- The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Abbreviations
- Notes on the Contributors
- Internet Studies: The Foundations of a Transformative Field
- The Prehistory of the Internet and its Traces in the Present: Implications for Defining the Field
- Web Science
- Society on the Web
- The Internet as Infrastructure
- Network Societies and Internet Studies: Rethinking Time, Space, and Class
- Digital Inequality
- Sociality Through Social Network Sites
- The Study of Online Relationships and Dating
- Games, Online and off
- Cross-National Comparative Perspectives from the World Internet Project
- New Businesses and New Business Models
- Trust in Commercial and Personal Transactions in the Digital Age
- Government and the Internet: Evolving Technologies, Enduring Research Themes
- Digital Transformations of Scholarship and Knowledge
- Studies of the Internet in Learning and Education: Broadening the Disciplinary Landscape of Research
- Theoretical Perspectives in the Study of Communication and the Internet
- Tradition and Transformation in Online News Production and Consumption
- The Internet in Campaigns and Elections
- The Internet and Democracy
- Analyzing Freedom of Expression Online: Theoretical, Empirical, and Normative Contributions
- Cultural, Legal, Technical, and Economic Perspectives on Copyright Online: The Case of the Music Industry
- Privacy and Surveillance: The Multidisciplinary Literature on the Capture, Use, and Disclosure of Personal Information in Cyberspace
- Digital Infrastructures, Economies, and Public Policies: Contending Rationales and Outcome Assessment Strategies
- The Internet and Development: A Critical Perspective
- The Emerging Field of Internet Governance
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter investigates the role of the Internet in reshaping learning and education. It describes distinctions between formal education, where the Internet has made few inroads, and informal learning, where it seems to have excelled. Moreover, the chapter explores how the Internet has – via the World Wide Web – enabled an expansion in informal and incidental learning opportunities. Online courses are dealt through learning management systems, or virtual learning environments. The Internet's contribution to formal learning has been considerably less transformative than its contribution to informal learning. The Internet is not primarily an educational tool, but it self-evidently offers unique and unparalleled scope for the exploration of new forms of exploration and collaboration in the development and sharing of knowledge.
Keywords: informal learning, formal education, Internet, World Wide Web, incidental learning, online courses
Chris Daviesleads the Learning and New Technologies Research Group at the Department of Education, and is Vice President of Kellogg College, University of Oxford, UK.
Rebecca Eynon is a Research Fellow in the Oxford Internet Institute, and Lecturer in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford, UK.
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- The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Abbreviations
- Notes on the Contributors
- Internet Studies: The Foundations of a Transformative Field
- The Prehistory of the Internet and its Traces in the Present: Implications for Defining the Field
- Web Science
- Society on the Web
- The Internet as Infrastructure
- Network Societies and Internet Studies: Rethinking Time, Space, and Class
- Digital Inequality
- Sociality Through Social Network Sites
- The Study of Online Relationships and Dating
- Games, Online and off
- Cross-National Comparative Perspectives from the World Internet Project
- New Businesses and New Business Models
- Trust in Commercial and Personal Transactions in the Digital Age
- Government and the Internet: Evolving Technologies, Enduring Research Themes
- Digital Transformations of Scholarship and Knowledge
- Studies of the Internet in Learning and Education: Broadening the Disciplinary Landscape of Research
- Theoretical Perspectives in the Study of Communication and the Internet
- Tradition and Transformation in Online News Production and Consumption
- The Internet in Campaigns and Elections
- The Internet and Democracy
- Analyzing Freedom of Expression Online: Theoretical, Empirical, and Normative Contributions
- Cultural, Legal, Technical, and Economic Perspectives on Copyright Online: The Case of the Music Industry
- Privacy and Surveillance: The Multidisciplinary Literature on the Capture, Use, and Disclosure of Personal Information in Cyberspace
- Digital Infrastructures, Economies, and Public Policies: Contending Rationales and Outcome Assessment Strategies
- The Internet and Development: A Critical Perspective
- The Emerging Field of Internet Governance
- Index