Section Six: Introducing Students to the Internet

Description:

If students in your classes have limited exposure to the Internet, you may wish to provide a self-guided tutorial for them to learn about the mysteries and capabilities of the World Wide Web. I have developed a tutorial that addresses these concerns and allows the student to learn the basic foundations of contemporary Internet culture with minimal discomfort. The tutorial can be offered as a graded exercise or as a self-guided worksheet depending on the requirements of the instructor. In addition, the instructor can add content-specific URLs and topics applicable to the course being studied.

Methodology:

I have enclosed a copy of the tutorial in Appendix D of this report. Note that when students get an email address from excite.com, they will be asked for an email address which is already in existence, something students new to the Internet will not possess. I tell my students to use my email address - mike.russell@mhcc.edu - I will be their "sponsor" if they do not already have an email address. You may wish to have them use a different address - possibly your own email address? (I have had no problems using my address.) Note also that the examples given are for chemistry web sites - you may wish to change them as you see fit for your class.

Results:

The tutorial was used as a required assignment for Chem 221 classes during the Fall of 1999 and the Winter of 2000 at Mt. Hood Community College. Both classes enjoyed and appreciated the assignment. I determined that 97% of my class was connected to the Internet using Email, the Web, etc. upon completion of the assignment. Many had never used email before; many had not used search engines before; and many had no difficulties completing this assignment due to their previous extensive Internet exposure. A full range of student experiences approached the tutorial, but all did well.

The tutorial can be amended in several ways. If you have a discussion email group or mailing list, you can add a section to the tutorial requiring them to add their email address to the list. If you have a Discus bulletin board (see Section Two), you can ask them to submit a comment. You could have them fill out a FERPA form or submit a question to you about the class. There are a multitude of possibilities limited only by your imagination.