Internet in the K-12 Classroom -- Week 4

Weekly Reader 4: Feedroom (PC users only)

Quicktime Educational TV (For Mac and PC users)

      Video streaming is becoming more common on the Internet with the increase of broadband, but requires updated video plug-ins to be installed on your computer (see Week 3). First try the sites. If you cannot view the videos, Mac users may need the latest Quicktime download. PC users may need the latest Real Player and/or Microsoft's newest Media Player.

     If you are successful at viewing streaming media, discuss how you might use it in your classroom.

    If you are unsuccessful at seeing streaming media at either site and are unsure about downloading and installing plug-ins, you may instead comment on your failed attempts to view these videos and share your frustrations. Give general commentary on the state of video streaming today.

(Curriculum Development Unit Template and Comparison/Contrast studies are not due until Week 8. Post only a summary.)

(Optional) This week provides time for you to develop your three course projects. If you are working with a partner, you must arrange a means of collaborating across the Internet. You can use email with attachments, you can communicate within a threaded discussion on WebCT, or you might consider a peer-to-peer connection with multimedia options. These are available with Instant Messaging services such as AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Messenger, and Netscape Messenger. These services are useful for connecting live with specific people. They are also useful for sharing files back and forth. If you are curious about Instant Messaging, now is your chance to try it. You and your partner(s) download one of the suggested programs and link up across the Internet. Your instructor's personal favorite is Yahoo! Messenger.

	Week 4 Assignments (1-4)	Top
	1. Personal Inquiry project must be shared in a format others can view. Upload options: Make a Web page at www.geocities.com a division of Yahoo. If you are already a Yahoo member (email, Messenger, Briefcase) simply log in. Otherwise, create a quick, free account. Type up or paste your Personal Inquiry text into this Web page and post the URL in the Discussion Forum. Here are some Personal Inquiry examples created by previous participants in this class: Bonnie \| Nancy \| Tamara For written documents uploaded to WebCT's Discussion Forum, save using Rich Text Format (.RTF), which is PC/Mac compatible. It is available as a save option on most word processors. PowerPoint files are OK, but watch the size. The graphic below shows the .RTF save option in Word.

	2. Read at least two other participants' Personal Inquiry attachments and give feedback. Remark on what you like best. Offer suggestions and additional resources.
	3. By Friday, post a brief summary that discusses your Primary Unit Plan and Curriculum Comparison/Contrast Study.

SPECIAL NOTE: The following sections are informational only. It is strongly encouraged that you read and explore these other Internet protocols because they offer you FULL ACCESS to all the Internet can provide. However, there are no required assignments. You are welcome to post an optional commentary on your experiences or to ask questions.

The Web is simply the most popular area, after email. The Web gets the center of attention because it is so colorful and animated. If Yosemite Park in California were the Internet, the World Wide Web would be Yosemite Valley. Valley visitors see the splendor of multiple waterfalls and majestic domes in easy proximity, but they miss a vast portion of the park. There are less-traveled side roads and and trails that lead to other wonders. Learn to use other protocols

Note: There are no written assignments associated with the following protocol information. It is encouraged that you trial your access and understanding of these protocols. You will find many other resources awaiting you.

Usenet/NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol)
(Note: email and Usenet examples will both use Outlook Express)

News Groups have traditionally been blocked from schools because their content is completely uncensored. The alt-dot section (alt.) alone discusses every conceivable topic. However, for the mature person with academic interests, newsgroups offer over 50,000 discussion boards dealing with intellectual, philosophical, and controversial issues. Teachers can put Usenet to great use as a collegial meeting place outside the classroom.

Everyone with an Internet account has access to the Usenet news server supported by their ISP. Users must configure a news reader program to logon to Usenet. Outlook Express, for example, is a news reader and has a Usenet News Logon Wizard.

To quickly access Usenet groups across the Web without configuring a news reader, you can now enter the discussion boards from a variety of paid sites. I suggest using Google Groups, which are free.

Notice if you join Google Groups then you are allowed to post your own messages to the discussion boards.

File Transfer Protocol allows files to travel across the Internet to remote machines. It's the protocol used when you download a file or upload Web pages to your Web server. It also has commands for renaming and deleting files remotely. FTP can be accessed from a Web browser by using ftp:// instead of http://, but people usually use an FTP program like shareware CuteFTP and freeware WS-FTP LE.

Long ago it was common to log onto FTP servers to search for games, music, and graphics. With the expansion of HTTP and integrated one-click FTP downloading from the Web, the popularity of hosting free FTP servers faded. Currently, people mostly use stand-alone FTP programs for maintaining their Web sites.

You can experiment with the ftp:// protocol using your Web browser. When logged onto an ftp site, your browser will show the directory structure of the remote hard drive rather than a Web page.

To logon to IDSoftware and download a copy of Doom or Quake (be a kid again!) type in ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com. Once there, click on the IDSTUFF folder, then enter any game you like. Follow the WIN32 folders if you are a Windows user. Right click on the game and chose to copy it to your hard drive.

A listserver is a program that continually watches for incoming mail on a certain mailbox and forwards any message to a list of other addresses. Listservers connect people with common interests, like educators. There are hundreds of mailing lists. Most listservers can automatically handle requests to subscribe or unsubscribe.

Before joining a Listserv, ask yourself if you want the potentially significant increase in email that comes with being a member. Some Listservs are quite active and will fill a mailbox quickly. You could consider setting up a free Web email account to receive Listserv mail. This would keep it separate from your daily email.

A common way to join is to simply send an email to the listserv@ address with the word "subscribe" in the subject line and as the only body text in your email. Some services also want your name. Visit the Web site of any Listserv you wish to join for further instructions if a simple subscribe request doesn't work. Remember "unsubscribe" in the subject line and body is sufficient to quit a group.

The list of educational Listservs available at ASKEric is extensive. Visit a few sites and study how the Listserv communities are organized. You may join a Listserv if you wish. It is not required.

Telnet lets your local computer act as a terminal for a remote computer. When you telnet to another computer, you are actually logged into the remote computer. This is another protocol that has been displaced with the Web. The need to telnet in anywhere is fading, but a few Telnet services are still available, like ANZIO. If you visit ZDNet Downloads and search for "telnet" you will see many programs are still available. Windows has a default telnet client accessible by typing Telnet in the Run command.

Let's Telnet! Optional We will visit a harmless Lord of the Rings Interactive Game MUD server that's been running for years. A telnet client is built into all flavors of Windows.

Go to Start > Run and type "telnet mume.pvv.org" without the quotation marks. The telnet client will open, and if the server is still working you will be on an old roll-playing game site for Lord of the Rings. Go ahead and enter NEW to create a character if you wish. Otherwise, disconnect.

IRC offers free, live chat with people from all over the world on a world of topics. This is where the Internet comes to life. Thousands of people are logged onto IRC at any time of the day or night.

There are hundreds of IRC channels on numerous subjects hosted on IRC servers around the world. When you join a discussion, your messages are broadcast worldwide to everyone in that group.

You may be familiar with specialized Instant Messaging Chat services like AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Messenger, and Netscape Messenger. These services are useful for connecting live with specific people -- friends, family, students, fellow educators, people with similar interests. These services are also useful for sharing files between specific people. However, none of them is as open for discussion as IRC.

IRC is an open forum with the world. Anyone with an IRC client program, like mIRC, can join in the conversations. They are not always educational, but it is possible to meet interesting people and make new friends.

If you read the text in the screen shot below you will see that many chat rooms are moderated for appropriate netiquette. DrRain, a moderator, kicked out a member with an inappropriate nickname because he refused to change it.

As an Internet-using educator working with teenagers, you should know what the students are using. IRC is extremely popular with teens.

mIRC is the most popular IRC client. It provide a graphical interface for logging onto popular servers and obtaining a list of their active channels. It comes as a free demo with the full version costing $20.

To learn all about IRC with a full explanation and tutorial, visit mIRC's What is IRC?

An easy-to-use file retrieval program, based on hierarchical, distributed menus that was popular before the World Wide Web was created. Gopher was the way to search the Internet for specific texts before the Web arrived. It has fallen out of favor now. If you would like to visit "gopherspace" and see the ruins -- some listings of all the gophers sites that used to thrive -- visit this ultimate gopher directory start point at. GOPHER Check out "All the Gopher Servers in the World" link. Scroll down through it. Notice four things while you are there.

4. Veronica2 lives! Veronica is a database of gopher items. Veronica stores all titles that appear in Gopher menus anywhere in the world. You can search Veronica here: gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/7/v2/vs If you find anything interesting, return and share it with the group

Usenet (NNTP)	File Transfer (FTP)	Listserv (email SMTP)
Telnet	Internet Relay Chat (IRC)	Gopher