Managing Use of the Internet in the Classroom

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What is your situation?

What are your options?

Some general strategies

Writing a plan

Teaching Guide


  

Some general strategies

This is just a list of things that might help you to plan your use of the Internet in your classroom. (List adapted from Teaching with the Internet: Lessons from the Classroom, by Leu and Leu, chapter 4): 

  • Think of ways to integrate the Internet into classroom management structures you already use, such as activity centers, writing process activities, author chair experiences, thematic units, cooperative learning groups, response journals, and K-W-L.

  • Always provide students with starting points and goals for their work on the Internet. Never let students flounder around or surf aimlessly. They will do plenty of this when they're on their own time!

  • Whenever possible, have students access the Internet in pairs or small groups.  The conversation, support, and "egging on" that will take place will help to ensure a positive learning experience.

  • Set the "home page" on the browsers on your computers to a page you have designed that gives access to only selected sites. 

  • Plan to incorporate learning about navigation and searching with engagement with subject-matter.  Don't try to teach navigation or searching without there being a real goal for the navigation or search.

    • Before class, put a "bookmark" to your start page on each computer. It is especially effective to put this bookmark prominently on the "Personal Toolbar" in Netscape Navigator.

    • Print out instruction pages in advance so students do not waste time printing or get confused trying to deal with more than one page at once.

    • Include links to search engines specifically designed for kids (such as Yahooligans and Ask Jeeves for Kids) to help avoid inappropriate searches or results.

    • Instead of having students raise their hands to request help during computer use (try using a computer with one hand held up in the air!!!), have the students indicate a need for help by putting a little paper cup or other object on top of their monitors.

    • Limit use of printers to final versions of documents or when it's necessary for students to continue work without computer access. It is much too tempting to print everything, and this wastes paper and also doesn't help students to really decide what they want from a page.

    • Six activity structures designed to support communication and collaboration with the Internet (See Judi Harris, Virtual Architecture):

    • Keypals
    • Global Classrooms
    • Electronic Appearances
    • Telementoring
    • Question-and-Answer activities
    • Impersonations.
    • Five activity structures designed to support information collection and analysis (See Judi Harris, Virtual Architecture):
    • Information exchanges
    • Database creation
    • Electronic publishing
    • Telefieldtrips
    • Pooled data analysis
    • Seven activity structures designed to support problem solving (See Judi Harris, Virtual Architecture):
    • Information searches
    • peer feedback and activities
    • parallel problem solving
    • sequential creations
    • telepresent problem solving
    • simulations
    Proceed to "Writing your plan"
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

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