Computer Literacy

Technology brings revolutionary change to how knowledge is accessed, constructed or even defined. What's being discussed in this article does make sense, when students only know where to search information, but place no emphasis on internalizing the information, and construct new meaning from it.

I also become more aware of those students in my classroom - who spent more time searching and browsing, and trying to find direct answers online, instead of reviewing the learning materials and actually learn it. Browsing is considered to be shallow cognitive processing. Deep learning and holistic thinking have become one of the challenges in eLearning (Bullen, 2006). To ensure deep learning occurs in an online environment, at least, we should focus more on assessing students higher order cognitive thinking skills, such as ask students to examine new facts critically, tie them into an existing structure, instead of merely ask them to quote it; we can also create practical problems, that encourage students to apply their knowledge instead of just recalling it. It also doesn't hurt to set up tests assessing lower order thinking skills in fundamental contents under no-internet environment. such as spelling test in language learning, basic math, common element names in chemistry etc. 

Sources: Bullen, Mark, Making the transition to E-learning:strategies and issues, IGI Global, 2006