Internet Workshops

In addition to an effort of school districts implementing an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to combat some of the pitfalls of internet use such as accessing sites with inappropriate material, safety and privacy issues, computer viruses, and fraud on the internet, educators are providing internet workshops for students, especially those in primary education. Teachers developing Internet Workshops by creating activities applicable to classroom curriculum and students are instructed to complete these activities which typically span over a week’s period. These workshops are designed to help students be better web searchers by providing basic navigation strategies, and an opportunity to work in pairs and groups. Students may share with each other the differences, similarities, features and functions of the most used browsers, and their use as a resource. A benefit example of using the browser is for students who are challenged when spelling a word correctly. They may learn when entering a word incorrectly in a search engine how to spell because the student will receive a prompt “Did you mean:….,” which will display the correct spelling of the word. An example would be my attempt to search the word ornithologist. I entered onethologist in the search engine and immediately the prompt, “Did you mean: ornithologist” appeared.

Finally, I believe with the world of technology changing as rapidly as it is, students typically have more time to search the web so they tend to learn various techniques much quicker than we do. This provides an opportunity for them to teach each other during the workshops, and it provides teachers an opportunity to facilitate instead of direct instruction and learn as well.

Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, A.H. (2010) Technology in special education, integrating educational technology into teaching. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.