Success Models for the Integration of the WWW in Primary Education

Introduction

In preparation of a thesis on the uses of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) in primary education, five schools in Sydney have been investigated who are making significant uses of the Internet and the WWW in teaching and learning. These schools have been using the Internet and the WWW for approximately 6-12 months and have made significant achievements in its use.

These investigations provide us with a beginning look at how primary schools are presently using the Internet and the WWW in their classroom, how they are integrating it into teaching and learning and what factors influence the success and the difficulties of integrating this technology into primary education. It seems that the WWW is being used in four main ways. These include:

• To initiate e-mail communication.
• To search for resources.
• To establish home pages.
• To interact in global projects.

E-mail Communication

Schools are using e-mail for different purposes and to different degrees. One school that was investigated spends 80-90% of Internet usage dedicated to e-mail correspondence. Since December 1995, this school has received approximately 1,400 e-mail messages and has sent around 1,000 replies. The class receives approximately 15-30 letters per day from which students reply to during different intervals of the day. The corresponding countries that they are involved with include: USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand and Ecuador. Incoming and outgoing e-mail messages are always screened by the teacher.

Other schools are using e-mail to correspond with teachers and students within the school. Here they can relay information and messages that are relevant to certain teachers and grades.

Through e-mail students are being encouraged to develop their writing skills and to look at different styles of writing. It provides students with a writing task that has purpose and meaning. On-line communication is quite different to other forms of communication. It is primarily text based, is widely distributed and allows for fast and easy communication. Through e-mail, students learn how to use different communication techniques that they have not come across before. (Harris, 1996).

To locate schools with whom to communicate with, it is best to search the WWW to locate their e-mail address. There are a few locations at which lists of world-wide on-line schools can be found. Some of these include the Web66 International WWW School Registry [HRef1], and AusWired [HRef2].

WWW Searching

Schools are using the WWW to find information relating to school and global projects. From the investigations reported in this paper, it was found that students are using the WWW to search for information on a range of topics such as the environment, the weather, wildlife and disasters. These students are being encouraged to see the WWW as another research tool to be used in collaboration with existing research tools.

Through the WWW teachers can access a range of resources and ideas relating to teaching and learning activities. Useful sites on the WWW listed by teachers include The Department of School Education [HRef3], SchoolsNet [HRef4], EdNA [HRef5], National Schools Network [HRef6], and OzKidz [HRef7], which are Australian based organisations that provide suitable resources for use in Australian schools.

Schools are using the WWW to varying degrees mainly due to cost. Some schools, who are part of a Departmental trial program, pay a local call dial-in fee which enables them to use the WWW more regularly. Other schools who are paying higher rates are not as willing to spend as much time searching.

Searching on the WWW needs to be purposeful for it to be worthwhile. A successful search requires more than just looking for information. Before searching, a goal should be decided upon and a process needs to be planned. Students need to develop searching strategies that will enable them to select key words, implement the search, retrieve the desired information by either viewing, printing or saving, and to reflect on the search results to see if they have met their goal. (Nanlohy & Howe, 1996).

For example, one teacher, when instructing groups of students on how to implement a WWW search, highlights different aspects of Netscape that produce an effective search. Students learn about using different search engines, selecting key words to implement the search and how to select the desired information. Students also learn how to save the information to a word processing document and modify it to suit their own needs.

The issue of students accessing inappropriate material through the WWW is very prominent. To address this issue schools are ensuring that students are always supervised whilst using the WWW. Other ways of addressing this issue could include establishing contracts or acceptable user policy (AUP) between the school, parents and student or by installing prevention software. Prevention software such as NetNanny [HRef8], SurfWatch [HRef9], CyberPatrol [HRef10], CyberSitter [HRef11] and WebTrack [HRef12] are not always successful in screening out all inappropriate material. This issue is under current debate amongst educators within the EdTech discussion group [Href13]. It has been noted that prevention software should be used with care as some of these programs, if not installed correctly, may corrupt existing systems. They also pose the question whether the responsibility of protecting children from inappropriate material is that of the software or rather that of the parents and educators.

Home Pages

For instance, at some schools students are involved in creating their own home pages which contain a picture of themselves and information about their interests and lifestyle. By creating their own web pages, students are learning how to use html language and how to incorporate graphics. These individual web pages will be useful for other students to access from around the world and to further enhance global relationships.

Global Projects

Harris (1996) states that due to limited facilities in schools, it is important to design and choose on-line activities that are clearly related to the curriculum and which could not be achieved as well by using other teaching methods. In planning an on-line project, Harris suggests that a number of existing projects should be viewed to see how they are organised. Riel (1992 in Harris, 1996) suggests that on-line projects should ideally involve one or two other classrooms, or five to ten on extended projects, to gain maximum cultural and regional diversity. Riel suggests that the information gathered from these projects should be made available to a wide audience so its achievements can be shared.

Schools are involved in projects that focus on a number of different themes such as environmental awareness, industries, countries and their cultures, animals, current affairs and the Olympics [HRef14]. The success of these projects is determined by ensuring that the project relates specifically a curriculum area, that students are actively involved in the project and that they acquire knowledge and communication with other students during the course of the project. The OzKidz School Internet Projects site [HRef15] is an excellent resource for initiating involvement in global projects.

A number of schools are integrating the WWW successfully and are making significant achievements in integrating this technology into teaching and learning. What we are endeavouring to find out is, what is it that is making this integration successful in these schools?

From this investigation, we have established a range of criteria on how these schools are successfully integrating the WWW in their classroom. These include:

• Teachers are enthusiasts who have a desire to see this technology in their classroom. They do have some background in computer technology - but most are only new to the workings of the Internet and the WWW.
• Schools have managed to locate adequate resources to enable them to purchase the necessary equipment needed.
• Through training courses (for a limited number of teachers) and time spent working on the WWW, teachers have developed skills to aid the use of this technology within the classroom.
• Teachers are aware of the importance of linking this technology to the curriculum and using it as a tool for learning, not as a separate identity.
• Teachers have established contacts with others users with whom they have shared ideas, discoveries and helped each other to overcome problems.
• Experienced teachers are helping to train other teachers to become experienced and use this technology in their classrooms.
• Students are taking on the responsibility of using the technology in an appropriate manner.

We have only just begun to touch on the idea of the integration of the WWW in schools, and through its continued use, schools will be able to further refine and improve the quality of its integration within classrooms.

References

Hypertext References

Copyright