Education Today and Information

Education is a process that takes place throughout an individuals life and serves the
purpose of including that individual into a social circle, by implementing him certain values,
rules or morals. As a concept it can be divided into four main forms: formal education, non-
formal education, informal education and self-education. Although all of these forms are
present in everyones life at a certain point, they are taught differently, in different
environments and ith or ithout the help of certain institutions. !oadays, both education
and information are evolving and the relation beteen them evolves also. Information can be
received through different means such as mass media, internet or other emerging
technologies. It is present everyhere and reacting to it is an option every person has. The
amount of information that is at the reach of everyone has some advantages and disadvantages
in hat concerns the educative purpose it serves. This paper ill consider the advantages and
disadvantages of the mass media, internet the other technologies in relation to the formal,
non-formal, informal and self-education.
"irst of all, formal education is the one taught in an institutionali#ed environment, by
people ho have a certain preparation in a certain area. This form of education starts as early
as kinder-garden and it ends ith the university. "ormal education can also be present in some
other institutions such as the ones ho help people re$ualify for other %obs. The formal
education is the most consistent of all three forms because it presents structurali#ed
information suited for every age group, and the information presented is useful for ac$uiring
certain morals, standards and a level of instruction for dealing ith different social situations.
In formal education, information plays an important part, but the information has to
be precise and taken from reliable sources such as books, courses or encyclopedias. The
internet may have an important role although its use is not mandatory because most of the
information can be found in ritten form. !oadays, the internet is gaining more and more
popularity because it is $uicker to use and much more confortable because it does not imply
changing the location for finding a certain piece of information. Also, if used correctly, the
internet is a poerful tool because it gathers information from all around the orld and the
data base and searching opportunities are practically unlimited.
As a disadvantage of the internet, the fact that students get the information ithout
making any effort, it limits their creativity and also their ability to make connections and use
all the information presented in school. The main thing that formal education tries to teach
students is to be able to think and the internet takes aay the need to do such a thing.
&oreover, many of the sources presented are unreliable, the information may be ine'act and
although it may have a good purpose in the beginning, it may end up having an unproductive
use because of the distractions it offers.
The non-formal education is also taught in an institutionali#ed environment by
speciali#ed persons, but the difference is it is not taught in schools. (ibraries, theatres, book
clubs are the ay to achieve that. In this form of education, the mass media or the internet do
not play such an important part but there are others, the so called emerging technologies that
are useful for the purposes of the non-formal education. The emerging technologies are
defined by )eorge *eletsianos as being:
+tools, concepts, innovations, and advancements utili#ed in diverse educational
settings ,including distance, face to face, and hybrid forms of education- to
serve varied educational-related purposes ,e.g. instructional, social, and
organi#ational goals- ,*eletsianos, ./-
All of these emerging technologies could be considered as being information
providers0 virtual libraries or constructive games, art programs, leadership programs, all these
are a part of the education of individuals that help the development of ones personality and
characteristics. 1ne of the disadvantages of some of these technologies is that they fail to be
accessible to everyone.
The third kind of education to be analy#ed is informal education. The informal
education takes place in the everyday life and it is done by the persons in the individuals life.
The mass media and the internet have a great influence on this kind of education because
information travels through all these means of communication, leading to the enriching of the
informational baggage of the individual.
+In any developing country, one of the prime ingredients of development is the
dissemination of information about ne fertili#ers, seeds, insecticides,
cropping patterns, ne goods and services, ne living patterns, etc. The
process of education is basically related to an information
dissemination2transfer process. "or the rapid and sustained groth of
developing counties, the urgent need to disseminate information to the masses
is obvious. &ass &edia are clearly the main component in this system of
information transfer. Television is ideal as a medium to convey information
and nes to the masses of people particularly to the illiterate segment of
population, on hom such an audio-visual medium ould have profound
impact. ,3.4. &ohanty, .5-
6ust like 3rof. *ikram A. 7arabhai tried to e'plain in the $uote above, the process of
education mostly takes place through the process of transferring the information. Television is
the easiest and most accessible ay of doing so because, even though the population might
have a consistent education, it is still the $uicker ay. This chain e'ists in all the orld,
therefore the information can be transmitted at a global level.
7elf-education is the area hich most deals ith different sources of information. 8ue
to the fact that it is a continuous form of education that happens throughout the individuals
life, different means of transmitting the information are needed.
"irst of all, the internet 9 it is the most comple' and it contains information from
various fields therefore, the areas of knoledge may be diverse. It is very poerful hen it
comes to self-education because the internet is filled ith information hich is more or less
accurate but it is the most accessible mean of learning. 1ne important detail is that it is very
comfortable to search the internet rather that searching through a library and moreover, it
takes less time. Also, the amount of information is enormous and in the process of self-
education one can find the necessary information and figure out hether that information is
good or not for him.
7econdly, the mass media is important hen it comes to self-education because it
presents the most recent developments in all areas, it transmits information that is of public
interest and there are numerous educative programs running all day long. It is a very useful
ay to stay informed although many times, the information presented is not alays accurate
and the characters presented on television are not alays an inspiration or model-like.
Education, in all its forms ends up being influenced by technology, by the internet and
the mass media. Even if e take into consideration other means of classifying the education, it
still is influenced by modern technologies. "or e'ample, the distance learning as made
possible due to all the fast pace that information is travelling. &ore and more people are
attracted by the idea of distance learning because it is cheaper, more convenient and more
accessible. Another e'ample ould be home schooling, an area hich relies on information
found on the internet and television.
To conclude, education is influenced by many elements, many technologies. In order
for it to advance, it must keep up ith the ne technologies, ith the information that can be
found on the internet and ith the one present on television. :y using all of these means, the
possibility of taking education at a better level e'ists, but nevertheless one must keep in mind
the drabacks that these technologies bring along ith them. ;hile it is undeniable that by
using the internet one gets access to an unlimited searching data, to an unlimited number of
books that maybe do not e'ist in the libraries, the number of ine'act facts and distractions are
enormous. The same things happen ith the mass media and ith television in particular, the
information is not alays correct. In order to evolve a perfect balance must e'ist beteen
education and information and beteen traditional methods of education and modern and
emerging technologies.
<eference list:
&ohanty, 3.4., Mass Media and Education, A3= 3ublishing 4orporation, /55>
*eletisianos, )eorge, Emerging Technologies in Distance Education, A? 3ress, /5.5