Life

The paper demonstrates how the Internet can be used to enable people to become aware of, and

develop their learning potential.It also examines some of the problems of the Internet and shows

how as it becomes more commercial it can also exclude,as well as include, thoses who seek to learn.

Introduction

This article examines the current and potential role of the Internet in lifelong learning.

Taking the UK as an example of Western societies, approximately 3% of the

population have access to the Internet either at home or at work.As Banbury

points out, this does not compare particularly favourably with the availability of other

household appliances such as the telephone (85%) or television and radio (nearly

100%). The provision of on-line services, however, is currently growing at the rate of

about 100% a year, reaching into the 22% of UK homes that possess computers, and

connecting into institutions of higher education, further and continuing education and

into schools. British Interactive Broadcasting will soon launch digital satellite services

which, apart from providing 200 television channels, will bring the Internet and email

within the reach of 22 million UK households. Similar ventures will introduce home

digital technology across the globe. The central issues, however, revolve not simply

around the extent to which computers are networked together, but are concerned with

how the technology can be used in ways that invigorate and empower the learner in

formal, informal and non-formal educational settings.

Clearly, in part because of the phenomenon known as technophobia, it is also

recognized that not all learners appreciate studying through the medium of information

technology.