| . |
. |
. |
|
The
infiNET Possibilities
|
|
|
English
Teachers on the Internet
|
|
|
|
The digital revolution affects
us all. Quite simply, the "Digital Revolution" is changing everything; a
brilliant barrage of information, entertainment, companionship, and education is now
speedily available to us though the computer, whether at home or at work. With the price
of personal computers falling, more and more households and schools around the world are
acquiring this technology and with it the challenge of learning to use the many varieties
of color and form on the Internet-its infiNET possibilities. All of this means
greater flexibility and freedom for individuals.
In the case of the Digital Revolution, the only way to become familiar with current trends
is to experiment and participate, which means getting "on-line." This article
will explain some of the more common ways of becoming Internet-fluent- Getting on-line
,- and some of the more persuasive reasons for doing so. It will also describe some of the
resources on the Internet for teachers and students and explain ways in which some of
these resources can be used in the classroom and for research- Materials and resources
for teachers . Not surprisingly, I have written this with an audience of teachers in
mind, and primarily for teachers who are relatively new or inexperienced on the Internet
or are still trying to get on board. |
|
|
|
|
People have many questions about the Internet
and a lot of healthy skepticism about how something that didn't even really exist eight
years ago could be so indispensable and influential today. What is the Internet anyway?
Why is so much being written about it? Most descriptions of the Internet include the
definition "a network of linked computers," which, although accurate, does not
paint a very enticing picture. It neglects the richness, color, variety, and texture of
"Cyberspace." Imagine the monochrome screen of letters and numbers of the
traditional computerized library catalog. Then imagine those monochrome letters and
numbers changed at the click of the mouse to colored words and colored moving pictures of
the characters in books, autobiographies of authors (perhaps even with pictures and the
sound of their voices). You might even choose to see what other books particular authors
have written and clips of movies of those books. This is all possible on the Internet and,
given the correct connection, you and your computer can "talk" and share with
other computers around the world and tap into this vast reservoir of information. You will
have the capacity to share text, pictures, and music with far-off places and people,
quickly, easily, and inexpensively.
|
|
|
No one denies that a visit to the Internet will
show amazing technology and a fascinating storehouse of information. But many people do
not realize the wealth of creativity and culture on the Internet, which
makes it the ultimate teaching tool for language teachers. True, there is much that is
trivial, tasteless, and incorrect, but the Internet is impossible to describe; the only
way to understand the Internet is to "get on-line."
|
|
|
I still remember my elation when I first got
on-line, the exhilaration of my first e-mail message! I also remember the frustration and
irritation that preceded that elation; I have had many frustrating experiences using
electronic communications since then, and I am sure I will have many more of them. So, I
would like to accompany my description of how to access the Internet by a reminder that
the experience can be extremely annoying. It can take longer than you expect and be
frustrating enough to make you want to give up. But now, after conducting scores of
teacher-training seminars, I see that learning to use electronic communications can be
like learning a new language-very confusing, but usually followed by real and lasting
rewards.
|
|
|
Yet another caveat: Readers of books and
articles about the Internet need to be aware, just as the people who write about the
Internet are, that the speed of technological change will make such writings out of date
almost before they are typed. But it is not only time that renders the writing
inaccurate, it also a question of place ; infrastructure, legal and technological
circumstances vary tremendously both within and among countries. So what is written here
will need to be interpreted based on your particular circumstances.
|
|
|
Almost as soon as you start to use the Internet,
it will become clear that electronic mail (e-mail) is one of the greatest
language-teaching materials ever created. E-mail allows all of us to communicate quickly
and inexpensively over long distances without obstacles such as time zone differences, the
time-lag of ordinary mail, or the long-distance telephone charges for faxes. Therefore,
students can actually USE the language to communicate with real people about issues that
interest them. Electronic mail can thus supply the ultimate "contextualized"
practice. Students (and teachers) can also use the speed, simplicity, and low-cost of
e-mail to work in teams on joint projects with other classes. The "Net" provides
ample resources for projects and research activities. Since e-mail is "low-tech"
in terms of the Internet and does not require vast technological know-how or expense, it
is still the favorite electronic teaching tool of language teachers, but it is far from
being the only resource on the Internet. Joining e-mail discussion forums for teachers
will quickly point new "netters" in the direction of finding and using the other
resources- such as the World Wide Web area of the Net.
|
|
|
The following instructions and guidelines are
generally directed at the growing number of teachers who would like to use the Internet at
home, as well as for those teachers who have access to the Internet at school but have
little in the way of support and training.
|
|
|
a. The computer: To start your journey
into the future, you will need access to a computer. In the early days of the Internet and
e-mail (until around 1993), it was not very important what kind of computer you used
because plain black and white text files like e-mail were not very demanding of a machine.
However, this is no longer universally true; the jewel of the Internet, the World Wide Web
area, has color, sound, full-motion video, and wonderful graphics, all of which require a
fairly powerful modern computer with graphics capabilities and a large memory capacity.
Still, there is plenty of value and fun on the Internet without getting entangled in the
World Wide Web (WWW), so do not despair if the only machine you can access on a regular
basis does not have Web capability. E-mail and e-mail-based resources can serve you well,
and they move faster and more reliably than the WWW.
|
|
|
b. The modem: Once you have your personal
computer (IBM-type or MAC), you will need some way of connecting that computer to
communications lines. Although this technology is developing fast, the modem (Modulator-
Demodulator) is still the most common and efficient way to do this. A modem is a very
small device; some modems are smaller than a credit card, but whatever their size, they
attach to your computer (either internally or externally) and serve to make your computer
connect to another "hub" computer over communication/telephone lines. Luckily,
modems are not expensive, and they are all pretty reliable. Most modern computers come
with the modem already installed, but in any case modems are extremely easy to install,
especially the external ones. The problem with modems, though, is that they become out of
date very fast. "Out of date" in this context means "slow." The speed
of a modem is measured in BPS (bits per second), which means how many "bits" of
data the modem can deliver to you in one second. At this writing (September, 1996), the
fastest modem is 57,700 bps, but most people are still using 9600 bps or 14,400 bps
modems, and some are still using 2400 bps modems. Modem speeds are also sometimes referred
to as baud. It is reasonable to ask why speed is so important; after all, we don't worry
about the speed of our TV sets. The truth is that for black and white text communications
(like e-mail) the speed of a modem is really not that important. However, color, sound,
and graphics (such as the World Wide Web) use millions of bits of data, and if your modem
is slow, it can take a very long time to receive even one small picture from the Web.
Waiting for a picture to arrive, dot by dot, is not one of the more rewarding uses of a
teacher's time, so the accepted wisdom is that you need the fastest modem you can find and
afford.
|
|
|
c. Communication software: Most modems
come with communications software, which is essential for instructing the computer to use
the modem to communicate. Naturally, a computer that comes with the modem already
installed will also come with the necessary software. But if at some point you want to
upgrade to a faster modem, you may also need to install new software or at least reset the
program that you have already installed, all of which sounds much more complicated than it
really is.
|
|
|
d. A connection to your "host":
Your modem will not be able to do much until it can use reliable phone service to connect
your computer to the "host" computer (the one which will actually open the
Internet door for you). Telephone service can be very expensive. Even if it is a local
call to the "host" computer, many localities charge for calls by connection
time, which makes the Internet too expensive for many people. But price is not the only
consideration for a would-be "netter"; one must not forget the other members of
the family or office who might want to use the phone when a computer is tying a phone line
to connect to the Internet. This can cause conflict with others who need to use the line
and concern among those who are trying to reach you and worry when the number always rings
busy. One form of Internet connection, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), uses
modem cables and fiber optics so efficiently that you can talk on the phone, run answering
and fax machines, and connect to the Internet all at the same time on the same line. This
service requires the very latest cables, which most places do not yet have. Moreover,
cabling is a capital-intensive proposition, so telephone and cable companies pass along
the high cost to their consumers. Thus, ISDN is not yet a realistic choice for most
consumers even if it is technically available to them. Cable TV companies, which have
already laid their cable, will probably offer less expensive Internet access as they
become major competitors in this field.
|
|
|
Not all computers are connected to the Internet
host machine by public phone or cable lines. Some institutions are directly linked by a
private, closed connection to the "host" or "hub" computer, so that
they are in essence mere terminals of the host machine. This is called hard-wire.
In this case, there is no need for a modem. In the future, the majority of Internet
connections will be direct cable connections, using cable TV lines or enhanced phone
lines. But today that is not a realistic option for most people, particularly for those
who want to connect to the Internet from home.
|
|
|
e. Internet service provider (aka Internet
access provider): Your computer, modem, phone service, and software are all set up,
but they have no place to go if you do not have an ISP (Internet Service Provider) or an
IAP (Internet Access Provider). This is the service that maintains the "host"
computer which is directly connected to the network of linked computers that form the
Internet and which you must pass through in order to gain access. The issue of Internet
access is one of the most perplexing in the field of electronic communications because
there are many variations and options and because the Internet access landscape changes
almost daily. I can only describe the situation in very general terms, and reiterate my
caveat that Internet access varies from country to country and from region to region. Not
only that, circumstances change very fast.
|
|
|
Teachers at many universities and colleges are
provided with access to the Internet by their school. Universities vary, though, in what
kind of access they give to their teachers and students and whether the service can be
accessed from home (known as "dial-up" service). There is also considerable
variation regarding which academic disciplines can have free access to the Internet
resources that the university or college provides. Traditionally, teachers in the fields
of math and science have had priority because it was thought imperative that those fields
be able to communicate quickly and reliably with their research colleagues around the
world. Teachers in the humanities (which includes teachers of English, of course) have
sometimes had to struggle to convince their universities that the Internet is a bona
fide teaching tool for language. In short, there has been considerable inequality of
opportunity for Internet access among university teachers around the world.
|
|
|
Once an institution is connected to the
Internet, it is not expensive to provide e-mail capabilities for teachers and even for
students. Institutional Internet access costs are usually calculated based on the size of
the institution (how many students, etc.) and not by the volume of electronic mail or
Internet usage. Therefore, there is no logical basis for rationing e-mail access on the
basis of cost. On the other hand, some institutional machines are already overloaded and
simply cannot manage more traffic, in which case the university or college has to minimize
unnecessary loads. Then there is the question of access to the World Wide Web. As
mentioned before, the graphics, sound and color capabilities of the World Wide Web require
modern and fairly powerful local machines, and many universities and schools simply cannot
provide enough of these for all the teachers and students who need them. This is a thorny
issue that is facing all but the most affluent institutions.
|
|
|
An additional issue for universities (which
usually do not charge their faculty for electronic communications) is the question of
dial-up service. The modern teacher's way of grading papers at home at the end of the day
is to connect to the Internet and grade e-mail messages. Increasingly, preparation for
class involves retrieving materials from the World Wide Web, so Internet access from home
is becoming a necessary teaching tool. However, dial-up service is costly to universities.
They have to maintain incoming phone-lines and sufficient modems working day and night to
meet the demand. So, many institutions simply do not provide adequate dial up service, or
else they charge their teachers and/or students for this privilege. As a result, even
teachers who do get suitable Internet connectivity through their educational institutions
often turn to commercial service providers for dial-up service. Commercial internet access
providers have very competitive rates and services these days, and the range of services
offered is often more attractive than teachers can get from a university. In addition,
commercial services do not (or should not ) have busy signals when consumers
dial in, a frequent and frustrating problem encountered at universities where Internet
service is overwhelmed by demand.
|
|
|
One unexpected obstacle to teachers getting
"on-line" is that it is sometimes hard to find out who in a large university,
education authority, or department is responsible for assigning e- mail addresses to
eligible staff and teachers. If no one in your department or section seems to have the
information you want, try asking the physicists and mathematicians how they got connected,
and then follow their lead.
|
|
|
Unfortunately, many schools and universities
believe that teachers and classes in the humanities do not need to use electronic
communications for bona-fide pedagogical activities, or at least do not need to use
them as much as teachers of science do. This is a common, but mistaken notion. The
Internet is becoming essential as an educational tool. NOT giving students and teachers
access to it can make a school uncompetitive and out of date. Increasingly, no educational
institution can afford NOT to offer access to all its teachers and students.
|
|
|
Although in the US and many other countries,
teachers of children (kindergarten through grade 12) are increasingly gaining Internet
access through their schools, most of them still do not have the same opportunities as
their university colleagues. In spite of the fact that the US government, like many
others, is committed to getting every school "on-line," so far only a minority
of schools are connected to the Internet. The country with the greatest percentage of
connected schools is Finland, where virtually 100% of schools are on-line. Elsewhere
though, grade school teachers who would like to sample and teach from the Internet
frequently turn to commercial Internet service providers, which usually offer excellent
service (including dial-up service) for a fairly low monthly fee. Like their university
colleagues, grade-school teachers are finding that there is a wide range of quality and
reliability in the services offered by commercial Internet access providers. To be fair,
it must be noted that it is not only the commercial providers whose quality and
reliability vary; there is also wide variation in the levels of service offered by
educational institutions. If you decide to use a commercial service, consider starting
with one of the well- established ones like Compuserve or America Online
(AOL). They are more expensive than many other local providers, but they are reliable and
have excellent technical support-an essential item for new netters. It is possible that
after a while you will feel confident enough on the Internet that you would like to
exchange the technical support and reliability of the top service providers for the lower
cost of one of the newer, smaller companies. The best way to find a good service is to ask
your friends for a first-hand recommendation, but if you are the first in your crowd to
get on-line, you will have to rely on the local newspaper and/or telephone directory to
get a list of services in your area. Here are some questions that you should ask:
|
|
|
- Are your machines and equipment adequate and suitable for the service? There is no point
in continuing the conversation if you determine that you do not have the technical
capability to support the service. However, it is worth asking if they have modified
service (just e-mail, for example) for a modified price. Almost all computers can support
e-mail.
- How is the fee computed? It is best to avoid per-hour charges because these can really
mount up, and you will spend a lot of on-line time learning the system. Try to find a
service that offers a flat rate by the month.
- What does the fee include? Ideally, you want a service that gives you
"complete" Internet access, so you should ask about:
a. unlimited e-mail
b. access to newsgroups
c. ftp (see Footnote 1 )
d. telnet(see Footnote 1
e. World Wide Web (explained later in this article).
- Is the access number a local call for you? Or perhaps a toll-free number?
- What modem speeds does the service support? If you are going to be using the WWW and are
interested in large files (sound and graphics), then you want the fastest speed available.
Even if you do not yet have a very fast modem, it is not a good idea to subscribe to a
service that is not keeping up with demands for speed because the responsiveness of the
modem depends on the speed of the service.
- What technical support is there?
- When you are just starting out on the Internet, technical support is more important than
food! Make sure that there is someone available to help on weekends and in the evening
(when you will probably be doing most of your Internet work at home).
- Does the company provide software for the connection? Instructions?
- How many Internet mailboxes does the account allow? Some families like each person to
have his/her own electronic mailbox. In the USA, for example, America Online allows
each account to support five mailboxes, but Compuserve only allows one.
- Does the company practice censorship of what its subscribers may read? If you have
children in the house, or are going to use the service on a school machine, this question
might be crucial to you. However, you can also ask if the company provides facilities for
subscriber-controlled choice of Internet forums and activities. There is software
available that will permit users to set their service to their own specifications.
|
|
|
Whatever commercial service you decide to use,
your first solo excursions on the Net will be both exhilarating and (probably)
frustrating. You will be visiting a whole new world, and the language, culture, and mores
of that world can be puzzling and hard to learn at first. The best thing to do once you
are on the Internet is to set aside several hours to "play" on the World Wide
Web if you have access to it. Also, you need to learn to send, receive, save, print, and
delete e-mail. Learn the e-mail addresses of all your friends because it is to them that
you will turn when you have questions and problems as you learn to adapt to this new
Internet culture.
|
|
|
Once the teachers in an institution have access
to the Internet, the question naturally arises: How can you use Internet resources with
students if students themselves cannot get access? Ideally, all students at any level or
age should have the opportunity to learn and use the Internet, just as they use a
traditional library. However, in reality, student access to the Internet is often limited,
even in fortunate institutions. Generally, restricted access for students is the result of
lack of funds for hardware and networked labs. However, there is also a wide-spread belief
that access to the Internet is a luxury and is inappropriate for undergraduate students, a
belief that causes funds to be allocated elsewhere. Teachers soon come to realize the
net's value as a resource which enhances students' learning in the present and their
competitiveness in the future. Thus, it is important for teachers to promote student
access. Nevertheless, imaginative teachers can engage students in Internet-based
activities even if the students themselves have no chance to use Internet- connected
computers. The following quotation from an e-mail on-line discussion shows how documents
from the internet can be used even when students themselves do not have access. I have
included the entire message so that the uninitiated reader can see what a typical message
looks like:
|
|
|
Date: Tue, 10 Sep. 1996 20:17:44 -0700
|
|
|
Reply-To: paolo rossetti prossett@DIRECT.CA
|
|
|
Sender: "TESLCA-L: TESL and Technology
Branch of TESL-L List"
|
|
|
From: paolo rossetti prossett@DIRECT.CA
|
|
|
Subject: Re: 5 Years of Internet Pedagogy
|
|
|
I'm also going to throw in my opinion even
though my experience using internet with my students is quite limited. So limited, in
fact, that none of my students have internet access.
|
|
|
I have only been able to tap into internet
resources from the perspective of a teacher seeking materials and ideas. And what a great
tool this is! I have been able to bring to my students an abundance of authentic language
relevant to their needs and interests; the language was all neatly typed (professional
looking), easily formatted to suit the activity (cloze, etc.) and certainly beyond the
reach of an internet-less teacher (newspaper articles from any country, etc.); it was
cool, up-to-date materials that the students actually looked forward to and it was, of
course, off the internet!
|
|
|
I think that using the internet for materials
and ideas gave me a great boost forward in my classroom. Even if it reached the students
in a more traditional photocopied form, it gave them a little window of access to what is
happening electronically around them. And I didn't meet any of the get-
the-students-used-to- computers problems mentioned on this thread so far.
|
|
|
Clearly, innovative and effective activities can
be done using the Internet even if your students do not have personal access to the Net.
But if you are lucky enough to have students with Internet access and if you decide to
incorporate internet activities into your instruction, there are points that you need to
keep in mind. Here some Internet "DOs" to make your Net classes go more
smoothly.
|
|
|
Well before your Internet course begins:
|
|
|
- DO make yourself familiar with the hardware and software that your students will be
using.
- DO try out everything that you are going to teach the students on the same system and
machine that you will use with them.
- DO determine how Internet activities will support the syllabus, how they relate to the
focus of the course.
- DO set clear goals for the course: You might want to have language skills goals,
computer skills goals, and content goals, for example.
- DO plan a clear set of tasks or assignments for students, to help them reach the course
goals.
- DO try out the practicality of every action you plan to assign to students.
- DO decide how you will grade or evaluate the effectiveness of this activity.
- If possible, DO determine in advance the keyboarding skills of your students. Decide how
to deal with poor keyboarding skills.
- DO prepare or download from the net a vocabulary list of items relevant to the net and
present it to the student ahead of the class.
- DO insist that your students be on time for sessions in the lab.
- DO get extra help in the lab on the first couple of days.
- DO get frequent informal or formal feedback from your students; get written feedback
(anonymous) at the end of the semester.
- DO be prepared for chaos, to be flexible, and to change.
- DO plan to be exhilarated and also exhausted after the classes.
|
|
|
And here are some matching "DON'Ts"
|
|
|
- DON'T expect the net to work the same way every time, or for things to go the way you
expect every time.
- DON'T overplan your time in the lab; students need time to "play."
- DON'T plan activities that have no relation to things that the students are doing in
other courses or in their majors.
- DON'T do everything for the students; let them discover things for themselves and teach
each other.
- DON'T provide handouts for every action-having the students write their own manual is a
great activity.
- DON'T worry about students who don't get it right away; it is a chance for other
students to help them and for a lot of language use.
- DON'T reinvent the wheel! Check out the TESL-L CALL archives and the TESLCA-L branch of
TESL-L!
- DON'T teach anything significant during the first ten minutes of a class in the lab.
|
|
|
Students respond very positively to working on
computers and to things like e- mail, but it does take planning and training in order to
make the experience a rewarding and profitable one for all concerned. Not only that, you
should be prepared for some major unforeseen problems the first few times you "log
on" with students.
|
|
|
Materials and resources for teachers and students
|
|
|
a. E-mail-based: Whether you have
Internet access with your students or not, there are still, as we saw in the forum message
quoted above, many resources on the Internet that will be of great value to your classes.
The question, of course, is how to locate them and how to learn to use them. The first
stop on the Internet for a new netter should probably be TESL-L, the electronic discussion
forum and archives USEFUL for teachers. The files in the on-line archives of the TESL-L
electronic forum can easily and successfully be retrieved by an Internet novice. The
TESL-L forum is an e-mail-based environment, so you do not need fancy equipment or web
access to take advantage of it. In order to use the TESL-L archives, you have to be a
member of the forum. To join, send a simple e-mail message to
|
|
|
As the body of the message, type four words: SUB
TESL-L your full name here.
|
|
|
For example: SUB TESL-L Sharon Stone
|
|
|
LISTSERV, which is a computer program, will sign
you on to TESL-L and send you a long Welcome Message, which you should be sure to read and
keep because it contains a lot of important information about how to use TESL-L and its
special-interest branches.
|
|
|
Joining TESL-L will put you in the company of
16,000 (in September 1996) ESL/EFL teachers in 99 countries; you will be able to share
ideas, questions, worries, and suggestions with them via e-mail. Just in case you are
wondering.no, you will not receive 16,000 e-mail messages a day! In fact, on the TESL-L
forum itself, there are about 20 messages a day, all related to the teaching of ESL/EFL.
|
|
|
The following is a portion of another e-mail
message from a writer in Bremen, Germany (reproduced by permission of the writer)
describing lessons she has learned using the internet.
|
|
|
Technology: We have often underestimated the
ways in which introducing the Internet into the classroom could complicate our lives,
whether through ill-timed malfunctions, steeper than anticipated learning curves, or
rethinking our roles to include Internet know-how transfer. In addition, we have often
miscalculated the affective impact of the technology on our students (irresistibly, even
addictively "sexy" for some, intimidating or terrifying for others). Often we
are so keen on using all the technological resources we have that we plan
"high-end" projects that automatically exclude many potential partners.
|
|
|
Collaborative work: Here, again, we often
seriously underestimate the importance of building relationships-and the time and
attention it takes to build those relationships, both among the participating faculty and
among the students involved. We forget that many of our students have little or no
experience with any form of written correspondence, and that those who have had penpals
tend to impose their "penpal" expectations on their "e-pal"
correspondents.
|
|
|
Classrooms and learning: In this area,
experience has been a good teacher for those who have paid attention. As Simon Sergeant
noted recently,.I tend to spend more time on learner training in class making sure
students understand the purpose of an activity, what they need to do, etc. and afterwards
eliciting what has been learned and dealing with any problems, then summarizing individual
learning so that it becomes the collective property of the other students. On those
occasions when we have tried to fit the Internet into existing lesson plans without
adjusting and adapting along the way, the old and the new tend to rub and push against
each other like the two sides of a geologic fault. (Sutherland, 1996)
|
|
|
Isn't it great to be able to share ideas like
that with teachers from around the world! Once you are a member of TESL-L, you will be
able to participate in discussions like this. You will also be able to find all the files
that are available from the archives by sending another message to LISTSERV@CUNYVM.
CUNY.EDU in the body of the message, simply type
|
|
|
LISTSERV (which is a computer program) will
immediately send you a list of the files. Here are some of the files that are listed in
the archives, available to help you use the Web effectively:
|
|
|
web projects: Ideas for using the WWW to
facilitate language learning.
|
|
|
websites langling: A list of web sites related
to language and linguistics.
|
|
|
websites more: Suggestions from TESLCA-L of WWW
sites to demonstrate to ESL/EFL teachers who are new to computers.
|
|
|
websites tesl: A list of web sites with
resources related to TESL/TEFL.
|
|
|
If you would like a list of all the back issues
of English Teaching Forum Magazine available in the TESL-L archives, send the
following message to LISTSERV@CUNYVM. CUNY.EDU
|
|
|
LISTSERV will send you a complete list of the
archived FORUM issues along with instructions for retrieving them electronically in
minutes.
|
|
|
The TESL-L forum is the largest interactive
discussion forum on the Internet, but it is really minute in comparison with everything
else that is there. There are archives like TESL-L's of classroom materials, lesson plans,
course descriptions, bibliographies, and class activities etc., all over the Internet,
particularly in the World Wide Web. However, the place to go to learn about all these
things and how to use them is the meeting place of 16,000 of your colleagues, TESL-L.
|
|
|
To find other e-mail forums (generally known as
"lists") that might be of relevance and interest to you, send an e-mail message
to
|
|
|
Leave the subject line blank and then write in
the message
|
|
|
(substituting your subject for
"topic").
|
|
|
If you have WWW, other tools for locating lists
are:
|
|
|
Follow the instructions given above (for joining
TESL-L) when you have located a list that you want to join; you must address your mail to
the correct LISTSERV address, though, and substitute the name of the list you want to join
for the word "TESL-L" in the instructions above.
|
|
|
Other e-mail-based or text-based resources on
the Internet are gopher (try typing GOPHER at your system prompt to see if you can get it)
and NETNEWS/USENET, a collection of 10,000 electronic bulletin boards
("newsgroups"), many of which are of interest to TESL/TEFL teachers. To access
Netnews, try typing "netnews" at the systems prompt if you do not see netnews as
a menu pick.
|
|
|
E-mail "lists" and newsgroups are
excellent ways for the newcomer to the net to learn what resources are available and how
to use them. For the established "netter," lists and newsgroups remain valued
sources of news and companionship. Most Internet users, even the ones who have
"advanced" Web access, use e-mail daily and find it the most helpful part of
their net activity. Those who do not yet have reliable and inexpensive Web access will be
well served by e-mail, "text-based" resources.
|
|
|
b. World Wide Web: Most people really
enjoy using the World Wide Web (WWW) because it is so easy, looks and sounds attractive,
and has an immense wealth of information and data. To take advantage of the Web, you need
a really fast and stable connection, a computer that supports graphical environments, and
an Internet provider that offers Web service. Therefore, many, if not most, people in the
world today still cannot access the Web on a regular basis, for reasons of expense or
limitations of technology.
|
|
|
However, even though the Web is still
inaccessible to millions of people, it is the WWW that is really driving the Internet
today, and it is certainly the wave of the future. The Web has characteristics that no
other medium can match. Perhaps the hardest to imagine is the vastness and variety of it,
the sheer wonder of the freedom of finding precisely the topic and people that one wants,
free of restrictions of time or place. At its most elementary, the "Web" is
enticing for four important reasons:
|
|
|
- It is in color, and the color quality is good;
- it has graphics and attractive formatting capabilities;
- it can transmit full-motion video; and
- it can transmit sound, including voice and music.
|
|
|
Of course, TV and various other media have these
attributes too, so the question can still be posed: What is so special about the World
Wide Web? For educators, the most revolutionary and important attribute of the Web is hypertext
. Essentially, hypertext is a way of presenting material and information in layers, or
"stacks." A piece of text that has hypertext items is prepared in HTML
(hypertext markup language), and certain words or phrases in the text are colored
differently from the rest of the text. The color coding indicates that if the reader
clicks on the colored word with the mouse, another text or set of information will be
accessed and revealed. And, most amazing, the source of the second "layer" of
information that is thus revealed might be a Web site that is located on a machine
thousands of miles away, using seamless hypertext "links." The second layer of
reading that unfolds when the user points with the mouse and "clicks" on a
hypertext item may itself include hypertext items; so the layers of reading and search are
infinite (or, "infiNET"). Hypertext allows one piece of text to be read at
varying levels of complexity and depth, which is a boon to teachers. One application for
language learners is to have the dictionary "embedded" in the document, so that
readers can "click" on a word that they don't know and immediately get a
definition of the word. The Web is not the only place you can find hypertext, though. Most
CD-ROMs have hypertext; a good example would be the Microsoft Encarta CD-ROM
encyclopedia. Because hypertext allows reading at many different levels and speeds, it is
an important tool in the classroom and can greatly help teachers faced with large classes
and/or groups with varying levels of proficiency. Students can never claim that they have
finished reading!
|
|
|
The WWW needs two important tools in order to be
usable: a "search engine" and a "browser." Obviously, a search engine
is necessary if one is to locate anything in as vast a landscape as the WWW, and there are
many useful ones available. The most famous are Yahoo and Lycos . Perhaps
the most useful to academics is AltaVista . In any case, most World Wide Web
service providers supply several search engines, and the new user will soon learn the
strong points of each. They generally all work the same way: Users type in keywords that
represent the item that they are interested in finding, and then the search engine goes to
work, searching all the linked computers of the world, and then comes back with a list of
"sites" where the keyword has been found. However, no Web document is readable
without a sort of interpreter or reader, called a "browser," which will turn the
meaningless machine hieroglyphics of the Internet into readable material and gorgeous
pictures and sound. The most famous browsers are Netscape Navigator, Mosaic , and Microsoft's
Internet Explorer . Microsoft and Netscape are in a fight to the death
for market share, since whoever dominates the World Wide Web will have enormous power in
the future. As part of their battle to win the hearts and minds of the Web public, all
three browsers are available free by downloading from the Internet.
|
|
|
Students love to do Web searches. They are
engrossed, reading, writing, and learning while not even realizing it. The World Wide Web
is perfect for collaborative research proj- ects. Students in some classes even make Web
"pages" that describe themselves and their classmates. Obviously, many language
skills go into the creation of a Web page, and the teachers will have to teach students
the HTML language, which is really pretty easy. My own students, though, do quite serious
research on the Web without actually creating anything on it. They also get "free
time" when they can look for anything they want. Invariably, they go searching for
the words of songs of their favorite singing stars. Once they find the songs, they pore
over them and sing them, trying to reconcile them with what they had tried to figure out
from listening to the records. I have trouble getting my students to leave the computer
lab, which means that they are really engaged in their activities on the Web because the
Web not only provides content, it provides motivation.
|
|
|
The Internet, including the Web, is still a
primitive version of our future in electronic communications, but it is already exciting,
a wonderful source of information, fun, and language practice. True, some parts of the
Internet, especially Web "pages," are often trivial and extremely dull, but
there are also many that are inspired and fascinating. Some are offensive, but can easily
be avoided. For English language teachers, much of the Internet is an opportunity for
"authentic language" interaction and learning, and it is both a window to the
future and a mirror of our present. It is indescribable, and all teachers owe themselves
and the students they influence the chance to experience this phenomenon, to glimpse the
future. But don't take my word for it.try it and see for yourself!
|
|
|
Anthea
Tillyer teaches English as a Second Language and Technical Writing at the City
University of New York. She founded the TESL-L electronic network as its project director.
|
|
|
Return
|
|
|
- Dern, D. P. 1994. The Internet guide for new use. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Ellsworth, J. H. 1994. Education on the Internet: A hands-on book of ideas. Resources,
project and advice. Indianapolis, IN: Sam's Publishing.
- Harris, J. 1996. The way of the Ferret. Eugene, OR: ISTE.
- Jonassen, D. H. 1996. Computers in the classroom. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- Tillyer, A. 1994. Modem Times: English Teaching Forum, 33, 4, pp. 2-9.
|
|
Footnote 1
| *Editor's note: c). File Transfer Protocol, an
application program for passing files from one computer to another. d). telnet: an
application program that allows you to log on to a remote computer. |
Footnote 1
| *Editor's note: c). File Transfer Protocol, an
application program for passing files from one computer to another. d). telnet: an
application program that allows you to log on to a remote computer. |
Back to Article
|
. |
. |