The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet

Let's me show u one of the advantages and disadvantages of Internet in the education field. The only things that are needed to connect to the Internet are a computer, a modem, a telephone line, an Internet provider and Internet software. Assuming that an educator or student has access to all these, and the time and knowledge to use the Internet, how can it be used as an educational tool? Below are just some of the many useful tools available to the Internet user, and how they might be helpful to an educator or student.

E-mail
Perhaps the first step that many people have tried when using the Internet is E-mail. In theory, E-mail is an instantaneous electronic message from a sender to a recipient, (or multiple recipients.) Compared to postal mail, (often called snail-mail by Internet users), E-mail is probably the most used application in the Internet. With E-mail, the educator can let students set up Internet "keypals" with other children in nearby classrooms, in other states, in other countries, or even in other continents. This promotes computer usage, and allows students to improve their language arts skills, such as their reading, writing, thinking and listening abilities.

Through E-mail, students can send messages to literally thousands of businesses, or to private individuals. Children can ask experts in a certain field, say in politics or science, a list of questions to be answered. Teachers can use the E-mail in the same way, by talking to colleagues thousands of miles away, comparing lesson plans, etc.

To use E-mail, the sender simply opens the E-mail program and types in an address, a subject, and the message in the body of the letter. Once the letter is ready to be sent, the user simply clicks a send command, and the letter is instantly transmitted to its destination. A typical message might look like the following:
 

However, there are several disadvantages with E-mail, of course. In theory, messages can be sent back and forth immediately (usually within a few seconds), regardless if the message is to be sent to the next building or to the next continent. Unfortunately, E-mail messages may sit in the recipient's electronic mailbox for days or weeks until they are checked. When the message requires an urgent response, the time saved through E-mail is lost until the reader reads his mail. Another problem exists when the reader saves too many messages, and does not have an adequate way to organize the important from the non-important messages. The user quickly realizes that extra files must be created in the E-mail program, just to keep messages from getting lost. Other problems can also occur when an educator signs up to an electronic mailing list, which may result in hundreds of useless messages filling their electronic mailbox.
 
 

FTP
File Transfer Protocol, or FTP, is an extremely useful tool for any educator or student. With the FTP program on the Internet, files or even computer software can be obtained and downloaded into the user's computer. For instance, if a student in England wanted to get the book Alice in Wonderland from the library at the University of Maryland, they would simply open up the FTP option, find the University of Maryland, chose the children's section of the library, then find the book. The book's text would appear through the Internet, then it could be downloaded into the student's own files! Most software applications such as Word, Write, etc. that are currently running on school computers are downloaded this same way into each server to save money buying programs.

Unfortunately, one of the disadvantages occasionally does occur when FTP is used to download a file. Sometimes the file or software contains a computer virus. It is therefore necessary to scan all files accessed through FTP before they are used.