The discourse facilitated by the internet has impacted nearly every field. Websites exist that benefit virtually every school of thought and even social media allows for the sharing of practical ideas. It must be conceded that while there is a great deal of practical and useful information online, there is likewise a massive amount of information that is more or less useless that must be sifted through. As Andrew Keen (2008, p. 7) points out, “50 percent of all bloggers blog for the sole purpose of reporting and sharing experiences about their personal lives,” pointing to just how extensive the presence of trivial information on the internet is. This does not however, impact how useful the information found online can be. It merely results in the possibility of greater difficulty getting to that information. It should also be noted that blogs are very easy to start and operate, making them a common enterprise to be undertaken casually. Further evidence of the significance of the information online can be found in the use thereof in education. The internet is no longer simply a tool used by the education system, but rather an indispensable facet of it. As Brand-Gruwel, et al. (2004, p. 488) posit, “Students are expected to construct their own knowledge, search and process information and combine it with their prior knowledge in order to tackle authentic tasks and problems,” making it clear that making use of information available to a student is more important than simply possessing that information. While this analytical thought process has been important to many disciplines, it has only become an increasingly valued skill.
If it is in fact the case that information online can enable one to become proficient in nearly any endeavor, then it might be assumed that there is very little difficulty in effectively finding information and utilizing it to perform near the level that someone specialized in whatever task they take on would be able to. This assumption is erroneous however, as the ability to process information online and genuinely make sense of it is much more than being able to search for a solution. As Brand-Gruwel, et al. (2004, p. 487) claim, “It is often assumed that students master [information problem solving] all by themselves. From our point of view, however, explicit and intensive instruction is required.” In their work, experts and novices in information problem solving were tested and compared, ultimately illustrating that, while the two groups were able to both perform similarly, those that were considered experts were more likely to better solve the problems posed to them and did so in a much less clumsy fashion (Brand-Gruwel, et al., 2004). The experts in this case were able to use the data available to them as a tool to precisely solve the problems, and in doing so undoubtedly gained a greater grasp on the issue as a whole than the other group that would have been more likely to haphazardly attempt and reject many solutions that were easily located.
Skills Bonanaza! 