REACTION PAPER ON THE ARTICLE:

“STUDENT REACTIONS TO ONLINE TOOLS FOR LEARNING TO USE THE INTERNET AS

A STUDY TOOL: OUTSIDE THE COMFORTZONE?”

The educational system has been rattled recently by an unexpected health crisis. As

a consequence, schools have been pushed to drop conventional courses in favor of online

ones. The term "online learning" refers to any kind of education offered through a

computer or mobile network connection to the Internet. The term "e-learning" is often

used to describe this kind of training. Given the current uncertainty, a thorough analysis of

students' online learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic is critical. Although

numerous surveys have been done on this issue, there is still a lack of knowledge on the

difficulties students face and the exact solutions they use to overcome them. The article

"Student reactions to online tools for learning to use the Internet as a study tool: Outside

the comfort zone?" by Carol S Bond, David Fevyer and Chris Pittan, contains and

particularizes the challenges of students and established aid in student's learning and

determining what aspects of an internet study guide they valued most, which in the latter

could give us insight into their censorious issues outside their comfort zone.

The article written by Carol S Bond, David Fevyer and Chris Pittan contends that

students face several issues when it comes to online learning, both in terms of type and

degree. Their substantial problem was related to their technical literacy, competence, and

immediate help when they experienced difficulties utilizing the internet, such as needing

guidance on assessing a site's credibility or citing an online article. It is stated that students

were concerned about accessing internet resources. Lack of knowledge and preference for

lecture-based learning and assistance were cited as the main reasons for not using the
tools. However, learning how to utilize the Internet successfully was not deemed

unnecessary. Moreover, an online study guide didn't meet the students' needs since they

were forced to go outside of their comfort zone when they used an online support system,

which led them to choose personal or hard-copy guidance and resources instead. The

structure of online courses is examined as a probable cause of these challenges, and a

flowchart to assist students' access to resources is offered.

As for me, even while online learning may have had a beneficial and bad influence

on some students, it was indeed really a challenge for most of us, given the fact that the

most pressing concerns of some students were a general lack of enthusiasm and

knowledge, as well as a lack of social involvement and living circumstances that were

inappropriate for the home-based system. Moreover, it is critical to provide students with

enough pre-course knowledge in many courses. However, the goal should be to assist most

students in becoming more comfortable using online resources rather than to exclude them

if they are not already computer illiterate. If so, we, students may lose out on some

outstanding educational assistance mechanisms if we are reluctant to access internet

resources. To maximize our utilization of the resources available to us, we must need to

address our lack of information technology skills or lack of confidence in our technology

competencies.

REFERENCE: https://www.ascilite.org/conferences/perth04/procs/pdf/bond.pdf