Students prefer Internet news: study

A recent report from the Carnegie-Knight Task Force at Harvard University has revealed that schools look up to Internet news as a mode of classroom instruction. Excerpt:

Internet-based news is trumping both television news and the daily newspaper as a mode of classroom instruction. Furthermore, national and international news sites, such as nytimes.com and bbc.com, are trumping local news sites in America’s schools. These conclusions stem from a recent national survey of 1,262 social studies, civics, and government teachers, who reported on their use of news in the classroom, including trends in their use of particular media.

For close to a year now, I've been studying my Masters in Journalism through an online medium of instruction. So far, learning and interaction are a lot better especially for working professionals like me. Online education or e-learning combined with traditional methods of teaching is increasingly being introduced in undergraduate schools. This recent survey shows students prefer to get their dose of news from the Internet, which is a lot more convenient and interactive. From my own experience, e-learning still requires discipline on the student's part. You still have to actively participate in discussions (through discussion boards), online chats, and group work. So it is really important that Philippine government should connect more schools to the Internet. I think once they're connected, students will find learning a lot more interesting.