Introduction:

The world that we live in is currently undergoing a fundamental shift in the way that we use and manage information. The Internet, formerly the domain of scientists, technical professionals, and graduate students has become part of the common language of everyday life. It is increasingly the "tool" of choice for those who desire access to information on a wide array of topics through varied media. Everyone from homemakers to business people are "getting connected." We owe it to ourselves as educated individuals to become aware of the resources at our disposal so that we might make wise choices about their use and value to our lives. This course is designed to acquaint us with the relevant terminology and enable us to analyze the tools that we are afforded by this new technology.

Course Description:

Lecture 1 hour ; 1 credit. The course will consist of an introduction to educational resources that can be found on the Internet. The course will focus on the resources available through Old Dominion University and other resources that may be accessed via a commercial (ISP) Internet Service Provider. Students will become acquainted with the tools that are available by searching for information on-line, demonstrating the use of each of the tools in the TCP/IP suite. Students will learn to employ search techniques to locate information that will assist them in their study of the Internet and it's resources. Students will develop the skills necessary to quickly and efficiently critique Web and other Internet sites for instructional purposes.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course students will be able to:

1. Locate identify and critique appropriate instructional resources on the Internet.

2. Keep a portable electronic record (journal) of valuable instructional resources.

3. Access remote computers and utilize their resources.

4. Search for and locate information using Veronica, Archie, Gopher, and the WWW.

5. Define relevant terminology associated with telecommunications and the Internet.

6. Use appropriate search techniques to locate information on specific topics on the WWW.

Course Requirements/Assignments:

• On-line Journal of your experiences surfing the Internet: This journal should be a record of your time spent searching the Web or any other part of the Internet for resources that may be of use to you in your profession as an educator. I would like to know what you are finding. Also include time spent sending / checking your e-mail, navigating gopherspace, getting archie to locate programs for you, FTPing those programs back for your use, zipping / unzipping programs, experiences using telnet to access and use remote computers and resources. I would like to know what you were initially trying to locate / do, and subsequently find out if you were successful / unsuccessful or if you found something totally unrelated, but infinitely better. Please attach any supporting materials that you may have printed out so that I might have a look at all of this great stuff. Please feel free to log any problems that you are experiencing with the exact messages that appear on the screen so that we might be able to do some troubleshooting when you come to class. I will provide a list of sites that I think may be useful to you in your travels. This list will appear at www.whro.org/~tspencer/training/tcman.html (simply insert this text into the location box on your Web browser and hit enter.)

 ***The online journal is to be done through the Netscape bookmark editor*** (from the menu bar in Netscape hit bookmarks|Go to bookmarks|Item|Properites and edit the Description box. Please do not forget to save your work, and always make an extra copy of your bookmarks file. You can now view your personal bookmarks file as a local file in the browser to see the bookmarks and their descriptions.)

• Telecommunications assignments performed in class.
• Telnet to a remote server
• Execute the PINE e-mail program
• Read and reply to e-mail
• Send e-mail to a new address (not replying)
• Use the commands ls, ls -l, ls -l|more, pwd, cd, cd .., md, ps -a, who, cat, talk, and many other powerful Unix commands to navigate directories, manage files, and communicate with others.
• Perform research on specific topics related to the subjects that you teach using newsgroups.
• Perform research on specific topics related to the subjects that you teach using Veronica to locate information on Gopher servers.
• Perform research on specific topics related to the subjects that you teach using Archie to locate information on anonymous FTP sites.
• Perform research on specific topics related to the subjects that you teach using a variety of search engines to locate information on the WWW.
• Perform research on specific topics related to the subjects that you teach using Indexes of Web and other Internet resources.
• Perform research on specific topics related to the subjects that you teach using Veronica or Jughead to locate varied telnet sites that may make available information pertinent to your curriculum.
• Perform research on specific topics related to the subjects that you teach using the various commands that are available through common LISTSERVs.
• Use Netscape Navigator to browse the Web, Gopher sites, anonymous FTP sites, book-marking all items of interest.
• Use the Netscape bookmark editor to organize items in folders, describe folders and individual bookmarks using property sheets. Both Internet tools and curriculum resources should receive this treatment.
• FTP files to a common directory on a distant server that will serve as assignments to be graded by the instructor who also has access to this directory. Note: This is the only way to pass in this assignment, therefore, I will find out if you know how to FTP as per class instruction. ;-)>
• Website Critiques: I would like you to visit five websites that you feel have relevance to the subject(s) that you teach. Write an ~ one page critique of the information/presentation contained on the site and characterize it's potential use in the curriculum that you teach. Describe what you would do to improve the instructional relevance of the site and it's layout so that student comprehension of the subject and interest-level would be maximized.

Grading:

On-line Journal 25%

Class/homework assignments 50%

Website Critiques 25%(In lieu of a final examination)

Grading Scale:

100 - 95 A

94 - 86 B

85 - 78 C

77 - 0 F

Special Needs Students: Students with declared special needs will be accommodated as per University policy. Please meet with the instructor to discuss potential accommodations.

Attendance Policy: Students will be expected to attend all class sessions. If you must be absent from class please contact the instructor before the class is scheduled to meet. Performance-based class assignments and lecture/ discussion participation cannot be made up.

Required Text: The Internet Unleashed 1997, SAMS Publishing, ISBN 1-57521-185-8

Optional Texts: You may choose to use additional resources that can be located at libraries, bookstores, or on the Internet itself. If you find one that may be useful to the class at large, please share that information in class.

Required materials/accounts: A box of high density 3.5" floppy diskettes.

Note: Due to specific interests and needs of class members, as well as the response of the network (both local and Internet) it will be necessary to maintain a high degree of flexibility with this suggested schedule. We may need to change topics or modes of instruction on or during any given class day.