Internet and Education
James D. Lehman
Educational Technology
Purdue University
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
The Internet and Education:
Integration and Issues
Internet and Education

What is the Internet?

What can we do with it?

How can the Internet be integrated in
education?

What are key issues that schools face?
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Internet and Education: Overview
Internet and Education
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
What is the Internet?
Internet and Education

The Internet is a massive network of
computer networks that links millions of
computers world-wide.
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
What is it?
The Internet, or just the Net, is
composed of many separately
administered computer networks with
many different kinds of computers.
 Computers on the Internet are linked by
means of a common communications
protocol known as TCP/IP.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
What is it?
Internet and Education
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
How did it come to be?
In 1969, the Department of Defense
commissioned ARPANET, the Advanced
Research Projects Agency network.
 ARPANET, which originally connected
four universities, was intended to
research networking.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Internet History
Internet and Education

A key issue was the potential for
disruption of communication in the
event of a military strike.
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Internet History
The system that was developed takes
information and breaks it into a series of
packets.
 These packets are routed along any
available pathway to their destination,
where they are reconstructed.
 With this system, information cannot be
blocked at one point.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Internet History
Internet and Education







1972 - Telnet and FTP developed
1981 - Bitnet and CSNET created
1982 - TCP/IP developed
1984 - Domain name server introduced
# hosts passed 1,000
1986 - NSFNET created
1987 - # hosts passed 10,000
1989 - # hosts passed 100,000
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Milestones
Internet and Education






1990 - ARPANET ceased to exist
1991 - Gopher created at Minnesota
World Wide Web created at CERN
1992 - # hosts passed 1,000,000
1993 - Mosaic propelled Web growth
1996 - # hosts passed 10,000,000
2000 – # hosts passed 75,000,000 and
Web estimated to have 1 billion+ pages
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Milestones, cont’d.
Today, the Internet encompasses
hundreds of millions of users worldwide. The popularity of the World Wide
Web and easy-to-use browsers have
fueled its explosive growth.
 The Web is now the heart of the
Internet, and the Internet is evolving into
the information superhighway.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
The Internet Today
Internet and Education
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Today’s lesson:
The Web
Integration and Issues
Using the Internet
to Enhance Education
Once the Internet was reserved for only
research and education, but with the
rapid evolution of the technology the
Internet now supports entertainment
and commerce among other things.
 Let’s focus on those functions most
relevant to education.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
What can we do?
Internet and Education

For education, there are three basic
functions that are particularly important:
• Communication
• Information retrieval
• Information publishing
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
What can we do?
Internet and Education

List Servers

News Groups

Chat Rooms

Internet Phone

Video Conferencing
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Synchronous
Electronic Mail (e-mail)
Asynchronous

Integration and Issues
Communication
E-mail is the most fundamental and
widely used form of Internet
communication.
 It supports one-to-one and one-to-many
communication.
 It is simple, easy-to-use, very fast, and
not subject to problems such as
“telephone tag.”
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
E-Mail
Internet and Education

Teachers can use e-mail to:
• stay in touch with administrators and
teachers within the district
• confer with colleagues in other schools
about content and pedagogy problems
• reach outside content experts
• communicate with parents and students
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
E-Mail for Teachers
Internet and Education

Writing exchanges via e-mail with
students at a remote site
• Research has shown that students tend to
write better when they write for a real
audience through e-mail.
• E-mail exchanges can also expand
students’ awareness of other cultures.
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
How Can E-Mail Help Students?
Internet and Education

Seeking answers to questions by
e-mailing knowledgeable others. Some
Internet-based education programs invite
questions from students, e.g.,
• NASA’s Project Ulysses
http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov/
• Ask an Expert
http://k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu/
askanexpert.html
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
How Can E-Mail Help Students?
Internet and Education

Students can also contact members of
the community, elected officials, etc.

Some special Internet project allow
students to follow and communicate
with explorers, e.g.,
• http://www.adventureonline.com/
• http://quest.classroom.com/default.asp
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
How Can E-Mail Help Students?
Internet and Education

List Servers (listservs)

News Groups

Chat Rooms

Internet Phone

Video Conferencing (CUSeeMe)
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Other Forms of Internet
Communication
Internet and Education
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Information Retrieval
The World Wide Web (aka the Web,
WWW, or W3) is the standard for
information retrieval in the Internet
world.
 Developed at CERN, the European
physics research center, the Web
quickly came to dominate the Internet.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
World Wide Web
Internet and Education

The Web is based on a set of protocols:
• HTTP - hypertext transfer protocol, the way
Web pages get sent over the Internet
• HTML - hypertext markup language, the
coding used to define Web pages
• URL - uniform resource locator, the
standard way of defining where information
can be found on the Web
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
World Wide Web
The Web is accessed through the use
of browser software.
 The first popular browser was called
Mosaic.
 Today, the two most popular browsers
are Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and
Netscape’s Navigator.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
World Wide Web
Internet and Education


Up-to-date information can be accessed
immediately (e.g., weather, news, breaking
scientific information such as NASA’s Mars
explorer).
Resources hitherto available to only a few
(e.g., drafts of the Declaration of
Independence, Dead Sea Scrolls) are freely
available to people everywhere.
• http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Advantages of Web Resources
For most topics, a wealth of information
is available. Search engines can be
used to help locate that information.
 Increasingly, resources are available in
a variety of media -- not just text but
also graphics and even audio and
video.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Advantages of Web Resources
The Web is unregulated, so there is just
as much junk as good stuff.
 A key problem for students is telling
good information from bad.
 Finding information on a specific topic
can be a challenge.
Internet and Education

• http://www.dhmo.org/
• http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Limitations of Web Resources
The Web offers wonderful resources for
the classroom that have never before
been available.
 Just keep in mind that the Web is like a
library without the librarian; no one
checks what gets put on the shelves,
and finding what you need can
sometimes be a challenge.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Web Resources
Internet and Education

Search engines
• Internet sites that maintain databases of
many Web sites that can be searched for
relevant information.

Examples
• Altavista, Dogpile, Excite, Google,
Infoseek, Lycos, Metacrawler, Northern
Light, Snap, Webcrawler, Yahoo
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Finding Information
Internet and Education

Most search engines support the
following syntax for searches:
• use + before a search term to include it
• use - before a term to exclude it
• to search for a compound term or phrase,
enclose it in quotes (“ “)
• use * at the end of a term as a wild card to
substitute for any number of characters
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Finding Information
Internet and Education

Check the help for a search engine for
details about other searching; these
vary from one to another. Examples:
• Altavista allows you to search for images
(image:keyword)
• Northern Light supports full Boolean
expressions (AND, OR, NOT)
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Finding Information
A structured form of Web use for
information retrieval purposes in
education is the WebQuest, developed
by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State.
 See the “official” WebQuest home page
at:
Internet and Education

• http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest.html
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
WebQuests
Internet and Education
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Class Project
The Solar System
Integration and Issues
Information Publication
Internet and Education

The Web allows everyone to be their
own publisher.

Schools are beginning to take
advantage of this capability by posting
teachers’ materials and/or students’
work to the school website.
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Information Publication
Internet and Education

The rationale for posting students’ work
comes from:
• research which indicates students write
better when they have a real audience.
• research into the use of stand-alone
hypermedia programs (e.g., HyperStudio)
which suggests that student development
of such projects improves learning.
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Information Publication
Internet and Education

Publication of student projects on the
Web also facilitates:
• cooperative projects with other schools
• alternative assessment
• communication with parents and the
community (it provides visible evidence of
what is going on in school)
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Information Publication
Internet and Education

Remember, copyright and right-toprivacy laws protect students’ work.

Before putting any student work on the
Internet, be sure to get the permission
of parents/guardians and the students
themselves.
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Caution
Internet and Education

There are now a host of programs that
permit the creation of Web pages:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Netscape Composer
Claris HomePage
Microsoft FrontPage
Adobe PageMill
NetObjects Fusion
Macromedia Dreamweaver
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Web Page Editors
Internet and Education

Web publishing offers one more way
that teachers and schools can take
advantage of the Internet to enhance
students’ education.
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Web Publishing
Internet and Education
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Issues for Schools
Internet and Education

Schools face a
variety of new or
exacerbated issues
when dealing with
the Internet.
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
School Issues
Internet and Education



Pornography or
other undesirable
content
Inaccurate or biased
content
Harmful or malicious
behavior (e.g.,
flaming, viruses)
James D. Lehman, Purdue University




Proper netiquette
and responsible
behavior
Individuals’ privacy
Copyright,
plagiarism, and
intellectual property
Integration and
assessment
Integration and Issues
School Issues
One approach to inappropriate content
is to block it.
 Programs like Cyber Patrol and Surf
Watch can do this.
 Keep in mind, however, that the Internet
was built to defeat blocks. Enterprising
students can often found ways around
them.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Blocking Inappropriate Content
All schools should have an Internet
Acceptable Use Policy. In most cases,
both students and parents should sign
this policy.
 This approach relies on education,
along with appropriate management, to
minimize problems.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Setting Usage Guidelines
In addition to these measures,
consideration of issues should be a part
of Internet lessons in the classroom.
 For example, students need to learn
how to distinguish good information
from bad in the on-line world. This
should be something they take away
from their classroom lessons.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Education in the Classroom
Internet and Education

In the end, it is you,
the individual
teacher, who can
best determine how
to use the Internet for
improving teaching
and learning.
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
The Teacher is Key
Internet and Education
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Your Challenge:
Build a WebQuest
As you final assignment in this course,
in groups you are to construct a
lesson/unit plan for doing some sort of
technology integration activity with your
students.
 As part of that, we want you to design
and develop a WebQuest for your
students.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Final Assignment
A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented
activity where some or all of the
information that learners use comes
from the Web.
 WebQuests can be short-term
(designed to be completed in 1-3 class
periods) or longer term.
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
What is a WebQuest?
Introduction (sets up the task)
 Task (doable inquiry activity)
 Information sources needed to complete
the task – usually Web-based
 Description of the process learners
should follow to accomplish the task
 Guidance (directions, organizers)
 Conclusion (brings closure)
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Parts of a WebQuest
Usually group-oriented
 Often use motivational elements (e.g.,
role-playing, realistic scenarios)
 Can be single discipline or
multidisciplinary
 Focus on process skills such as
comparing, classifying, deducing,
analyzing)
Internet and Education

James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
Other WebQuest Elements
Internet and Education

For examples of teacher-developed
WebQuests, visit
• http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/matrix.html
• http://www.wcboe.k12.md.us/mainfold/technolog/
techsat/TechAcademy/elemWQ/Elemwquest.htm
• http://www.uni.edu/currtech/krapfl.html
• http://www.sd68.bc.ca/webquests/
elementary_webquest.htm
• http://www.lockhart.k12.tx.us/elemresources/
webquest.html
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
WebQuest Examples
Internet and Education
James D. Lehman, Purdue University
Integration and Issues
The End