For the past two decades, the Internet has become widespread and surfaced as a prominent new

technology, which influence has become such a powerful technological tool and in effect has
imbued all aspects of our lives especially so in the field of education and business. Regardless of
one’s age and social status, it is a clear fact that we have entered a new information age, the
computer age, and the Internet is here to stay.

The significant rise of the internet usage has brought enormous change in the way we
communicate because it has made the way we send and receive messages more effective and
more graspable. Thus, the inclusion of media elements such as Flickr, YouTube, MySpace,
Facebook and other Web technologies in education have long been utilized to reinforce delivery
of lessons and eventually leads to a better learning rate. How does it work? Research has shown
that people remember 20% of what they see, 40% of what they see and hear, but about 75% of
what they see and hear and do simultaneously (Lindstrom, 1994).The power of multimedia lies
in the fact that it is multi-sensory, stimulating the many senses of the audience. It is also
interactive, enabling the end-users of the application to control the content and flow of
information. With this in mind, teachers must come up with ways to deliver lessons that can be
effectively imparted through the use of multi-media. However, teachers must first identify the
purpose of injecting multimedia in the classroom. Do you want to inform or instruct? It is
necessary to first deal with this question so as to know the required planning. As much as
possible, tap all the different digital media types in order to stimulate the multi-senses of the
learners for better retention. For example, when teaching present perfect progressive tense to
English as Second Language students, instead of just making slides displaying the grammar
structure, you can also make use of the music video in YouTube of the song “Way back into
Love” which lyrics used the target grammar structure.

Instead of sticking with the traditional way of teaching which is focusing on what is provided in
the curriculum, bolster your goal of effectively delivering the target learning by combining
problem based-learning with the internet technology “to emphasize real world challenges, higher
order thinking skills, multi-disciplinary learning, independent learning, teamwork and
communication skills” (Tan, 2000). Problem-based learning is an approach that challenges
students to learn through engagement in a real problem by placing students in the active role of
problem-solvers confronted with an ill-structured situation that simulates the kind of problems
they are likely to face. The combination of internet and problem based-learning has been used by
educators for a more goal-directed learning environment. How can the combination of internet
and problem based-learning be used? The first way is to use multimedia which provides stimulus
materials such as problem descriptions or resources to streamline the process of students locating
necessary information within a conventional problem based-learning framework. In the second,
problem based-learning might be used as the basis for design of the multimedia materials so that
all or most of a problem based-learning experience could be encapsulated within the multimedia
package. For example, using the music video from YouTube of “Way back into Love” and some
slides, ask the students how or in what situations do we use the target grammar structure.

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1756&context=libphilprac
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te800.htm
http://online.sfsu.edu/rpurser/revised/pages/problem.htm
http://www.ascilite.org/conferences/wollongong98/asc98-pdf/albiongibson.pdf