Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion

The Internet is the way of the future. To completely drop online coursework, as suggested in a column in last week's issue of The Spectator, would be a huge step backward for the university.

Every so often a new technology - like the Internet or the computer before that - comes around that makes things easier for both students and professors. It is now widely assumed that professors and students alike are capable of using computers - if they weren't, they probably wouldn't survive in the competitive world that is college life. The Internet is quickly becoming as essential to academic success, and everyday life, as the computer was merely two decades ago.

The Internet is, in essence, a conglomeration of our daily activities - both for school and entertainment - into one, easy to use tool.

On the internet you can find your favorite TV shows, your favorite newspapers, your favorite radio shows and live sporting events, in addition to the social networking sites and viral videos that it became known for.

Academically, the Internet offers research tools through the library's Web site, online readings and quizzes through D2L that help save paper, and a fast way of contacting professors - through e-mail or Skype, depending on how cool the professor is.

The Internet does, of course, cost money and college students are notoriously poor. The Internet, however, should not be viewed as a luxury, but instead as a necessity. Still, some students are in such dire financial positions that they are forced to go without Internet. To those students, I offer two solutions. Stay in the dorms or walk to campus when Internet access is needed.

Internet access is included in the housing fees for the dorms, and computer labs can be found in every dorm. The computers are all equipped with the proper programs to complete practically anything asked by a professor.

Living off campus can create a number of different studying distractions, none of which should be blamed on lack of access to materials. Yes, some students who live off campus choose not to pay for Internet subscriptions, but that doesn't mean they can't complete their assignments or finish required readings.

McIntyre Library - and practically every other building on campus - has plenty of computers available for student uses, all of which have free access to the Internet.

If the daily trips to and from campus interfere with your other commitments - be it jobs, volunteer work, athletics or clubs - then you have severely misallocated your time. We are here to learn and be students - and we are paying plenty to do so - so we should make sure we are willing to do what it takes to be successful.

The Internet is well on its way to becoming the No. 1 form of media.

To ignore the Internet and quit developing further online outlets for professors would be like banning computers in the 1990s or the typewriter years before.

To provide the best education possible, the university must embrace new technology.

Gourdoux is a junior print journalism and a sports editor for The Spectator.

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