Chapter 8 - Intergrating the Internet into the Curriculum

Background on Web-based Learning Activities
Web-based activities have great potential to enhance learning, but they are time consuming to develop and implement and difficult to design in ways that have substantial, positive impact on students' learning.

These questions can form the basis of an integration plan for doing web-based activities:

1. What is the curriculum-related purpose of the activity?
2. Does the internet enhance the activity?
3. How will students use online resources (as opposed to just locating them)?
4. Do students have the necessary information analysis/information synthesis skills or am I including these in the instruction?
5. Do I have the necessary time and support for the activity?

Types and Examples of Web-Based Lessons and Projects

Referred to as telecollaborations (Judi Harris) and she describes three general application categories:

• Interpersonal exchanges
• Information collection and analysis
• Problem solving

Figure 8.1 Types and Examples of Web-based Lessons and Projects (electronic pen pals, electronic mentoring, virtual field trips, electronic publishing, group product development, problem based learning (PBL), social action projects)

Four types of PBLs are:

• Collaborative problem solving
• Parallel problem solving
• Data analysis (use real data such as weather or solar activity)
• Simulated activities

Integration Strategies for Web-based Activities

Page 256, Figure 8.2 is a summary of web-based integration strategies

Page 257, Figure 8.3 good sources of web-based lesson plans, activities, and collaborative projects.

Website Support for Web-based Learning Activities

1. Project overview, announcement, and application - describes existing projects and offers sign up location.
2. Tutorial instruction - offers instruction and information on topics.
3. Information summaries and exchanges -allows information to be added to a collection that will be shared with others.
4. Communication and support - provides virtual meeting places to support students' communications and resources to support project work.
5. Displays of past and current student work - shows examples of students' work in web publications centers.
6. Project development centers - invites the creation of new distance learning projects.

Evaluating web-based lessons - rubric pages 266-67

Resources for Web Page and Website Development

Page 265, Top Ten Strategies for Integrating the Internet into the Curriculum

Web Page and Website Authoring Tools

• HTML is the internet standard for how web pages are formatted and displayed.
• Java is a high level programming language developed by Sun Microsystems.
• VRML develops and displays 3-D objects on web pages. They give the illusion of being "real" much more than videos or animations and can be used to create virtual worlds.
• PERL and other programming languages - web page users can insert their comments or answers into active web pages as they run on a server.

Downloading Images, Programs, and Plug-ins

Resources can be downloaded from a web site to your computer - free from company sites.

Downloading images - why do they make a difference? Because "a picture is worth a thousand words" which means people grasp many concepts more quickly when they are presented as images rather than as text. Also, people remember a great deal of information visually.

There are several image formats (ways of storing images) that have been developed over the years. (BMP, EPS, PDF, PICT, TIF,GIF, JPEG)

Five of the most commonly downloaded programs and plug-ins:

• Browsers (Netscape, Microsoft)
• PDF reader (Adobe)
• Streaming video and audio players (RealNetworks)
• Movie players (Apple computer)
• Animation player (Macromedia)

File Transfer Options

• email attachments
• sending files via file transfer protocol

Procedures for Developing and Evaluating Web Pages and Websites

Required Development Resources - teachers and students can use two different strategies to create their own web pages and websites.

• Creating pages from scratch and linking them or
• Downloading or grabbing existing pages and modifying them for your own use.

Need:

1. Web development software
2. FTP software to transfer and upload pages to a server.
3. Server to house the website

Before you begin, consider:

• limiting sharing of personal information
• limit photos and large graphics
• address web page criteria

Recommended Web Page Development Sequence (page 275, Figure 8.19)

1. Plan and storyboard
2. Develop pages with text
3. Insert images media
4. Insert links and frames
5. Insert interactive elements
6. Test in a browser
7. Publish the site
8. Gather comments and revise

Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages and Website Design

To judge good design quality:

• Good structure and organization (indicates how to get to various parts, option bar)
• Clear text and/or graphic links - branches are organized so that you can get back to the main page in no more than 3 clicks. Larger sites should have a site map.
• Good visual design - designed for good readability.
• Easy navigation - pages load quickly, easy to get around the site, links to get back to main page.

Criteria for Evaluating Student Web Products

(page 279, Figure 8.24 and 8.25, Rubric for Assessing Younger and Older Learners' Web Pages)