Using Internet Technology to Encourage

Writing Across the Curriculum

by Larry Barton

Teachers may find it convenient to think of using internet technology in two ways:

(1) the technology provides useful tools for brainstorming, research, writing, and editing--that is, it facilitates the writing process;

(2) the internet is a powerful medium of instruction that is changing the way we approach such long-standing academic skills as reading, writing, publication, and even thinking itself.

“Cyberspace” is not simply a huge, digital library. Nearly everything the traditional library or media center could provide is now available in quantities and at access rates inconceivable when I was a student. Indeed, well beyond the services that once were available in libraries, the internet offers opportunities that were unthinkable twenty-five years ago. Whereas, once, political science students considered themselves fortunate to have access to the latest edition of The Congressional Record, they are now able to witness the debates in the Senate via C-Span Network, and monitor votes in both Houses of Congress directly over the internet. The amounts and kinds of information are so prolix as to be overwhelming. (My Google.com query for “internet research” returned 3.55 million hits in 0.19 seconds. Google currently claims to be “Searching 2,073,418,204 web pages.”) Students and other researchers have the amazing capability

i to probe within the halls and files of every governmental agency (http://www.firstgov.gov),

i to query frontline researchers in universities and scientific institutions (my query for “Harvard research facilities” returned 282,000 hits),

i to participate in cutting-edge research projects involving vast arrays of computers (for example, at sites like http://www.distributed.net),

i to expect and even demand immediate answers to any question that concerns them (at virtually every publication, governmental office, educational institution, and corporate headquarters).

Libraries and media centers are still important features of our social and educational infrastructures, but the need for printed material is greatly diminished. More and more, library budgets are being diverted to the acquistition of digital media, even cybermedia with no “analog” presence in the library building.

Every teacher is fully aware of the dangers. Students, particularly young ones, are often unable to distinguish between slick, media-hype production and high-quality information sources. They often ignore the need to determine if a website meets all the criteria for being credible and authoritative. They are often distracted by whistles and bells, and waste inordinate amounts of time “researching” freely available internet materials of questionable educational merit--such as the latest box-scores of their favorite sports teams. They may find themselves inadvertently re-directed to websites promoting sex, violence, or hate messages. The million and a half new webpages going online everyday include tens of thousands that are merely distractors where education is concerned.

In spite of the dangers, the internet affords the greatest technology-in-education resource ever made available to educators. Computers themselves immediately combine many of the finest features of all previous educational technology. They are capable of producing print quality classroom resource materials; they can be used to create and present high-quality multimedia demonstrations, including slideshows, audio and/or video programs, and live TV; they provide software for classroom administration and, through their networking capabilities, direct communication links throughout a school district. All these features and many more beyond enumeration are within the capacities of the modern desktop computer.

The addition of an internet connection, however, transforms even the multi-faceted computer into a “dream machine” for educators. The internet allows students and teachers to access the interior of the International Space Station in real-time; and, through web-cams placed all over the planet, classrooms can visit the most exotic and remote places on Earth within seconds--watching wildlife in the Serengheti, workcrews at the South Pole, or the bustling streets of virtually every major city in the world. Information? Not even the Library of Congress can contain enough print material to house all the information available to anyone with a personal computer and an internet connection. Need help with a project? Want to buy a product? Can't find a replacement part at the price you're willing to pay anywhere in town? Want to see what your school looks like from outer space? The internet's vast resources have changed the way we process information and approach our daily lives.

In fact, the internet's resources are so vast that the average teacher has no idea of the full potential available. I have been able to watch television feeds in any language I can think of, and find all the language resources I might need--grammars, dictionaries, tutorials--for learning that language from native speakers. I can pick up radio broadcasts in the language, daily newspapers in the language, and chatline conversations in the language. The amount of supplementary material available for any content area, on any imaginable topic, is staggering. Because teachers are unable to devote large amounts of time to following the new developments in computer technology and the exponential growth of the internet, researchers continually compile and constantly review portfolios of internet resources designed specifically for educators and the classroom. The following annotated bibliography of web-based resources for integrating technology into writing instruction is intended as a starting place for those teachers who cannot devote the time to locating these for themselves.

I. Use of the Internet

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html The University of California at Berkeley provides this tutorial on the use of the internet for its students. Most universities and many public and private schools have similar guides to general internet use. Many of these include basic information covering most of the categories that follow in this bibliography.

http://www.urbanlibraries.org/Internet%20Study%20Fact%20Sheet.html The Urban Libraries Council of Evanston, Illinois, has posted this summary with a link to the actual study on the impact of internet use on library use. Media Center personnel might find the information both encouraging and helpful.

http://fairuse.stanford.edu The Stanford University Libraries have created this helpful website to address various issues of copyright and fair use of internet resources. Of course, you could read the U. S. Copyright Code itself (e.g., at http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/regulations/regs.overview.html), but Stanford has taken considerable pains to make the information understandable in the specific area of internet use.

II. Evaluation of sources/Search engines

http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webevaluation/webeval.htm This website of the evaluation of web resources by Widener University’s Wolfgram Memorial Library is one of dozens, perhaps hundreds, which provide freely downloadable PowerPoint presentations on the subject. (My Google search on “evaluating web resources” generated 814,000 hits.) Many of these sites also provide links to “bogus” websites that may be used to demonstrate the need for web resource evaluation.

http://www.ouc.bc.ca/libr/connect96/search.htm Ross Tyner of the Okanagan University College Library developed this tutorial on effective search engine use in 1996 (latest revision, 2001). He encourages the free, non-commercial use of his material for downloading and printing without further authorization. His site is one of too many to name on effective searching, but he also provides excellent, categorized links to relevant information on searches, search engines, and internet research. (By the way, there are roughly 809,000 functioning public search engines, in case you get tired of AskJeeves, Dogpile, or Hotbot.) An invaluable, but often overlooked, resource for web searching is the documentation provided at individual search engines. Google explains both how to search and their search-placement policies (how a particular website manages to reach the top of the list in your search). Many search engines are not forthcoming about search-placement policies.

http://www.safekids.com/search.htm Among search resource lists, I have to include this short directory to child-safe search engines.

III. Web-page design

http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/contents.html Yale University’s “Web Style Guide” has everything you need to know about good web-site and web-page design. It is written for beginners and the language appears to be “user friendly” throughout.

http://www.washington.edu/doit/Resources/web-design.html The University of Washington’s “Accessible Web Design” encourages awareness of special needs and demonstrates how to design for users who have them.

http://www.marshall-es.marshall.k12.tn.us/jobe/webpage.html Here’s one of thousands of “nuts-and-bolts” pages on building web pages and sites. This gives the links you need for answering your specific “how-to” questions, and it’s written for elementary teachers and students.

IV. Media presentation design

http://slim.emporia.edu/RESOURCE/ppoint/ppguide.htm Thousands of resources like this one are available providing step-by-step instructions for using multimedia presentation software, in this case, PowerPoint. But the documentation accompanying the software, particularly the Help files, can answer most questions, and technical support is usually avaiable through the software vendor. Basically, we all know how to make multimedia presentations, but few people know how to do them well. They are called consultants, and they make a ton of money.

http://training.ifas.ufl.edu/deft/produce/pptart.htm What is needed? More documents like this one. From the agricultural school of the University of Florida, a simple, one-page guide on creating effective PowerPoint presentations. These are harder to find. The Kansas University Medical Center created one with multiple links to some of these elusive but useful sites on effective presentations: http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/effective.html.

V. Online writing labs and tutorials

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/internet/resources OWL—Purdue’s Online Writing Lab—provides many services for struggling or novice writers, as well as seasoned writers and even teachers of writing, including this page of resource links that take one to many other online writing labs (no professional jealousy allowed on the internet!) and writing tutorials, information for teachers at every grade level on the teaching of writing, and the use of technology in writing. My Google search for “online writing labs and tutorials,” exclusive of .com sites, yielded 12,800 hits; so, if OWL isn’t to your liking—take your pick! Adding “high school” to the search bar cut the list down to 3,380 hits. Changing to “middle school” brought in 1,150 hits. “Elementary school,” only 989.

These hits provide information and/or writing tutorials on virtually every aspect of writing imaginable, in a multiplicity of formats too numerous to list here. If you can think of it, it’s probably on the internet already. If it isn’t, you need to design a web site!

VI. Additional web-based resources

I’d like to conclude this short “webliography” with a list of some of my favorite educational websites. Some are for teachers and some are for students.

http://www.education-world.com I am a conscientious avoider of .com sites for a number of reasons, but when I find one I like, such as Google.com or this one by Education World magazine, I go there often. In the same vein as the above site, the following educational publishing sites are good sources of information for teachers:

http://dmoz.org/Reference/Education/Journals/ links to many educational journals

http://www.magazineline.com/teachermags.htm analyzes teacher magazines for audience, content, and publication data

http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/kholmes/libguides/edjournals.html links to 59 full-text education journals online

Professional organization sites are usually well-designed and helpful. The following organizational web sites have become a steady part of my browsing diet:

http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index/ the Educational Resources Information Center index for direct searching, and its affiliate AskERIC site, http://www.askeric.org/ for a little more "user-friendly" feel.

http://www.ncrel.org/ the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory

http://www.nsdc.org/ the National Staff Development Council

http://www.ascd.org/ the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

http://www.writingproject.org/ the National Writing Project

http://www.ncte.org/ the National Council of Teachers of English—your own discipline (for college, secondary, and middle school teachers) has a professional organization, and it has a web site

http://www.reading.org/ the International Reading Association

http://www.nea.org/ the National Education Asociation

http://www.aft.org/ the American Federation of Teachers

Some governmental sites are useful, if for no other reason than to keep informed about new legislation affecting classrooms:

http://www.ed.gov/ the U.S. Department of Education

http://cfl.state.mn.us/ the Minnesota department of Children, Families, and Learning—although I don’t use it, North Dakotans will prefer their own Department of Public Instruction site at http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/

http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/120.html the 2001 Revision of the Minnesota Statutes, index for Chapters 120-129B, covering public education from prekindergarten through Grade 12. For higher education in Minnesota, Chapters 135A-137, see http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/135A.html. North Dakotans can find the education portions of their Century Code (through 2001) online at http://ranch.state.nd.us/LR/01/cencode/CCT15.pdf and http://ranch.state.nd.us/LR/01/cencode/CCT15x1.pdf.

Resources that I find useful for students, aside from those I have listed earlier, are basically research sites:

http://www.marcopolo-education.org/ The MarcoPolo site provides links to specific subject-area mega-sites. For example, for Art & Culture, Literature & Language Arts, Foreign Language, and History & Social Studies, MarcoPolo linke to EdSitement, the National Endowment for the Humanities web site at http://edsitement.neh.gov. In my subject area, U.S. Literature, I have literally dozens of favorite sites to use, from free online book sites like Project Gutenberg (http://promo.net/pg) or Online Books (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu), to online reference works like dictionaries, thesauri, and encyclopedias (try THOR, for example, at http://thorplus.lib.purdue.edu/reference/dict.html), to games and fun stuff that I’m not very good at generating myself (see, for example, http://www2.state.ga.us/gadod/soho/links-fun.htm).

http://highschoolhub.org/hub/hub.cfm High School Hub is a high-interest, student magazine format web site, providing subject-specific links. For example, the “English” link goes to an on-site directory of English-related materials: mini-lessons and tutorials, reference materials, games, and miscellaneous items relevant to what goes on in my classroom. Similar sites exist for every grade level and subject matter from Pre-K to Doctoral Candidate. To find High School Hub, I typed “high school student learning” on the Search bar of Google.com. The search yielded 1.96 million hits, so I could probably refine it quite a bit to come up with a more manageable list. But I always enjoy browsing through the first couple of pages of hits (I list 100 hits per page) just to stir up my thinking about lateral possibilities that never occurred to me when I started the search.

I think that’s enough to get you started. If you check out half the links I’ve listed and comb through what you find there, you’ll find plenty of useful resources for teaching writing with the internet.