Print this pageWays to Use the Web as a Teaching Tool
HERON, DUNCAN
The Web is a great tool for teaching. There are two aspects of using the Web for teaching: set up a class web page and use exotic web pages as sources of information.
A class Web page often contains specific information about the class such as a syllabus. In my class I have put the slides shown in class on the web for purposes of review. Each topic has a page. To speed up loading time, the graphics are shown as thumbnails. A click on the thumbnails loads a large size version. Leave the explanation off and only title the graphic. Long explanations usually deludes the student into substituting web time for class time.
Using the Web for information and exercises means that the instructor must find a Web site with the appropriate material. Search instructions to a web crawler must be carefully crafted. For example, a recent search of Excite using the word geology produced 144,980 hits and with HotBot 176,819. Obviously searches must be narrow. My observation is that earthquakes offer the greatest variety of interesting web site followed closely by oceanography, but most every subdivision of geology has one or more sites that offer something of teaching value. Specific examples will be demonstrated.