INTERNET: ********** The Internet is like a network of networks where any computer can link up to information stored within

it. It is accessed by a telecommunications line and a modulator-demodulator (MODEM). It is brought to your computer screen by converting analogue telephone signals into digital computer signals. There are many advantages and disadvantages on the Internet. The main advantage of the Internet is that communication is made very easy. Two people on opposite sides of the world may communicate with each other via such things as videoconferences. This would save money on flights to other countries just to have a meeting when they can each communicate from their own office. The Internet is a very good place to advertise companies. Businesses can build their own websites and buy their own memorable .com domains. This can be where they explain their company and the services they offer. Some can even offer home delivery directly from the Internet with things such as homeShopping. This makes life very easy for disabled people or people with busy lives who have no time to go shopping. Other services the Internet has to offer are things such as online Banking. This is often quicker and easier for people. HISTORY OF INTERNET: **********************
The Internet was the result of some visionary thinking by people in the early 1960s who saw great potential value in allowing computers to share information on research and development in scientific and military fields. J.C.R. Licklider of MIT, first proposed a global network of computers in 1962, and moved over to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in late 1962 to head the work to develop it. Leonard Kleinrock of MIT and later UCLA developed the theory of packet switching, which was to form the basis of Internet connections. Lawrence Roberts of MIT connected a Massachusetts computer with a California computer in 1965 over dial-up telephone lines. It showed the feasibility of wide area networking, but also showed that the telephone line's circuit switching was inadequate. Kleinrock's packet switching theory was confirmed. Roberts moved over to DARPA in 1966 and developed his plan for ARPANET. These visionaries and many more left unnamed here are the real founders of the Internet.

ADVNTAGES: ************* Another good point about the Internet is that it provides e-mail. Electronic mail sends an instant message to someone's inbox at the touch of a button. This has its advantages over Postalmail in that it is practically free; no stamp is required. Also attachments can be sent, whereas in postal mail, any files would have to be sent with a disk. It can also be sent to multiple recipients, which would save writing out the letter again and again. It also delivers it instantly cutting out the time taken to deliver it. The Internet can provide entertainment to the user with interesting sites or online games. There are endless things to do online. You can also "chat" with other users and it can be a place to meet new people. In recent years, online or Internet-based education has emerged as an increasingly cost-effective means for educational institutions and corporations to overcome barriers such as geography and time to reach students and employees respectively (Rudestam & Schoenholtz-Read, 2002). Online education is characterized by two distinguishing features that separate it from its predecessors in distance education. First, it involves computer-mediated communication (CMC) that entails the utilization of communication technologies such as "e-mail, web-based instruction,

Internet relay chat [and] two-way video conferencing" (Mudd, n. d.). Second, learners can engage in synchronous (real-time) or asynchronous online interactions with their instructors and other learners. In the first case, learners and the instructor are online at the same time for their interactions. With regard to the latter instance, learners post and download materials and comments in their own time (Mudd, n. d.). EDUCATION: ************ Based on the above concise description, it is evident that Online education can play a significant role for educators working in a wide variety of fields, including that of computer technology this writer's prospective field of study. As with their counterparts in other fields, computer technology educators can implement online courses for employees of computer technology corporations. In large corporations where employees are geographically dispersed or lack the time to gather in one place, online ed The use of technology is rapidly transforming the educational landscape, both in terms of how learning is taught by professors and how students learn. According to Piotrowski and Vodanovich, "Over the past decade, computer-related instruction has made an indelible impact on how students learn and how instructors teach at colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad" (48). While technology use in higher education is a phenomenon that is here to stay, there are many who take opposing views to its use and effectiveness. There is no denying that there are numerous benefits that accrue to users of technology in education. The Internet, World WideWeb,laptop computers, multimedia applications , and a host of software programs have put information from around the world at the fingertips of both instructors and students. In some cases technology has revolutionized instruction, such as distance education courses that are taught online. Such distance learning programs enable nontraditional students and minorities (handicapped, etc.) to take advantage of educational opportunities in ways that expand the capability of education: "Technologies, such as satellite videoconferencing, Internet-based teleconferencing, and interactive multimedia classrooms, are giving schools the ability to reach and educate nontraditional students in numbers that will multiply the capacity of American higher education" (92).