Does World Wide Web provide better resources than library for learning—a case study (poster)

With the advent of technology, the traditional board and chalk teaching method is no longer the only way to teach. There were various success stories of using WWW as a learning tool but most studies were fragmented. Researchers at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) attempted to investigate the usefulness of WWW as a learning medium using a longitudinal study. The participants were pre-service student teachers studying at the HKIEd taking Computer Literacy (Information Technology) as one of their electives. Two groups of students participated in two case studies, each consisting of six students. Each case study consisted of: (1) a pre-test, (2) searching [using WWW in the first and second studies and using the library (paper-based references) in the third and fourth studies], and (3) a post-test. All the questions asked in the pre-tests were asked again in the post-tests so that students understood what to search for during the searching sessions and it was also easier to find out the usefulness of the searching exercises.