The Internet and Sociological Knowledge amongst Students in R. Macedonia

Duska N. Matevska & Zoran D. Matevski

Abstract

Even though in the recent past there was a strong resistance against "the intrusion" of the internet in the autonomy of the existing educational institutions, recently the educational institutions are adapting and using the internet and the contemporary telecommunications technology. Taking into consideration that studying is in fact a process of transferring signs and working with and on those signs, we can conclude that there are points of contact between the education institutions and the internet. We are on the verge of the biggest changes in the area of communication. That can be seen through the larger and larger influence of the internet on the educational process. The internet "feeds" the people with new ideas and worldviews, which are destroying the traditional conventions. The traditional is boring and the educational institutions are in a position of defence because of their inability to follow the trend of change. The institutional teaching of sociology is abandoning its monopoly in creating sociological knowledge, now when the internet communication has greatly improved the traditional teaching process. The internet serves for providing knowledge of the contemporary reality, while classic teaching is responsible for the transfer of the inheritance accumulated from tradition. The two systems of creating sociological knowledge need to function as conditions for competition creating doubt and contradictions in the minds of the students. This kind of teaching creates conditions for activating all of the creative potentials of the students, which become active subjects in the studying of sociology. Because of that, the request for a reform of the education system in all levels is set as an imperative.

Keywords: internet, sociological knowledge, students, educational institutions

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