Since that "Google University" stuff is interesting I thought that I may add something too.
First you should probably read this article.
According to Prof Brabazon students do their homework as follows:
1. Log on to Google/Wikipedia.
2. Type a few words the engine should search for.
3. Copy the first thing you see.
And these three steps make students dumb.
According to me students did not get dumb because of doing this, but they did this because they were dumb. Prof Brabazon blames Google and Wikipedia for her students being lazy and dull. That's insane! Sure, these technologies make many things easier, but so do all other technologies. You can blame television and radio as well for making people watch and listen to the news instead of reading them. But there is actually no harm in all of this.
"Too many students don't use their own brains enough. We need to bring back the important values of research and analysis."
Prof Tara Brabazon
It's not anyone else's fault but theirs that they do not use their brain! But how come they entered any university in the first place if they are so stupid?
"I ban my students from using Google, Wikipedia and other websites like that. I give them a reading list to work from and expect them to cite a good number of them in any work they produce."
Prof Tara Brabazon
This is no way to make someone learn how to make researches! You can not ban someone from using Google, Wikipedia etc. ! That's just the wrong method. Something right may just be that you tell the person: "Make a report on .... by using 5-10 articles you find via Google and nothing else. And any nonsense I see in your work will lower your mark!". That way student will really learn HOW to use information sources in order to get only good information.
Limiting yourself to just a number of books may be as stupid as using only Google's first result.
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