Available Articles: A Step Towards the Creation of Educational Technology Standards: Identifying Key Skills In order to develop standards, we must first identify key skills which students will need in the future. It's not as easy as you think to ascertain the identity of these skills, because it's difficult to predict the future. Although, within the next ten years, the paradigm of workplace technology is sure to change. | |
USENET is a lot like the Internet: It is not exclusively owned by one person or group. Rather, it is a collection of computers all over the world sharing information electronically. When you post an article on USENET, it circulates around the world.
A key tool for educators is to connect a new concept to prior experiences. As a bilingual educator with students of low SES, I quickly realized that their prior knowledge was limited. As I talked about different landforms and places I had seen, my students were either staring into space or completely off task. I soon realized that they could not make a visual connection to the content
Creating A Web Site For Your Students
Like any effective teaching plan requiring time and resourcefulness, it is no different when you create a web site for your students to access. However, if you have an extensive, well organized plan, the computing part is easy and getting easier everyday.
Different Internet Connection Types & Their Pros and Cons
Several people have asked me since I started in business on the Web what types of Internet connections are available and whether this connection is better than that one. For a good amount of time, broadband was the fastest-growing type of telecomm service in the world and especially in the United States.
Eeeek! A million web pages are opening on my screen!
Does this story sound familiar? One day you were using the internet and went to a website. You were moving your mouse around a web page, when suddenly for no apparent reason extra browser windows started opening, showing you websites you had no intention of going to visit. Surprised, you closed these new windows, but that made even more windows open, many without even a control bar or menus at the top.
For the purpose of this tutorial, we'll look at the pros and cons of using Microsoft Excel as an application with your students. We'll also examine some methods for strengthening your Excel skills. We chose Microsoft Excel because it is the most widely known and probably the most commonly used application.
Featured Financial Articles For Educators
Over 20 articles for teachers to consider no matter how close or far away you are from retirement.
Five Secrets for Parents to Help Encourage Responsible Use of the Internet
Children are increasingly using the Internet for schoolwork,research, communicating through e-mail and live chat, and downloading information like music files and streamline video. As technology progresses and children find even more need to use the Internet, parents must develop clear-cut and consistent rules while children are online.
Generation 2001: Techno-Confident
Generation 2001 students use the Internet, with almost 100 percent of them online. No other generation can make this claim, with only two-thirds of the general population accessing the Internet.
How Can My District Create A Web Presence?
In this tutorial we'll walk you through the organizational process of creating a district web presence. This process is very time consuming and requires a dedicated staff.
How To Learn To Use Any Software Application You Want
This tutorial will highlight the qualities of each learning modality commonly used to learn new software applications. Each modality has its own unique properties. As you'll see, one modality does not necessarily far exceed another.
Internet Tools That Support On-line Project-Based Learning
In this tutorial, we'll discuss software applications that are leading the way towards a digital teaching and learning revolution.
Is Distance Learning Feasible For K-12 Schools?
Yes, distance education cuts cost; but is it effective? Does it provide students with quality educational opportunities? In the future, will most teachers teach from a distance?
Kids' Browsers: To Block or not to Block?
Welcome to another chapter in the browser wars -- and this time, I don't mean IE vs. Netscape vs. whomever. Rather, the struggle of free speech vs. censorship taking place in the battlefield of children's browsers and blocking software.
New Forms of Communication That Will Transform Teaching and Learning
It seems as if every educational administrator is pushing teachers to use technology in their teaching. In fact, most K-12 and Higher Education Institutions that boast about their technology program only provide students, at best, with minimal technology skills.
Parental Controls Are Only As Good As Your Password!
Many parents use and indeed rely on the various technological measures used by internet companies to prevent children's access to adult materials. These include parental access controls, blocking and filtering software, and activity logs. But some parents can forget that since they have to use a password in order to access, edit or set-up these features on their internet service, that password is the only thing preventing their children from getting the same access!
While most corporations are seemingly PC, schools seem to be broken on the issue. Most districts do not understand the issues at hand. We'll try to bring you up to speed on where we are and where we are going.
PowerPoint is a wonderful tool for learning in both a student and teacher-directed situation. It can add a new dimension to learning allowing teachers to explain abstract concepts, while accommodating all learning styles. Used properly, PowerPoint can be one of the most powerful tools for disseminating information ever known. Employed inappropriately, PowerPoint could potentially confuse students and make learning a difficult process.
Search Engines: A Foreign Object to Teachers
The day will come when you will type in "lesson plans" and you will only get quality sites. Until that day, we have the aforementioned search engines to help us in our task. Don't use a search engine because of the pretty colors or because a friend encouraged you. Use those that return consistently good web sites and lots of them.
Technology Integration Model For Teachers
The Nichols Technology Instruction Model attempts both to define the "computer literate" teacher and to demonstrate the two major philosophies underlying the use of technology in schools. One I have identified as "Teaching Technology." This is usually done by a computer specialist who teaches it as a subject called "Computers".
The traditional definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. With the rapid development of new technologies, the nature of literacy is undergoing a rapid metamorphosis. Thus in addition to reading and writing, the current definition of literacy also includes the ability to learn, comprehend, and interact with technology in a meaningful way (Coiro, 2003).
Using the Internet to Enhance K-12 Teaching & Learning
The Internet has fast become the most extensive resource tool available to teachers and learners across the globe. From printable offline resources to interactive Articles, the Internet medium provides enriching activities that can be used to enhance K-12 teaching and learning.
Using the Internet to Stimulated Higher Order Thinking: Enter the Web Quest
More recently, schools have discovered the Internet as a source which obviously breaks away from traditionalism. The question remains: Does digital/electronic access to information make a difference in fostering higher order thinking?
Using a Web site with Your Classes
So where do we begin? Before using any web site with students, you should make sure to thoroughly review it. In this tutorial, we will offer five essential considerations for you ponder before you use a web site with your students.
Using Computer Databases In The Classroom
This tutorial will discuss the use of databases in the classroom. We'll give you a few examples of how to use them and also talk about top database applications like Microsoft Access.
Visuals, Videos, and Multimedia - Why Use Them in Teaching?
The following overheads have been presented to many teachers and teacher candidates to sensitize them to the need for effective use of visual media. These serve as an overview of how visual media may be infused into the teacher's curriculum. Most often teachers use these without knowing why or how to do so. This brief tutorial provides a philosophy and structure for doing so.
Web Casting - The Future of Online Education
Despite the communications power of the Internet, nothing beats good old human interaction when it comes to learning a new skill.
What I wish my e-mail provider would do
I wish my e-mail account had three in-boxes: 1) Safe mail from trusted sources 2) Quarantine mail from questionable sources 3) Junk mail from unwanted sources. My mail provider should use pattern recognition, black lists, and custom filters and lists that I update to put the mail in the correct box.
What's The Deal With Computer Viruses
This tutorial will provide you a crash course on computer viruses. We hope to help you learn to deal with computer viruses, not to panic, and tell you how this may affect your technology experience.
Internet use in schools
If you were to compare the current applications of the Internet to a Television, we are still using black and white sets and color is but a dream. Internet applications evolve daily. There are few ubiquitous applications that will stand the test of time.
Applications that we feel have become or will at one time be part of corporate culture include:
1) E-mail-
Currently, emails out number letters sent through the worldwide postal services by 10 to 1. Using electronic mail is as important as being able to use a telephone. It is imperative that every graduating High School Senior be proficient with web-based and Pop e-mail.
2) File Transfer Protocol (FTP) clients-
FTP clients allow you to transfer files between computers. Using this simple program, you can send files such as web pages that you have directly to a server where your Internet or Intranet audience can then view the files.
FTP will become a necessity for future employees as a great deal of companies will expect to hold virtual meetings that may require employees to make web pages. FTP applications are also becoming much more user friendly. In fact, most of us use FTP daily and don't even know it.
3) Video Conferencing-
With the advent of voice recognition, we will see a day when human translators are no longer needed. The future of video conferencing is not only multilingual, but also 100% real-time with no delays.
Students do not have to be masters of the current technology involved in video conferencing, but it is important that they are comfortable with speaking in it. Imagine having your first job interview in London and all you need to do is turn on your computer. Imagine how nervous you would be if you were not prepared to communicate in this medium? We feel that this application of the Internet should be explored by students in a public speaking course.
4) On-line Disk Storage-
In the future, as Internet connection speeds pick up, most computers will not come with a hard drive. They will rely on the Internet. Most disk storage will take place on servers across the world.
We are seeing the first of this technology today. In fact TeAch-nology.com offers you a FREE on-line hard drive so that you do not have to fumble with disks between home and school. It's imperative that students understand this technology, as it will add an entire new dimension to the future of computing. Most corporations would be able to save millions of dollars if they could use this type of technology. It won't be long until they realize this.
5) Web Browsers-
You are looking at this sentence, right now, because you are using a web browser. There are four web browsers that deserve some mention. Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) and Netscape's Navigator software are obviously the first thing on everyone's mind when you say "browser." Making some waves in the browser world is also a program entitled "Opera." There are two reasons people will use Opera. Either, they like the speed (it is slightly quicker than IE), or they just want to be rebel and use something different. Another very popular browser is America Online's (AOL) browser software. This is due to sheer number of people that use AOL's service.
Each browser basically interprets the HTML code that the author of a web page has made and displays what it thinks the author intended. Each browser reads and interprets slightly differently. Due to this, most web pages will look different depending on the browser that you are using.
Students will just need to learn to use at least one of these applications since there is a great deal of similarity between them. Students should learn the abilities of each major browser. In the mid-90s, most corporations used Netscape, but today it seems to be mostly dominated by IE. Who is to say what the future holds for browsers?
The Bottom Line
The Net Generation of students ,who we refer to as Generation D, will need to be technologically literate in order to compete in a digital world that continues to change faster than we can even imagine! As educators, we are challenged to rise to the demands of digital learning and create learning that will teach our students to master the skills they will need to live productive lives.
