Online Projects for Beginners

What is an online project?

¨ Educational activity or project accessible via the Internet

¨ Takes advantage of the collaborative and information resources of the Internet

¨ Various types of online projects are available

* Interpersonal Exchanges and Correspondence

* Information Gathering and Analysis

* Collaborative Problem Solving and Competitions

Why Bother? : )

¨ Access up-to-the minute information

¨ Collaborate with experts and peers from around the world

¨ Generate student excitement

¨ Generate community enthusiasm and positive relationships

¨ Expand learning potential

¨ Participate in authentic, important, relevant work

Go For It!

¨ Think about curriculum goals

¨ Keep it simple to begin with

¨ Take it one step at a time

¨ Explore online projects - Locate resources **

* Project Registries

* Keypals

* Subscribe to listservs

* Curriculum already online

* Contests

* Design your own Internet based project

§ Internet-ize your lesson plans

§ Develop collaborative projects

¨ Check out the details

* Consider how the parameters of the project will fit with your curriculum, students, and schedule

§ Goals and objectives

§ Experience/skills needed

§ Grade levels desired

§ Grouping

§ Materials necessary

§ Kinds of information to be shared – text, graphics, sounds, etc.

§ Ways of sharing information – email, attachments, WWW, FTP, live conferencing

§ Timeline and deadlines

¨ Form partnerships

¨ Teach and test skills WHILE students are taking part in the project!

¨ Complete the project

TIPS to help you maximize your learning and fun!

¨ Start Simple!!!

¨ Be committed

¨ Be a student

¨ Ask for help

¨ Hang in there!

¨ Compromise when necessary

**A FEW treasures from TONS:

Explanation and Examples of Types of Online Projects

Virtual Architecture’s Web Home

http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~jbharris/Virtual-Architecture/index.html

Creating Successful Internet Projects - http://L2L.ed.psu.edu/linktuts/inteproj.htm

Global Schoolhouse Project Sources - http://www.gsn.org/web/pbl/find/sites.htm

More Treasures

Project Registries

Global SchoolNet Foundation - http://www.gsn.org/project/index.html

Education World - http://www.education-world.com/

Ed’s Oasis Treasure Zone - http://www.EDsOasis.org/Treasure/Treasure.html

NickNacks Telecollaborate! - http://home.talkcity.com/academydr/nicknacks/

I*EARN - http://www.iearn.org/

Keypals

Intercultural Email Classroom Connections (IECC) - http://www.iecc.org/

ePALS - http://www.epals.com/

More than Just Penpals! - http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/online/coll1.htm

Listservs

Classroom Connect: http://www.connectedteacher.com/listServ/subscribe.asp

The Global SchoolNet Foundation hosts numerous mailing lists.

URL: http://gsn.org/cgi-bin/majordomo

K12 Opps send email to majordomo@gsn.org with the line

“subscribe k12opps-digest” as the first line in the body of the message.

Online Curriculum

Scholastic Network - http://www.scholastic.com/index.asp

Classroom Connect –

1. AmericaQuest - http://quest.classroom.com/marketing/AmQuest.asp

2. ClubNet and others - http://products.classroom.com/registration/allproducts.asp

Education Place - http://www.eduplace.com/projects/online.html

Contests

CyberFair - http://www.gsn.org/cf/

ThinkQuest - http://www.thinkquest.org/

AT&T Virtual Classroom - http://www.att.virtualclassroom.org/

Design your own

Link2Learn web site: Integrating the Internet - http://L2L.ed.psu.edu/linktuts/intemain.htm

Global Schoolhouse – Harnessing the Power of the Web

http://www.gsn.org/web/index.htm

Get ideas and resources from other teachers and kids themselves -

* KidSpeak - http://www.4teachers.org/kidspeak/

* KIDS Report - http://kids.library.wisc.edu/

* Pioneering Partners – http://www.pioneeringpartners.org

Important:

Web-based projects create an opportunity for both students and teachers to be producers rather than simply consumers. Remember, the strength of the Internet is in the sharing!