Advantages to Telecomputing:Reasons to Use the Internet in Your Classroom

• Students enjoy writing more when they are able to write for a distant audience of their peers.

Most of these students have reading and writing skills that are at least four years below grade level. In the past traditional approaches to encourage these students to write were not very successful. At about that same time, we helped organize an educational electronic bulletin board that had the unique capability of sharing messages with other schools running the same software. One of the purposes of the educational network was to use the medium of telecommunications directly with the students. We began slowly, having the students exchange "computer pal" letters. From the very first exchange of letters, it became quite clear that students were highly motivated to write when they knew other students would be reading their letters. The students wrote letters that were on the average 1 1/2 to 2 times longer than previously when the assignment had been just to write a friendly letter for the teacher.

• Students are provided an opportunity to understand different cultures

Students, some of whom had never left their own neighborhoods, were suddenly asking for maps so that they would know where their new "computer pals" were writing from. Students learned that there are different, regional ways of expressing the same ideas. So, they took greater efforts to explain exactly what they were trying to say. Bilingual messages were exchanged and translated into both languages. Students were communicating with one another in a way that most adults were not even aware existed.

• Teachers can exchange ideas and resources quickly and efficiently.

In addition, different models of computers can be used to exchange information. Computers have the potential of becoming the universal language. Different brands of computers can exchange and share information via telecommunications. Someday, with built in language translators, people from all nations will be able to communicate swiftly and efficiently.

• TeleComputing will prepare students for a future world that is sure to include electronic communications.

People will not have to live close to their jobs. During the industrial age people moved closer to the cities to be near the factories. In the future, people may choose to live away from the cities, with all their noise, pollution and traffic.
Telecommunications may also have a positive effect on the family unit. If parents are able to work from their homes, they will be able to spend more time with their children. Children will benefit from watching their parents work at home, in the same way that farm children learn many skills from observing their parents perform their daily duties.

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