Knowing how to use Googleâ„¢ or any other Internet search engine to find appropriate information online is a key skill that teachers and students must learn as part of learning online. Just becuase someone can "google" doesn't mean they know how to conduct reserach online. This activity will show you some basic search strategies that will allow you to get the most out of your Internet searches, tell you how to save your search results and then show you how to apply this to a CareerForward activity.
As popular as websites, blogs, social networking sites and podcasts are, email remains the most widely used web-based or Internet-based application in the world. Think about it. You can send and receive email to just about anybody (one research group estimated in 2006 that there were 1.1 billion email users), from just about anywhere (do you know where Tuvaluan is?) using a variety of devices (com**rs and cellphones and handhelds, oh my!). But just because someone can send an email doesnt mean that they know how to use it effectively to communicate with others. A number of CareerForwardâ„¢ activities will require your students to correspond with people outside of your classroom, so youll need to know how to guide your students email communications so they can get the right points across to their recipients.
Blogs. Theyre everywhere. According to a source that tracks the number of blogs in the "blogosphere," there were over 70 million blogs back in March 2007. Technorati determined that between 2003 and 2006, the growth rate of newly created blogs doubled every six months. And while this growth rate has slowed a bit, there are still over 120,000 blogs being created every day; thats an average of a little over one blog created every second! This is a significant online technology that teachers can use as part of classroom instruction to promote idea sharing, reflection, dialogue and critical thinking.