Dates & Times: This 6 week course is setup to run Monday to Sunday, with assignments due at midnight on Sunday. Participants are expected to spend 6 hours a week for 6 weeks; 36 content contact hours, 24 outside lab hours.

Instructor:
Marilyn Eggers, Ph.D.
Instructor of Record
meggers@sbcglobal.net

Credit Options:
3 quarter graduate credits from La Sierra University.
2 semester graduate credits from Andrews University.
2 semester undergraduate credits from HSI/Griggs.
1 38 clock-hour PAC.

Course Description:
Want to use the Internet effectively in your classroom? In this course, you'll learn about search strategies as well as explore ways to use communication tools such as email and listservs to enhance your curriculum. Learn to create collaborative projects and online activities for your students, and develop ways to design efficient Internet research projects.

Learning Online with AVLN:
Online learning with AVLN is based on a participatory model where each individual is required to actively engage in conversation and the development of knowledge, skills, and beliefs. You can expect to interact with the concepts of the class, the instructor(s), the other participants, and your previous experiences. You will notice the integration of spiritual activities throughout the course. If you have special learning needs, please contact one of the instructors.

Prerequisites: Basic technology skills are required, including word processing, file management, email, and web browsing skills. This course is not intended to teach software or to be a "how to" course. Instead, it is intended to help teachers who have learned software skills to now integrate and apply those skills to curriculum and instruction in meaningful ways.

Course Objectives:
Participants will learn these skills:

• Understand why schools should use the Internet and how to teach students to use it appropriately.
• Apply Biblical principles to the use of the Internet and teach students to do the same.
• Use the Internet in the classroom to expand students' understanding and empathy for the world.
• Creating and adapting lessons to integrate Internet resources.
• Searching strategies, classroom management and ethical issues, copyright issues, and bibliography techniques.
• Find and participate in Internet projects.
• Using email effectively in the classroom.
• Understanding the effective uses of listservs to enhance teacher productivity
• Planning and organizing student research to maximize time spent on the Internet
• Using webquests to guide student research on the Internet
• Downloading and installing web browser plug-ins and sending and receiving email attachments.
• Create web activities that support and enhance classroom activities.

Modes of instruction:
Teachers in this course will participate in online collaborative groups, do hands-on activities in learning and practicing the skills, access web sites, and read and discuss journal articles covering current research and instructional theory on using the Internet.

Online Readings Include the Following:

Why Use the Internet?

• What's on the Web: Sorting Strands of the World Wide Web for Educators. A wide variety of information and human connection is afforded students and teachers who have access to the Internet.
• A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Teaching and Learning With Technology on Student Outcomes Why should we use technology? How can it enhance learning?
• Internet Advocate This website addresses many issues of Internet use. If you choose this as one of your articles, pick and choose from the links on the site as it is very extensive.

Issues with Using the Internet

• Computer Rules Prevent Problems! Shares problems that can arise with students using the Internet and how to address them.
• Ensuring Student Privacy on the Internet The Children's Internet Protection Act requires that school districts develop an Internet safety plan addressing the unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal identification information regarding minors.
• Keeping Kids Safe Online More on the Children's Internet Protection Act and specific strategies and tools you can use.
• Caught in the Digital Divide As record numbers of Americans go online, the gap between those who have access to technology and those who don't may be widening. Education World looks at the digital divide and what it means to educators.

Email Communication

• Required: God and your email by Ed Gallagher, May 2004, Mid America Union Outlook, p. 7.
• Getting Started on the Internet: The Key to Keypal Success! Keypals (computer keyboard pen pals) are a popular tool for developing students' communication, language, and keyboarding skills -- and more! The key to keypal success lies in careful planning and commitment.
• Getting Started on the Internet: Add YOUR Name to a Listserv -- TODAY! Every teacher should join a listserv. Listservs offer a quick and easy way to connect with teachers around the world. Don't miss out on the sharing, the learning, and the fun! Included: Links to hundreds of listservs for educators.
• How to Fight Spam What is spam? If you know the word "e-mail" then you know the word "spam"-the unwanted, junk e-mails we all receive on a daily basis.
• Passing Notes in Cyberspace: Electronic Communication and Privacy in the Workplace Many educators have not yet learned what business professionals have known for some time. Traditional views about what is and is not "private" don't always exist in cyberspace.

Other Communication Tools & Methods

• Teacher, Alias Telementor Opportunity is often difficult to recognize and it frequently takes the form of an interruption or additional work. This week, Brenda Dyck shares a teaching opportunity that opened her eyes to the potential we have to influence students via the Internet.
• Writing With Web Logs An emergent genre is making a space for students to publish online.
• Images Can Make Powerful Slam Dunk Digital Lessons This article outlines an approach to instructional design that takes advantage of mammoth photo archives and locally photographed images or prints from the school's vertical file.
• Using Instant Messenger Services In addition to e-mail and the World Wide Web, instant messaging (commonly called "IM") is one of the most popular services on the Internet.
• Let's Meet Online: Collaboration Tools Share lesson plans, enroll in an online course, or even conduct parent-teacher conferences from the comfort and convenience of your computer.
• Live at 9:00: Are You Ready for Web Cams in Your Classroom? What are webcams and what ideas have people had for their use in schools?

Internet Projects

• Getting Started On the Internet: Simple Projects! Some great ideas are listed in this 1997 article, but many of the links are dead. Read for ideas!
• Reaching Around the Globe An increasingly wired world means more opportunities for cross-cultural experiences. Here's how two organizations are using technology to bring together students and teachers from many nations.
• Top 10 Innovative Projects We take a look at how these technologies are being applied to implement new and more innovative approaches to learning. It's "technology in action", if you will.
• Project-Based Learning: a Primer When students are challenged to get to work solving real-life problems, the whole world becomes a classroom.
• Childnet Awards: Linking Children Around the Globe Learn what two Childnet Award recipients have to say about their "winning" experiences, and tour their innovative Web sites!

Internet Activities

• Required: Working the Web for Education An overview of five main types of Internet activities.
• Required: Linking Rights In your Implement project, you will be using one of three tools that allow you to guide students through selected resources on the Internet. Before you start making many links, you should read about linking and copyright. Some of it is technical, but the real gist that you should understand starts with the Confusion of Authorship heading.
• Encourage Student Writing -- Publish on the Web! Publishing student writing encourages the reluctant writer, strengthens kids' self-confidence, rewards interest, and promotes a positive attitude toward literature. If your school is like most, however, you lack an easy and effective way of publishing your students' work.
• Cost-Free Travel with Virtual Field Trips Virtual Field Trips are one of the favorite strategies for these teachers to employ with their middle school classes because of their varied uses and ease in adapting items for presentation later.
• The Adventures of Mrs. A on the Geometry Internet Trail Come and take a journey with me, my fellow geometry teachers, and motivate your students in a new way. We'll travel the road where no student wants to go at first.
• Bringing History to Life an overview of three primary source document tools.

Thinking & Research

• The Web -- Teaching Zack to Think Is your school teaching students to access the Internet for research? Then it is essential that students also learn how to validate the information.
• Questions as Technology The most important technology of all is the ability of students to make meaning by applying sharply honed questioning skills.
• Off Road Thinking: Looking for Great Surprises This article explores the important role surprise can play in the discovery and invention of new ideas - a student capacity now being emphasized by most state curriculum standards and a workforce capability much desired by employers.
• Research Foundations of The Big6™ Skills In these days of NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and SBR (Scientifically Based Research), what evidence do we have for using the Big6 strategy for guiding student research?

Copyright and Plagiarism

• The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use A short article, quiz, and very helpful two page chart to guide you!
• Kindergarten Copyright A simple straightforward explanation!
• Plagiarism and the Internet The articles in the bibliography are useful as well.

Using Technology to Assess Students

• Assessment: Information Technologies in the K-12 Curriculum A nice overview that includes authentic assessment, self assessment, peer assessment, teacher assessment, electronic gradebooks, electronic portfolios, and more.
• How can technology be used to effectively assess and monitor student performance? Published by the Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology.
• Using Rubrics to Promote Thinking and Learning, Educational Leadership 2000 - by Heidi Goodrich Andrade
• Make Room for Rubrics A handy guide by a 4th grade teacher.

Assessing Technology Skills

• ISTE Profiles for Technology Literate Students Look up your grade level. What are the technology skills your students should be able to perform, specifically Internet related skills (note standards 4, 5, and 6)? How will you assess them?
• ISTE Standards and Performance Indicators for All Teachers How are you doing on the Internet related standards listed here? What areas do you feel better prepared for now? What area do you want to focus on next?
• ISTE Standards and Performance Indicators for Administrators How are you doing on the Internet related standards listed here? What areas do you feel better prepared for now? What area do you want to focus on next?

Assessing Use of Technology

• We've done the Internet. Now what? A dozen ways to optimize benefits from the new technologies installed in the previous decade. How is your building doing?
• Teachers Stages of Technology Use Where are you on this chart right now? How has this class helped you in your own integration of technology in your classroom? What do you see as the next step?

Getting Help: In an online course, it is especially important to be able to get help when you need it. Your instructors will make every effort to respond to your emails within 12-24 hours. Phone numbers will be given inside the course on how you can get help. We have also tried to include as much step-by-step instruction as possible. If necessary, you can email us to set up an online chat "office" visit with one of us where we can walk you through some instructions synchronously.

Privacy: Because we are using online courseware, only the participants in the class will be able to join discussions and enter the class "space". Most of your assignments are submitted directly to your instructor. You will have the choice on how much information you wish to share with the other participants in the class.

Detailed Agenda:
This course will be instructor-led and paced throughout an six week period. Five hours of contact time and three-four hours of estimated homework time will be included per week. Each week will include the following components within the suggested schedule:

• Sunday - Monday Examine (approx. 60 min.) Complete the reading assignments. Feel free to print the articles and read offline.
• Tuesday-Friday Discuss (login in daily for half an hour, 2 hours total) This is the area for reflection and discussion on reading, experiences, and learning.
• Tuesday Explore (approx. 45 min.) Explore the integration ideas.
• Wednesday-Thursday Implement (approx. 1-2 hours) Complete the activity or experience. Implement projects will be posted in the Discussion Board for feedback and review.
• Thursday Manage (approx. 15 min) View (and print if you'd like) the management tips for this week.
• Friday Featured Tool (approx. 30 min.) Try out the featured online web tool for this week.
• Weekend Catch up on work if necessary.

Each week will include a different topic to focus on. Following are the topics for each week:

1.         Intro / Why the Internet? / Searching
2.         Communication Tools
3.         Collaborative Projects
4.         Online Activities
5.         Effective Research
6.         Assessment and Wrap Up

Course Requirements:

• Complete reading assignments and reading response questions.
• Actively participate in online discussion.
• Complete the Implement learning exercises assigned successfully.
• Complete the final lesson plan project.
• Other assignments as given.

Active Participation Expectations:
Active Participation in this class includes:

Discuss

• Discuss Each week there will be 1-3 Discuss questions based on the reading and your experience. Since much of your learning will take place as a result of the level of dialogue we engender, the following should act as guidelines to your "posts": a) include accounts of your own experience, b) ask expansive questions - ones with no right or wrong answer - ones to stimulate thinking and lead to deeper understandings, c) build on previous "posts" by agreeing, disagreeing, giving examples, asking questions, defining issues/terms, d) suggest metaphors. It is expected that you will spend 2-3 hours per week on the web interacting with others.
• We recommend that you do the readings early in the week (Monday or Tuesday) and then post and check in on the discussion two or three times during the week to see what else you can add.
• Readings and Discussion are worth 25 pts each week for a total of 150 pts.

Implement

• Implement Each week you will create a small project example and post it for feedback. You are expected to give feedback to your colleagues. Suggested starter words for your feedback:
• I particularly liked . . .
• You might want to look at these resources . . .
• Did you think about . . .
• I wondered about . . .
• I’ve been successful with similar activities when . . .
• Implement Assignments are worth 25 pts each week for a total of 150 pts.

Final Project: Internet Research Unit Plan (Required for Graduate Credit Only):
200 pts total
25 pts Feedback to Others
175 pts Project

Write a unit plan using ideas that you've gained in this course. Your unit plan should include the following components.

• Your Name:
• School:
• E-mail Address:
• Title:
• Subject(s):
• Intended Grade Level(s):
• Description:
• Faith Integration: How do you integrate faith in teaching this lesson? Describe the faith basis for the instruction, instuctional strategies/methods, and/or content of this lesson.
• Curriculum Benchmarks: Include at least one NETS standard that you are meeting. Click on Standards for Students. (NETS stands for: National Educational Technology Standard)
• Materials/Hardware/Software: List all materials, hardware needed, software (including publishers information)
• Teacher Preparation:
• Student Preparation: What do students need to know how to do before this lesson? e.g. Students must know how to save their pictures to the H folder.
• Activities/Procedures: Include classroom activities, student worksheets (include full worksheets that you've created for this project or list worksheets listed that you're using from classroom materials) etc.
• Management Plan: Using at least two of the management ideas from the course, write your plan for managing the technology. In a self-contained classroom, this might include your schedule plan for students to use the computers in your classroom. It might include some peer teaching or lab management plans.
• Ethics Plan: How will you address at least one of the ethics issues covered in this course in your unit/school?
• Assessment/Evaluation: Include copies of rubrics, etc. used in assessment (ie include full assessments you've created for this project or list assessments you're using from classroom materials).
• Follow-up Activities:

Method(s) of Evaluation/Grading:

100 90% A

89 80% B

79 70% C

69-60% D

Bibliography:

Capra, S. & Ryan, J. (2002). Problems are the solution: Keys to lifelong learning. Australia: Capra Ryan Pty Ltd.

Disessa, A. (2001). Changing Minds: Computers, Learning, and Literacy. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Harris, J. (1998). Virtual Architecture—Designing and Directing Curriculum-Based Telecomputing. Eugene, OR: ISTE.

McKenzie, J. (2000). Beyond technology: questioning, research and the information literate school. Bellingham, WA: FNO Press.

McKenzie, J. (1999). How Teachers Learn Technology Best. Bellingham, WA: FNO Press.

ISTE. (2000). National Educational Technology Standards for Students—Connecting Curriculum and Technology. Eugene, OR: ISTE.

ISTE. (2002). National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers—Preparing Teachers to Use Technology. Eugene, OR: ISTE.

November, A. (2001). Empowering Students With Technology. Glenview, IL: SkyLight Professional Development.