Faculty Web Book Contents

Volume 1. The Student View of Technology-Enriched Learning

(A Specially Annotated Version of FutureU’s Student Web Book, “Make the Most of Learning Online.”)

Preface

• Consider a possible structure for presenting your online course materials.
• Consider various types of navigation for use with your online course materials.
• Understand the minimum hardware and software requirements for a typical online classroom.

Chapter 1: Learning on the Internet

• Acknowledge the many advantages of learning online.
• Acknowledge the many challenges as well.
• Learn how to avoid student problems with email and online classroom discussions.
• Learn tips for lightening your workload around the online components of a course.
• Consolidate your thinking about the Internet by discussing it with others.

Chapter 2: The Electronic Classroom

• Understand what course management software is and what it offers you as a course developer and instructor.
• Recognize the skills every student and instructor must have to participate fully in the online components of any course.
• Practice using several different discussion forum software products.
• Practice using a simple template to build a glossary of terms related to a course.
• Introduce your students to online journaling and free journaling software.
• Start your own instructor’s journal to consolidate your course planning as you go.
• Consolidate your own thinking about the electronic classroom by discussing it with others.

Chapter 3: Internet Basics

• Articulate for your students how the Internet and World Wide Web came to exist and why, and how both can enhance learning.
• Understand how to choose the right ISP for your teaching.
• Visit two Web sites that review ISPs.
• Articulate the purpose of a browser, and download the latest version of yours.
• Install a half-dozen plugins used in online teaching and learning.
• Articulate the distinction between hypertext and printed text and how the difference impacts teaching and learning.
• Break down a URL into its component parts.
• If your students need it, help them practice using a mouse, clicking on links, and surfing the Web.
• Encourage your students to look for at least eight patterns in their use of the Internet.
• Explore three Web sites that serve as guides to the Internet.
• Learn about books that can deepen your own and your students’ understanding of the Internet.
• Consolidate your own thinking about the Internet by discussing it with others.

Chapter 4: Email

• Solidify what you and your students know about email and how it can enhance education.
• Explore various free email software programs.
• Help your students deconstruct an email address.
• Recognize the eight basic skills necessary for efficient use of any email program.
• Encourage your students to visit at least one of three Web tutorials about email.
• Minimize later hassles with an assignment related to the topic of email itself.
• Consolidate your own thinking about email by discussing it with others.

Chapter 5: Netiquette (Internet Etiquette)

• Introduce your students to 20 standard rules for behavior in the Internet culture.
• Learn simple tricks for enhancing online communication and preventing problems.
• Introduce 14 common emoticons and seven useful abbreviations.
• Understand the copyright issues unique to the Internet.
• Know the rules for determining when a document enters the public domain.
• Introduce Web sites on netiquette.
• Introduce Web sites on emoticons.
• Introduce Web sites on Internet ethics and privacy.
• Consolidate your own thinking about netiquette by discussing it with others.

Chapter 6: Understanding Online Participation

• Encourage successful group interactions by introducing 13 generally accepted standards for frequency and style of online participation.
• Introduce eight standards for the appropriate use of language in online interactions.
• Introduce nine accepted standards for online document formatting.
• Explain what a pixel is and how it is used.
• Demonstrate how to use evolving subject lines in messages.
• Explain the concept of conversational “threading.”
• Explain the concept of language “chunking.”
• Present a range of strategies for successful online interaction.
• Offer four checklists of tips for success in online interaction.

Chapter 7: Creating the Best Work Station for Online Study

• Acknowledge the importance of safety and comfort to the online learning process.
• Break down the five components of an appropriate environment for online study.
• Offer seven guidelines for preventing computer-related injuries.
• Analyze the ergonomics of your own workstation and encourage your students to do the same.
• Introduce four unique time management skills required for efficient online study.
• Introduce three types of environments used for online communication.
• Present four possible methods of reading on a computer screen and their different purposes.
• Explain when, when not, and how to print out information.
• Explain how to take notes on the computer while reading on screen.
• Explain how to save pages to disk.
• Explain how and when to download files.
• Introduce bookmarking.
• Explain how to adjust the size of a computer’s viewing area.
• Explain how to change the print size on a screen.
• Explain how to adjust the colors on a screen.

Chapter 8: Submitting Assignments by Email

• Acknowledge five challenges and nine benefits to sharing computer files.
• Learn how to track and evaluate assignments.
• Present the five pieces of information that every student should include on the cover page of an assignment submitted by email.
• Explain how students can protect their computers from viruses.
• Explain when to use rich text format.
• Present the accepted standards for delivering extra-large files.
• Explain the value of conversion software and where to get it.
• Introduce the eight steps for attaching a file to an email message.
• Learn how to avoid problems around email submissions.
• Assign a reading on foolproof file enclosures.

Chapter 9: Using the Internet for Assignment Research

• Acknowledge the value of careful planning for Internet research.
• Present a 14-step strategy for successful Internet research.
• Introduce a valuable set of online dictionaries, thesauri, and library catalogs.
• Introduce “uncovering.”
• Introduce “gophers” and assign practice with the first one ever developed.
• Explain the difference between two broad types of search engines.
• Compare up to nine popular search engines and help students learn how to choose the best one for various types of research questions.
• Present various search strategies.
• Introduce seven database sites.
• Explain boolean operators and their use in Internet research.
• Explain how to evaluate resources found on the Internet.
• Introduce a Web site that can help students hone their critical thinking skills.
• Introduce a software program for record keeping.
• Explain the accepted method for citing quotations from Internet sources.
• Introduce a site full of Web searching tips.
• Offer an electronic tutorial on Web searching.
• Assign a reading on copyright and fair use in the digital age.
• Introduce up to five online citation guides and present the most popular print-based style guides.
• Acknowledge the legal and moral obligations associated with copyright.
• Explain when a student may and may not legally copy someone else’s work.
• Present 10 important rules for determining when a document is in the public domain.

Chapter 10: Using the Internet for Group Learning

• Acknowledge the individual participant’s responsibility to an online group.
• Introduce a list of 10 activities that any group may do together and eight benefits of doing them online.
• Explain the benefits and limitations of seven different types of media used for online group interaction.
• Explain the 11 steps to starting an online group.
• Introduce a template of guidelines for group procedures, behavior, and shared values.
• Explain alignment and seven possible levels of individual alignment with group goals.
• Explain the difference between discussion and dialogue.
• Introduce up to four Web sites that introduce group process tools.
• Present two valuable tips for successful chatting.
• Understand both qualitative and quantitative harvesting.
• Understand weaving.
• Recognize the resources necessary for collaborative learning.
• Understand the differences between traditional learning and facilitated, collaborative learning.
• Explain eight steps that occur in the formation of any collaborative group.
• Learn 15 tips for successfully facilitating an online group.
• Assign practice at planning an online group activity.

Student Tool Kit

Offer your students all of the following resources from a single page:

• Online dictionaries
• Online thesauri
• Online encyclopedias
• Online grammar guides
• Maps online
• Government statistics
• More than half of all U.S. government documents
• Full texts of thousands of books, from Aesop’s Fables to Shakespeare’s plays
• Audio recordings of thousands of politically significant events
• Virtual museums
• Online reference resources
• Glossary templates
• Template for online group guidelines
• Other educational sites (e.g., climate conditions)
• A range of subject-specific Webcams