by Minh Tran

Created on: January 12, 2009

My studying experience can be divided into two distinct periods: before and after knowing the Internet. That being said, the Internet has a significant impact on my academic life. Obviously, in the end everything comes back to the human who uses the technology. The Internet is just a tool. But it is a powerful tool if the users know how to take advantage of it.

The obvious benefit of the Internet for students is naturally the convenient access to a vast amount of resources from their own PCs or laptops. Nowadays, it is common practice for not only students essays and theses but also many major scholarly journals and books to be made available on the Net with a range of prices. In addition, there are also online course materials which can be even free such as MITs Open Courseware. That, together with the help of powerful search engine such as Google, has largely resolved the matter of inputs for researches. With some experience to check for the reliability of the resources (which mainly comes with time), one laptop with connection to the Internet can effective replace half a library (one cannot bid farewell to the print media yet), and students can conveniently do their work from all places that has Internet connection, which is already quite a difference how things were done the past (and in some countries where Internet is not yet widespread).

However, in my impression, an even more important change that the Internet brings about is the formation of the student network by means of social networking sites both public (like Facebook) and institution-specific (like the Intranet of each university) connecting all students who have the access to the Internet, which facilitates communication and exchange beyond physical boundaries: students of the same interests can now gather together regardless of their locations. In addition, apart from real time chat groups, interactions over the Internet are flexible in that they do not require the participants to show up and stay at the same time. Another remarkable feature of social networking is the diversity of backgrounds, which leads to a colourful array of experiences and opinions. Of course, associations of interest would still be forming without the Internet and the new medium does not change much of their nature, but it can be expected that they would not be of the same scale, intensity, and diversity as in the present. My current LiveJournal group about the operation system Ubuntu Linux have members from about 40 countries, and every issue around the Ubuntu topic is discussed on a daily basis under as many lights as possible, which is incredible. I appreciate the small face-to-face group of computer fanatics that are my close friends and I, but I also enjoy socializing with my new online acquaintances. From those diverse online interactions, one can get unexpected information, compare different viewpoints on a topic, and get new ideas for academic works. Social networking is also useful for students in matters like looking for help when coming to a new place, searching for a part-time job, or travelling. Such things may be considered irrelevant to studying, but they affect the academic experiences nonetheless.

All in all, the Internet has added new colours to student life, like in other walks of life. To me, it has widened my source and exchange of information and experiences, which has increased the quality of my studying. Therefore, to me, the Internet is a good friend for students.

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