Welcome

Welcome to the course "Classroom Collaboration using the Internet"! Its focus is on integrating the communicative and educational power of the Internet into the curriculum. This power lies in the opportunity it provides in helping students to learn in new and exciting ways.

This course requires basic Internet skills such as a functional use of email, mailing lists, news groups, WWW, search engines, file and image transfer and manipulation. If you do not already have these skills it is recommended that you take the "Learning Basic Internet Skills" course. If its been a while since you took "Learning Basic Internet Skills", its advisable for you to review the lessons in that course.

We will explore the Internet's unique interactive nature to communicate excitement, share information and build relationships.

If you are taking this course as part of a class, please read all your group's messages at least twice a week and contribute messages whenever possible. Learning about telecollaboration is done by interacting with others on a regular basis.

The FIVE R's
By going online, students can delve into special libraries, develop relationships that dissolve the barriers of age, race, and distance, and share the enthusiasm of experts who love their careers. Over the Internet, pupils from different schools and backgrounds work together on projects and publish their results for thousands to view and respond. As a result, many educators are rethinking the three traditional "R's" and adding Resources and Relationships to reading , writing and 'rithmetic.

A New Way of Learning
The Internet is allowing us to enhance the way we've taught some topics and to offer completely new teaching opportunities. The Internet is changing how we will learn as future lifelong learners. For one example of the exciting learning that is taking place on the Internet, read about the Learning Circles project. Learning Circles: Virtual Communities for Elementary and Secondary Schools, by Margaret Riel.