What is it about Academic snobbery and the internet? Seriously? Check out this article, one of many I might add, about a teacher banning use of Google and Wikipedia and thus asking students to use old fashioned moldy books in the library.
According to Professor Brabazon,
“I call this type of education ‘the University of Google’. Google offers easy answers to difficult questions. But students do not know how to tell if they come from serious, refereed work or are merely composed of shallow ideas, superficial surfing and fleeting commitments,”
Where to begin?
1. Proper Research:
Perhaps the schools to teach students the fundamentals of proper research, both online and from textbooks. Hence looking for credible sources, peer reviewed articles and the whole caboodle. I remember being taught research procedure when I did my degree; the whole .org, .edu debacle. Or is this just another case of lecturer being unable to verify online sources? On that note, printed word is not exactly sacred. As one lecturer pointed out, woe onto anyone who cites anything from the fictional section in the history term paper.
2. Red Pens are there for a reason
For the love of all that you learn, just use that red marker pen; punish anyone who is a pockmark on the face of modern day research; penalize the deviants from academic style research; banish the pot holes from the highway of institutional progress. Having said that, just give a - D to the lazy bums who don't follow procedure.
3. Hello JSTOR
Something I don't get; online PEER REVIEWED journals are available to most universities and schools through the internet; scores of academic sources are available online as information sharing amongst nations. Why can't the teachers give a list of proper research site? JSTOR, Talk Origins, e-book versions of actual print versions. Has funding for libraries shot through the roof since internet became trendy? I mean, are there so many books available in educational institutions that teachers can proudly say everything you want is in this limited room half full of bound paper? What about cost of getting latest books? Cost of up keeping old books? There are many schools all over world; a lot of them struggle with funding for almost everything. Surely a true educator would embrace this opportunity, the means to finally provide credible info to their students?
Perhaps the teachers need to be taught a few lessons: a) what are the numerous credible sources on the internet; b) penalizing students who don't follow online research methods; c) learning about keyword searches
