HIT: INTERNET WORKSHOPS (llong)

[Joan Marstiller <JMarstille@AOL.COM>]

Here is a list of replies regarding Internet Workshops:

we've got guidelines that I think are good--actually they are practical
tips.  You can find them on our home page

wms.luminet.net
        go to the media tech section

or go to Linwroth     at www.linworth.com     and take a look at the
Sept. Tech. Connection portion of the web site. The guidelines are there,
too.
I just had success using those tips at a workshop in Iowa. Good response.
I think the audience was mostly teachers

That's what I did!  Teach them how to use the search engines, then have
some ideas for sites they can find (e.g., Valentine's)  then let them go
at it.

     I just did this with my staff.  30 minutes is not enough time for a
scavenger hunt.  I just introduced what the WWW was and then took them to
Kathy Schrock's Homepage. (I am at home and the address is at school, but
just do a search.)  From there they selected an area they had interest in
and were off on their own.  I also cut out articles and ads from the Sunday
paper and anyone interested in any of the sites, I gave them the ad or
article and they looked it up.  I have a very excited staff now and it was
easy and fun.
        Do not spend too much time talking.  Also I had one teacher per
computer and no more than 7-8 at a time.  It was very successful.
        Also I had a list of websites arranged by subject so they could
pick things from there to access.

     I just did this with my staff.  30 minutes is not enough time for a
scavenger hunt.  I just introduced what the WWW was and then took them to
Kathy Schrock's Homepage. (I am at home and the address is at school, but
just do a search.)  From there they selected an area they had interest in
and were off on their own.  I also cut out articles and ads from the Sunday
paper and anyone interested in any of the sites, I gave them the ad or
article and they looked it up.  I have a very excited staff now and it was
easy and fun.
        Do not spend too much time talking.  Also I had one teacher per
computer and no more than 7-8 at a time.  It was very successful.
        Also I had a list of websites arranged by subject so they could
pick things from there to access.

I have not done workshops with teachers but I just looked at CyberBee at

 http://home.netscape.com/escapes/search/netsearch5.html

I think it would be a very useful site.   In fact from this site I just
printed out a very useful list of Ready Reference Materials on the Web.
I plan on sharing the material with my aids and principals.  This list
of Ready Reference Materials will help you answer the questions in the
Savenger Hunt located at this site.

I do teacher internet inservice in the summer when I am in for summer
school.  I think your idea of 30 minute workshops will be a good
start, but I think you'll find the teachers need more time.  Perhaps
you can schedule some sort of follow ups after the initial one.

What I do is schedule a 3 hour session.  Teachers sign up in groups of
1-3 and we have intensive personalized lessons.  Usually, the first
session takes 15-20 min. of me showing them how easy it is to use
Netscape, and some of the buttons, bookmarks, etc, on it.  then we
search something the teacher is interested in - airline reservations,
antiques, Cape Cod.  It really doesn't matter what, as long as they're
practicing these skills.  The teachers take over and I just hover,
helping when they get stuck. I use small groups because I find adults
don't want to look dumb in front of too many people.

After this session, I find teachers need to go home and they start to
think  about how they can use this in the context of school. They
generally schedule a second session and that's really productive,
because we begin collaborating on how we can work together to develop
assignments for the students.

I tried having teachers in for a class period during the school day,
but they can't relax enough in 40 min to get into the computer, and we
have kids buzzing all around - mad at us for being on "their"
computers!

So, I think you'll have an interesting start, but be aware that you'll
have people demanding more time from you.  And that's a good thing.

Check out the create a Treasure Hunt section of the Filamentality web
site.
I don't have the URL- but it comes up in a search using the word
Filamentality.
They tell you how to creat a scavenger hunt, how to use it and you can
create
one right there using their page.

When I gave my inservice to the staff last year, I had them try three
different sites.  The first was a news site such as CNN or the New York Times
so they could see how current these sites are and how they can search these
sites.  To demonstrate that one can shop on the WWW, I had them place an
order on the Godiva Chocolate site.  It was fun to see how expensive the
orders came to and we stopped before actually placing any orders.  The third
site that I had the teachers look at was one that was worthless.  It was some
college student's site on the net and showed him and his friends drinking
beer.  I showed them this site, so that they could get a sense of the Net as
a vast garbage depository as well.  The inservice was fun and the teachers
saw the range that I wanted them to see.

I ended the inservice by explaining what search engines were and had them try
using a few.  The 45 minutes went quickly and most of the teachers came back
on their own to search on the WWW during their planning periods.