There are
many advantages and disadvantages by using the internet during an exam, and I don’t
know what I would have preferred for myself during an exam.
On one
side, you will be able to put more effort into the assigment and I think the task would be more comprehensive, because of the access to a lot of facts. The
task will be carried out better and easier to perform, which therefore means
that teachers has to be more stringent during the correction and must take into
account that the student has had access to a huge amount of information.
It
would therefore be difficult to distinguish between what is written by the
students themself and what is taken directly from the internet. One can easily
find opinions and reflections around different topics on the internet and turn
it into own sentences, that is hard to find traces of. The student must be clear
to set up sources and clearly show what is own opinions and what is facts
taken from the internet.
During an
exam, I would have searched for information on sites with a certain security,
that I know I can trust. I would have chosen sources that teachers have
recommended and which I know is written by professionals.
If I were
to find information on pages like Wikipedia, I would always double check if I'm
not sure that the information is true or false.
I think in
a way that the internet would have helped me during an exam, I would have
found more information on the topic I write about and therefore gain a more interesting
and fluent assignment. Yet the teacher must take into account all the
information the students have access to and I therefore think that in the end it
will not be beneficial for a student to have access to internet during an exam, in terms of results.
To other
students who will use the internet during the exam, I recommended to be clear
to refer to the sources you have used, to avoid any confusion between what is own thoughts and
opinions and what is facts directly from the internet.
When you are
listing up your sources during an exam, I recommend to use a program on
Microsoft Word, which is an organized bibliography that lists your sources
directly after a sentence from the source you chose.
