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Abstract:Web plays a more and more important role in modern education. People are taking the advantages of this technology to different degrees according to their various purposes, resources and targets. Nevertheless, while on the one hand web promotes teaching, it also brings some inconveniences on the other hand. In this essay I’ve analyzed the advantages of web as well as its disadvantages in teaching, aiming at its further improvement and better application in teaching.
Key words:WBI(Web-Based Instruction)AdvantagesProblems
WBI (Web-Based Instruction) has become more and more influential in the world in recent years. It is a revolution in education. It has its own advantages and disadvantages compared with the traditional instructions.
1. The advantages of WBI
People have found that WBI is influential and thus many teachers have integrated this kind of advanced measure into their traditional teaching. The former has even taken the place of the latter in a great number of schools, particularly in developed countries. In my view, the striking advantages of WBI can be listed as the following.
(1).It's more convenient for students to get more materials related to a certain course. In WBI, students can be free enough to surf on the net and find materials for almost any topics they want to study; while textbooks and teachers in a traditional classroom can never provide students so much information as WBI does.
(2).The limited information provided by textbooks or teachers is not so interesting and authentic sometimes. As the contents of a textbook are not so easy to be updated as those on the web, it's not uncommon for a teacher to find a mistake or a piece of very boring information in a textbook which remains for many years till the next edition. Besides, it's more likely for a teacher to make a mistake consciously or unconsciously in front of the classroom,say, a slip, a wrong pronunciation of words or something which may be unpleasant to some students and thus badly affect their concentration on study or trust in the teacher. In WBI, instructors can update the contents at any time if they get better materials. They can make the best use of such aids as motion pictures, musics and so forth to make the contents more interesting.
(3).WBI is more flexible in terms of time and place for instructors as well as students. Instructors and students can stay at their homes, offices or other comfortable places during the classes. If the students have to work or if they are not so efficient in study in the daytime, they can choose to study at night. In this sense more students who have different levels, ages, occupations and live in different places can get access to the courses through WBI.
(4).Students can set the pace by themselves and thus be more efficient to study through WBI. If they don't understand one point, they can stay there until they fully take it in. Instructors usually provide them more chances to ask questions. But in a traditional classroom, students don't always have chances to ask the teacher to repeat what they haven't understood since the classes are often teacher-centered. Usually the teacher has to take the level of most of the students into consideration. For those who are of very low levels they can not catch up with the step of the teacher, while for the top students they just feel they can't get enough input. Both kinds of students in the extremes will inevitably waste a lot of time.
(5).A lot of recourses will be saved through WBI. One instructor can provide a course which is suitable for countless number of students in countless number of places, while a traditional classroom can hold generally not more than one hundred students. If the classroom is bigger, the teacher's pay is likely to be increased, and additional equipments such as lights, microphones, etc. are needed to guarantee the quality of teaching. In China, WBI is relatively underdeveloped and we need to speed up to try to catch up with the steps of the developed countries in this area. This is a worthy investment.
(6).It's more beneficial to those students who are shy to ask questions face to face with teachers. In traditional classrooms, we often find that on many occasions it's hard to get an answer from a college student, and there are often few volunteers. Most of them are afraid of asking questions or answering the questions wrongly in front of their teachers and all other classmates. But through WBI we can avoid this problem. WBI "embodies more equability and democracy between teachers and students" (冯秀琪、周静：《开放教育研究》).
2. Problems and advice
Despite of its advantages, there are also a lot of disadvantages in this technology. Its drawbacks can be concluded as the following.
(1).The computer skills which WBI requires can frustrate or even frighten some teachers and students alike. In some less developed areas, many teachers and students haven't got a chance to learn the related skills for lack of computer science teachers or necessary equipments. Because of this, many instructions can not really embody the advantages of the application of web and computer in education.If the material is not properly designed, negative results may occur. For example, an instructor may wrongly adopt a cartoon figure in the material and the cartoon figure may attract more of the student's attention than the contents. Sometimes teachers or students will give half-way for lack of techniques. In China, many teachers and students have "got accustomed to traditional classrooms for so many years and it's hard for them to accept this new technology in a short period of time" (伍达志：《网络教学之我见》).They are likely to choose traditional ways as alternatives if possible.
（2）.It is concerned with student-centered learning style, but actually some students lack the ability to control themselves. A few minutes after their study they may stray away from the contents and be attracted by other sources on the net which are unimportant to the course. As they may have got accustomed to the traditional supervisions from teachers, they are probably be at a loss as how to arrange their activities efficiently. They may study irregularly; theymay lack the ability to balance the time among different subjects.
They may find no proper time to study, or to relax themselves.
（3）.The functions of body languages can not be embodied by WBI. In a traditional classroom, a teacher may give a student a pat on the back, a nod for approval or an smile for encouragement through which the student's confidence may be strengthened or his/her motivation may be stimulated. But an instructor of WBI can hardly achieve this.
（4）.Students may not get the answers from the instructors promptly. Sometimes the questions raised by students can't provoke an immediate answer from instructors are not necessarily be on line as the students are learning. So when the students get the answers, they may need extra time to recall what the questions are and they may find the answers not so impressive as they should be if they reach the students right after their questions.
True there are many drawbacks for WBI. But compared with its advantages, its drawbacks are not so important; and can be reduced by the efforts of teachers, students and many other people such as those who engage in improving the concerned technology. In this joint campaign, instructors play an especially important role. They need to be "a good designer for materials, a provider of the clues to other related materials and an excellent organiser for feedback" (夏小丽：《我看网络教学》).
3. Conclusion
In this essay，i have mainly covered the advantages and drawbacks of WBI. Although there are unavoidably drawbacks which still require our painstaking efforts, its positive impact on our education is becoming stronger and stronger. This is an inexorable trend in the reform of modern education, and we should welcome the trend by taking an active part in the revolution rather than being afraid of it or trying to avoid it. Remember “What can't be cured must be endured”.
References：
[1]Ko, S. & Rossen, S. (2003). Teaching Online: A PracticalGuide (2nd Ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company.
[2]冯秀琪、周静．《开放教育研究》．2002年第4期．
（作者单位：云南农业大学外语学院）
Key words:WBI(Web-Based Instruction)AdvantagesProblems
WBI (Web-Based Instruction) has become more and more influential in the world in recent years. It is a revolution in education. It has its own advantages and disadvantages compared with the traditional instructions.
1. The advantages of WBI
People have found that WBI is influential and thus many teachers have integrated this kind of advanced measure into their traditional teaching. The former has even taken the place of the latter in a great number of schools, particularly in developed countries. In my view, the striking advantages of WBI can be listed as the following.
(1).It's more convenient for students to get more materials related to a certain course. In WBI, students can be free enough to surf on the net and find materials for almost any topics they want to study; while textbooks and teachers in a traditional classroom can never provide students so much information as WBI does.
(2).The limited information provided by textbooks or teachers is not so interesting and authentic sometimes. As the contents of a textbook are not so easy to be updated as those on the web, it's not uncommon for a teacher to find a mistake or a piece of very boring information in a textbook which remains for many years till the next edition. Besides, it's more likely for a teacher to make a mistake consciously or unconsciously in front of the classroom,say, a slip, a wrong pronunciation of words or something which may be unpleasant to some students and thus badly affect their concentration on study or trust in the teacher. In WBI, instructors can update the contents at any time if they get better materials. They can make the best use of such aids as motion pictures, musics and so forth to make the contents more interesting.
(3).WBI is more flexible in terms of time and place for instructors as well as students. Instructors and students can stay at their homes, offices or other comfortable places during the classes. If the students have to work or if they are not so efficient in study in the daytime, they can choose to study at night. In this sense more students who have different levels, ages, occupations and live in different places can get access to the courses through WBI.
(4).Students can set the pace by themselves and thus be more efficient to study through WBI. If they don't understand one point, they can stay there until they fully take it in. Instructors usually provide them more chances to ask questions. But in a traditional classroom, students don't always have chances to ask the teacher to repeat what they haven't understood since the classes are often teacher-centered. Usually the teacher has to take the level of most of the students into consideration. For those who are of very low levels they can not catch up with the step of the teacher, while for the top students they just feel they can't get enough input. Both kinds of students in the extremes will inevitably waste a lot of time.
(5).A lot of recourses will be saved through WBI. One instructor can provide a course which is suitable for countless number of students in countless number of places, while a traditional classroom can hold generally not more than one hundred students. If the classroom is bigger, the teacher's pay is likely to be increased, and additional equipments such as lights, microphones, etc. are needed to guarantee the quality of teaching. In China, WBI is relatively underdeveloped and we need to speed up to try to catch up with the steps of the developed countries in this area. This is a worthy investment.
(6).It's more beneficial to those students who are shy to ask questions face to face with teachers. In traditional classrooms, we often find that on many occasions it's hard to get an answer from a college student, and there are often few volunteers. Most of them are afraid of asking questions or answering the questions wrongly in front of their teachers and all other classmates. But through WBI we can avoid this problem. WBI "embodies more equability and democracy between teachers and students" (冯秀琪、周静：《开放教育研究》).
2. Problems and advice
Despite of its advantages, there are also a lot of disadvantages in this technology. Its drawbacks can be concluded as the following.
(1).The computer skills which WBI requires can frustrate or even frighten some teachers and students alike. In some less developed areas, many teachers and students haven't got a chance to learn the related skills for lack of computer science teachers or necessary equipments. Because of this, many instructions can not really embody the advantages of the application of web and computer in education.If the material is not properly designed, negative results may occur. For example, an instructor may wrongly adopt a cartoon figure in the material and the cartoon figure may attract more of the student's attention than the contents. Sometimes teachers or students will give half-way for lack of techniques. In China, many teachers and students have "got accustomed to traditional classrooms for so many years and it's hard for them to accept this new technology in a short period of time" (伍达志：《网络教学之我见》).They are likely to choose traditional ways as alternatives if possible.
（2）.It is concerned with student-centered learning style, but actually some students lack the ability to control themselves. A few minutes after their study they may stray away from the contents and be attracted by other sources on the net which are unimportant to the course. As they may have got accustomed to the traditional supervisions from teachers, they are probably be at a loss as how to arrange their activities efficiently. They may study irregularly; theymay lack the ability to balance the time among different subjects.
They may find no proper time to study, or to relax themselves.
（3）.The functions of body languages can not be embodied by WBI. In a traditional classroom, a teacher may give a student a pat on the back, a nod for approval or an smile for encouragement through which the student's confidence may be strengthened or his/her motivation may be stimulated. But an instructor of WBI can hardly achieve this.
（4）.Students may not get the answers from the instructors promptly. Sometimes the questions raised by students can't provoke an immediate answer from instructors are not necessarily be on line as the students are learning. So when the students get the answers, they may need extra time to recall what the questions are and they may find the answers not so impressive as they should be if they reach the students right after their questions.
True there are many drawbacks for WBI. But compared with its advantages, its drawbacks are not so important; and can be reduced by the efforts of teachers, students and many other people such as those who engage in improving the concerned technology. In this joint campaign, instructors play an especially important role. They need to be "a good designer for materials, a provider of the clues to other related materials and an excellent organiser for feedback" (夏小丽：《我看网络教学》).
3. Conclusion
In this essay，i have mainly covered the advantages and drawbacks of WBI. Although there are unavoidably drawbacks which still require our painstaking efforts, its positive impact on our education is becoming stronger and stronger. This is an inexorable trend in the reform of modern education, and we should welcome the trend by taking an active part in the revolution rather than being afraid of it or trying to avoid it. Remember “What can't be cured must be endured”.
References：
[1]Ko, S. & Rossen, S. (2003). Teaching Online: A PracticalGuide (2nd Ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company.
[2]冯秀琪、周静．《开放教育研究》．2002年第4期．
（作者单位：云南农业大学外语学院）