1)  What goals do I have for myself and the students when using the Web?
2)  How will the internet help us to reach these goals?
3)  How does a teacher physically manage an electronic method of communication (i.e. when the students are not in class)? 
4)  Is it fair to offer a service that about half of my students can not use at home?

These questions have an added significance to me, because my district will open a new science computer lab in nine months.  My level of technology integration is low; therefore, I feel pressure to improve and develop a game plan for internet use.  Meanwhile, my administration is focused on our district's DSTP scores and has applied pressure to increase our scores.  If I could use the internet "as a process, product, and tool" (Moersch 1999) to increase my students' scores and  help them master a vital new method of communication, my students will be prepared and the administration will be satisfied.

Because the DSTP is based on Delaware's standards and performance indicators, the goal of internet use is the same as any other classroom activity: to help students achieve the standards.  Beyond increasing their test scores, I also feel obliged to prepare students for the next phase in their life.  Computer use has changed the way many jobs are performed, and in higher education computer literacy is mandatory.

The skills required to use computer technology are equally as important as the effect of technology on the method of learning.  Often my students must learn to grasp scientific concepts developed by some previous person, but the decision making process that students must use to solve problems is equally as important.  The use of computer technology encourages the decentralization of the decision-making process and hands the controls over to the students.  I have a strong tendency to maintain control over classroom decision making.  Yet, if I want my students to make intelligent decisions outside of the classroom, I must allow them opportunities to develop their decision-making skills.  In laboratory activities, I have learned to allow students to design their investigation.  Eventually, the use of computers will augment these physical experiments and will create a more diverse learning experience for the students.  The following three objectives will guide my use of the internet in my classroom:

1)  To improve students' DSTP test scores by helping them reach state standards and achieve performance indicators.
2)  To prepare students for employment and higher education by familiarizing them with the tools and capabilities of computers and the internet.
3)  To allow students to solve "authentic" (Lightspan 2000) problems by using their own logic and observations.

How will I serve my students and my supervisors with the internet?  My approach will be incremental.  I have already taken the first steps by using common software and the internet to prepare for my traditional classroom activities.  The next quantum leap is to put all the students in front of computers, rather than a token demonstration with a student in control.  At my school there are many people who are knowledgeable about computer technology, and they are both gracious and helpful.  I plan to lean on their expertise.  My initial internet use will probably be much like my first three years of teaching, a process of trial and error.  Some worksheets are meaningful, some are not.  Some inquiry activities are meaningful, and some are not.  Like a good recipe, refinement and adjustment are often the key to changing something that is no good into a masterpiece.  Changing wasted class time into a meaningful experience can often be accomplished with a few strategic changes, perhaps in management, assessment, and/or process.  Initially, many nuts and bolts issues of electronic communication will limit the scope of what I try in my classroom.  For instance, am I comfortable with the settings I have chosen for the listserv protocol?  Currently I must check each new member before they join, but I have not placed a check on all messages posted to the group.  Is this appropriate, or will the rules need adjustment?  Will my WebQuest project help or hinder my students' understanding of Newton's laws and collisions? One pilot version of the science portion of the DSTP had a question on the collision of two bodies of different mass. Why not use problems similar to the question on the test to prepare students, and then move on to other concepts?  Worksheets that mimic the format of the test exactly are not harmful, unless they are the only a method of instruction and evaluation.  This points out one of the almost automatic strengths of the Web, its ability to engage students with different styles of learning.  That is why the Web should be folded into instruction. Verbal, visual, abstract, and mathematical learners can all find information in the form they find most palatable. Another dimension of learning is the emotional learning students can experience when collaborating with students far outside their normal circles.  All of these techniques (listserv, WebQuest, tellacollaboration) and a slow process of trial and error will allow me to find the activities and methods most effective with my students.

After covering the initial hurdles of management and transferring my classroom rules into electronic classroom rules, my vision for internet use in my classroom will be as Judy Harris describes (link to entire paper).  Students will

"..be exposed to multiple points of view, perspectives, beliefs, interpretation, and/or experience ... compare and contrast and/or combine similar information from dissimilar locations ... communicate with a real audience using the written language."

Communication and dialogue are not new concepts in the scientific community.  As stated in the introduction, it is the new convenience and accessibility of collaboration on the Web that makes Telecollaborative projects so appealing.  Not only can students and teachers have a dialogue with their distant internet peers, but they also present the results of the study to the 'community' through verbal, graphical, and mathematical ideas.  To take the electronic classroom to the extreme is to have students, mostly independent from lecturing teachers, working on 'authentic' problems with their global peers and presenting and refining their concepts with the modern tools of technology in an electronic forum.  As one Lightspan article stated, "the age of the teacher as the primary font of knowledge is gone." In the highest level of technological integration, teachers learn 'side-by side' (Lightspan 2000) with their students.  Students personalize their mode of instruction, the objectives of the projects, and the criteria by which they are judged.  This end state integration seems to be at odds with one of my primary goals, increasing students' test scores.  Allowing students to make some decisions (as they do in lab activities) will be my technique.  The standards and performance indicators dictate what concepts my students should master; therefore, I must set the schedule and define mastery.  The end state of technological integration, according to Christopher Moersch in the LOTI scale , sounds more like anarchy to me.  While some projects may have a permanent and worthwhile impact on a student's life, if the project does not address specific standards, I would have a hard time justifying such a project in my curriculum.  I try to make my decision-making process transparent to my students; therefore, asking them to link their resources and projects to specific standards and performance indicators should help them see the finish line. 

Once students have learned to mine the resources of the Web and communicate with its many tools, I will be concerned about managing my students' internet behavior. My concept behind internet protocol mirrors my behavioral standards in class and since I physically can't control what my students say in class, why should I try to censor or filter their input to an electronic discussion?  It is unreasonable for me to want to control my students' behavior outside of class.  Yet, when I send  my internet policy sheet home, parents could view such activities as opening a Pandora's box.  By making the rules clear in class and on the Web, students know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.  An excellent template for acceptable use policy is provided by Lawrence Magid in Child Safety on the Information Highway.  I can adapt his rules to be issued in paper and on the Web within my own class. The only unresolved management issue concerns identity. In class it is easy to know who said what, but on the Web it can be unclear.  Security, accountability, and academic honesty are all management issues that are literally easier to handle in the physical classroom.  This is one of the many areas where I'll have to rely on the help of my more sophisticated colleagues.

If technology can help students of all learning styles achieve the Delaware science standards, and I can master the new skills of managing an electronic classroom; my final concern is the possible inequity of access to resources at home across my student population.  My administration mandates the issuing of textbooks to all students to even the playing field; so that all students have access to the important information.  Many students do not have computers at home and therefore, requiring homework that involves a computer is unreasonable.  The best solution is to make the assignments possible with the text or the internet, and to encourage the use of both.  If alternative methods of problem solving are available, a student without a home computer will not be handicapped.  At the same time, students who use the internet will demonstrate the advantages of the Web to their classmates. As stated in the introduction, I will have the privilege of a new science computer lab so that more student computer time will be available in class.  Bravo to Milford School District. 

The path to a technologically rich classroom is intimidating.  My vision of the end state will guide the journey.  The best uses of the Web help my students to make their own observations and base their decisions on these observations.  The state of Delaware has provided me with the criteria for student achievement.  In my physical and electronic classroom I can introduce my students to many scientific ideas, but if I can not teach them to be independent thinkers then I have not met my goals.  If I can implement my objectives correctly, the techniques of research and communication offered by the internet will increase students' ability to think on their own, as well as familiarize them with the work of scientists in the past, and maybe even improve their scores on standardized tests.

Resources

Moersch, Christopher. (1999). Technology Use in the Classroom: A Key to Efficient Staff Development and Technology Planning,  International Society for Technology. Available: http://www.udel.edu/sine/course/syllabus01/readings/loti_article.pdf [July 19, 2001] 

Global School Net Foundation. (1999). Harnessing the Power of the Web. Available: http://gsh.lightspan.com/web/ [July 19, 2001]

Magid, Lawrence J.(1998). Child Safety on the Information Highway, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Available: http://www.safekids.com/child_safety.htm [July 19, 2001]

Harris, Judy. (2000). Online to Learn or In Line with Standards: An Illusory Dilemma.  International Society for Technology in Education. Available: http://www.udel.edu/sine/course/syllabus01/readings/harris_11_2000.pdf [July 19, 2001]