Using the Internet in the Classroom

Learn how to use the Internet to make teaching easier for you and more relevant to your students. This course will teach you how to help your students locate valuable resources, improve classroom discussions, and safeguard personal information online.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

Currently Enrolling

Offered in partnership with your preferred school

ed2go

Change School

Learning method

Self-paced

$185

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

Enroll Now

Instructor-led

$170

Confirm your start date in cart

Starting September 13 | October 18

Details + Objectives

Course code: iic

Harness the power of the Internet to make your textbooks and lessons come alive! Teach your students how to locate and evaluate Internet resources. Improve the caliber and amount of discussion through the use of email and discussion boards. Learn how to safeguard your students and their personal information while they are using the Internet. The Internet can make teaching easier, and this course will show you how to fully take advantage of it.

What you will learn

Learn how to teach students to locate and evaluate Internet resources
Understand how to effectively use email and discussion boards to improve classroom discussions
Learn how to safeguard your students and their personal information

How you will benefit

Make your teaching job easier by mastering the use of the Internet in the classroom
Confidently and successfully teach students to use the Internet as a supplement to what they are learning
Bring learning to life as your show students the vast amount of information available at their fingertips

How the course is taught

Instructor-led or self-paced online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

In this lesson, you'll see firsthand the importance of the Internet to education and then experience some fun Internet activities that you can use in your classroom. You'll also research possible funding methods such as grants for creating an Internet learning lab.

This lesson is an introduction to Internet basics. You'll look at its history, how it works, and the top 10 terms you should know when teaching about it. Then, you'll work with directories and search engines. Finally, you'll explore some techniques you can use for introducing your students to the Internet.

Can your textbooks talk? They can now! In this lesson, you'll discover how to use online textbooks and online textbook companions, both of which are great for students of all ages. You'll also visit online libraries and explore the world of free books and resources online. Your classroom bookshelf will grow into a resource library overnight!

Do you need help with a lesson plan? Do you need fresh ideas for your classroom? In this lesson, you'll discover how to use the Internet to supplement your lesson plans and instructional handouts. You'll examine methods for creating traditional lesson plans and handouts with an Internet twist. Then, you'll take an Internet field trip. You'll learn how to create cyberhunts (online scavenger hunts) and WebQuests. Hang on to your hats—this lesson is fun and full of great ideas!

Unfortunately, the Internet isn't all fun and games. This lesson will focus on a more serious aspect of using the Internet in the classroom. It will discuss how to keep your students and children safe while they're online. You'll also learn how to increase the security of a computer and protect your family's personal information. By the end of this lesson, you'll have a handy Internet-use permission form to send home with your students if you choose to do so.

The Internet is a great tool for students to use when they're doing research for a report, but what about students who are too young to understand that they can't turn in reports that they just copied from the Internet? What should you do when you spot passages students lifted? This lesson will discuss the various ways that students use the Internet to cheat and why they do it. You'll learn how to recognize Internet plagiarism and how to prevent it.

Everyone who uses the Internet needs to be able to evaluate the usefulness and truthfulness of websites. In this lesson, you'll find out how to teach younger and older students to do this. You'll get a handout and lots of teaching tips and suggestions.

This lesson will teach you how to use email in the classroom. Email can help you add more hours to your class day so that you can cover all the required material. The lesson will also talk about email etiquette, which is the proper way to use email. Finally, you'll learn how to use email to become a better teacher.

In this lesson, you'll continue your exploration of using email as a teaching tool. You'll consider when it should be used for extending classroom discussions and how to manage the large volume of email messages you may receive from your students. Then, the lesson will discuss how to prepare your students to use email and what you should expect from the messages they write. Finally, it will talk about activities involving email that you can use in your classroom. After this lesson, your classroom discussions will be better than ever before!

This lesson will focus on other tools of communication that the online world offers. Two of them are mailing lists and newsgroups. The lesson will talk about what they are and how to use them. You'll then learn how to provide younger and older students with up-to-date resources.

In this lesson, you'll find out about one more online communication tool for your classroom—free discussion boards. You'll learn how to create, use, and manage one.

The final lesson is devoted to bringing you some time-saving techniques. You'll discover how to use online quizzes, manage grading online, and create certificates for your students and yourself. You'll also find out where to download free educational material.

Instructors & Support

Kt (Katie) Paxton

Kt (Katie) Paxton is a certified teacher with a Master's Degree in Education focusing on Learning and Technology. She has more than 20 years of classroom experience and has been an online instructor since 2003. She also owned and managed a home daycare for five years and is the author of More Adventures With Kids in San Diego. Furthermore, Kt has trained and placed tutors with at-risk students in over 100 schools in addition to working with the students herself.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Led: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Paced: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Led: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Paced: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Led: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Paced: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Led: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Paced: Because this course is self-paced, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

After taking this course, I am excited, rather than apprehensive, about using the internet in the classroom. The discussion and assignments are entirely clear and practical.

Excellent class, especially for teachers with limited technology skills who need to gain the knowledge to become more confident in using technology in their classes.

I enjoyed this course. I will be able to use knowledge gained in the classroom. I got exactly what I wanted from this course.

I found much of the information to be very helpful. I especially value the information on Web Quests because I am trying to help a teacher create one for her American literature class. I will definitely pass along much of the information I have learned in this class.

I really enjoyed this class! I am coming away with information & ideas that I feel my students will enjoy and want to do!

I really enjoyed this course. The information is so helpful. I learned a lot of things that I did not really understand before. Thank you.

This course was great! I especially enjoyed the instructor's writing style and ability to explain terms in everyday language. I am excited about applying this information in my media center.

This was the most useful Internet course I have taken.

What an excellent course! It was filled with practical information that I will use in my classroom this year.