Department of Education Tour

The World Wide Web and Education

Caveat: You must be using Netscape to get the full effect of this Tour. The preceeding sentence should be flashing, and the underlined word below should be red. If it is not, you must find a newer version of Netscape before proceeding.

While you are reading this document using a Macintosh or Windows, you can scroll down the page using the arrows on your keyboard which look like this:

Welcome

Welcome to a primer on the use of the World Wide Web in Education. This initial primer assumes that you don't really have much experience with the growing phenomenon of the Internet and the Web [that's short for World Wide Web, and that's what I'll call it from here on out].

If you have used the Web before, and don't wish to see the Intro, go ahead and click HERE.

If you've never used the Web before, we're going to spend the next half hour or so taking a guided tour of one of the hottest educational tools there is. During the course of this tour, we'll visit France, Sweden, the Soviet Union, several high schools around the United States, England, and several other countries. However, if you haven't skipped the intro, you probably need a quick primer on how to use the Netscape in conjunction with this Tour. O.K.

The World Wide Web is a way to access the Internet using a graphical interface. Just as with using Windows or a Mac, you'll use your mouse to click you from place to place.

Knowing What to Click

The way we'll move from place to place is by clicking on highlighted phrases. These phrases will generally be in a color other than that of the rest of the text, and will be underlined. Most importantly, you'll notice that when you position the arrow, using the mouse, over one of the phrases [called 'Links'], a strange address appears at the bottom of your Netscape window. This is the reference address which tells Netscape where to look for the document you want to see. Try this out by using the mouse to position the arrow over this Link, then moving it away, and then moving it back. You'll see the address, which happens to be for this page, flash at the bottom of the page as you move the cursor back and forth.

Not Getting Lost

A large part of any discovery session consists of finding your way around and remembering your way back. Let's look at how you can find your way back here if you get lost during the tour. If you look at the bar almost at the top of your Netscape window, you'll see nine buttons. The first one, at the far left and just under the word File, called 'Back' will be your navigational aid. If you find yourself in any document as we go along and you are not sure where you are, simply click on the 'Back' key. This will scroll back through the various documents you have viewed until you reach the one you want. At various points on this tour we will leave the Education Department Tour and the only way to get back to it will be through the use of the 'Back' key.

Trying the New Skills

From here let's go ahead and test out the two things you've learned so far: Choosing a link; and moving back. To do this, let's have you choose the following link, and then use your 'Back' key to return to this page. Go ahead and choose this link HERE

Starting the Tour
Fantastic! If you've made it this far, you've mastered the two beginning skills you'll need to complete the rest of the tour. From here, I'll ask you to try to observe two rules for me:

Please try to stay within the tour. Don't wander off.
Your links will be timed.
Have fun!

I ask you to remain firmly seated in the tour bus so that you'll finish up with me. After the you've done this once or twice, or use Netscape on your own, please take all the time you want to explore the world. There are literally thousands of sites waiting to teach you.

As you come across these links while you are reading through the tour, please click on them. They are part of the tour and are there to help you learn what the Web is all about. You'll notice a time in brackets next to each link. Please try to only spend about this amount of time at the link, or moving into links from there, while you are on the tour. Please feel free to explore the relevant links that we go to, then just use the 'Back' button as many times as necessary to get back to the Tour page from which you left. For example, we will first visit the homepage for the Louvre in Paris. Go ahead and click on one of the sub-links [like The Auditorium or Famous Paintings]. But please don't spend more than the alloted time the first time on the tour. Remember you can always go back!

When you click on a link to another computer outside of GMU, it may take a minute or so to establish the connection- so please be patient. If it doesn't work after about 30-60 seconds, just click the 'Stop' button on the Netscape window, on the oppostite side of the row of icons from the Back button. Then try the link one more time. If it doesn't work the second time, go ahead and move on with the tour. There may be a temporary problem with the computer at the other end. You can come back and try it again some other time. However, please be patient. Some places are slower than others. After you click on a link, watch the bottom of the page where the addresses appeared- the status of the link will generally be shown there.