least until they found the online dictionaries!) They were excited
and intimidated at the same time. The differences were plain in the
way my students wrote about how they felt about being published on
the Internet.
Alisha: When I see my writing on the Internet, it’s kind of amazing
to know that people all over the world have access to your work. .
. . You also want to make sure that people understand what you’re
implying. . . Overall, getting published is pretty cool!
Max: I do not write as well on the Internet . . . but I feel as if
I am writing for a lot more than just a grade. I like to write paragraphs
that will be posted on the Internet. I feel great when I see my paragraphs
online. It brightens up my day!
Alex: I write differently for the Internet than for my teacher because
I don’t want to look dumb because of really bad grammatical errors
or spelling errors. . . I also don’t want to embarrass someone
else because I put something on the Internet that either embarrassed
or hurt them. Also a lot of times I try to use juicy words and have
sentences that are effective at getting across a point.
Evan: When I write for the Internet, I try and make the writing more
formal and neat. I put a lot more effort in it if it is going on the
Internet. More people will see it on the Internet, instead of just
the teacher or class. I feel happy when my stuff is on the Internet.
It makes me feel a little more famous than I am now.
Chris: The difference I feel when I am writing for the Internet is
that you know everyone is going to see it—not just the teacher.
I try to use stronger words. I try to be more careful in how I say
things. You know that it will be seen by everybody. I say things in
different ways than I would in something that was just going to be
a grade. Something tells you that this has to be good, so I try to
put more thought into it.
Most of my students describe publishing on the Internet with words
like proud, excited, famous, and great. Not only do they describe
how they feel in positive terms, but I watch how they write. As students
compose for something they understand will someday be on the Web,
their level of involvement rises. Though many of my students begin
the process afraid of being embarrassed by mistakes that might be
published on the Web, they all come to understand what they need to
do or check to make sure that doesn’t happen. The authentic audience
makes a huge difference in the quality of the work I receive and the
attitude of the kids toward their work.
Schofield & Davidson (2002) discussed the many
reasons students offered for attending more to the quality of their work
when it had an audience outside the classroom. They wrote that some did
it because of their desire to make a good impression about themselves,
their schools, or their communities on the world outside the school. These
authors cited students attending a high school populated almost entirely
by African Americans, many from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, who spoke
especially frequently and ardently about the impact of an external audience
on the quality of their work, often commenting with words similar to those
of their schoolmate Malcom:
You put a lot more pride into it, because .
. . If you’re going to write this for the school mainly, you’re
going to write it so it’s good enough so your teacher gives you
an A. But if you realize that everybody in the world’s going
to be looking at it, then you get like a sense of pride, like, “Well,
this is what everybody in the world’s going to perceive of me
and perceive of basically my school, my parents, and people who taught
me. So basically, if I do a horrible job, people are going to think
that my parents didn’t teach me, and people are going to think
the schools I went to are trash.” (240)
Schofield & Davidson (2002) discuss other reasons
why students worked harder on their writing, which would be published
online.
Other students indicated that they worked harder
to make the materials they posted on the Internet of especially high
quality for quite different reasons. One of these was the belief that
because others might use materials posted on the Internet in ways
that had real consequences it was important to be sure they were accurate
and well done. For example, one student who developed a Web page featuring
information about careers in medicine explained that he took special
care in creating it because others might use it in making carer decisions,
and hence it was potentially more important than tasks done just for
his teacher. Yet another reason students tried especially hard to
make the work they posted on the Internet of high quality was that
more knowledgeable individuals might encounter it and judge it by
higher standards than those that their teachers applied in schools.
(240)
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