Tools for Teachers

Technology has changed everything we do, including education. Teachers, in particular, now benefit from the many ways the Internet can be applied inside and outside the classroom. Developing a virtual classroom, communicating with students online, and more are now a regular part of education, and there are scores of resources online to help teachers implement technology in their teaching.

Communication with Students

• Communicating with Students through E-mail — how to communicate with students using the popular Microsoft Outlook e-mail program
• Designing for Learning — explains what not to do in communicating with students online
• IT Connections — short resource from the University of North Carolina on how students can best communicate with their students
• Online Education: Communication Resources — all manner of links on effective teacher-student communication related to online courses, collaborative learning, and more
• Strong Communication Key to Online Learning — eSchool News shows from a report how effective virtual education depends on strong communication

Virtual Classrooms

• Global Virtual Classroom — great site that give tips for using virtual classrooms and ideas for teachers creating their own
• Instructional Methods In A Virtual Classroom — study that shows effective tips and best practices for virtual classroom
• Educause Quarterly: Supporting Student Teaching Through Virtual Classrooms — how virtual classrooms can help place student teacher candidates in schools
• New York Times: Virtual Classrooms Creating a Marketplace for Knowledge — recent news article on how virtual classrooms are attracting new kinds of students
• Virtual Field Trips — links to all manner of virtual field trips that can be taken in a virtual classroom or elsewhere
• What is a Virtual Classroom? — learn what a virtual classroom is/does and how to use one within Blackboard
• Virtual Classroom Visits — videos on classroom management and more
• The Virtual Classroom — Internet-based plans and presentations on history, psychology, government, economics, geography, and more

Creating a Teacher Website

• 4 Teachers — all sorts of web-based tools for teachers, including tools to help build and complement teacher websites
• Creating a Classroom Website — great collection of tips and examples for using technology to teach
• Creating Teacher Web Page — a collection of great links on creating teacher web pages from a Louisiana school district
• Planning a Quality Teacher Website — many links that explain how to plan and implement a quality teacher website
• SchoolRack — allows teachers to create free websites to communicate with students and parents
• Weebly for Education — another good, free site that allows teachers to create and maintain class websites

Evaluating Internet Resources for Papers

• Evaluating Web Content — an extensive guide for evaluating all manner of web content from the State University of New York University Libraries
• Evaluating Quality on the Net — paper on finding quality resources on the Internet from the director of libraries at Babson College
• Evaluating Information Found on the Internet — Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries’ help for picking the right online information for research
• Evaluating Internet Sources - resources and tips on how to evaluate any source on the web
• Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources — a handy checklist of Internet-source evaluation criteria from New Mexico State University
• Evaluating Web Pages — step-by-step fguide to determining the authenticity of a web page

Online Teaching Tools

• Free Tools for Teachers — an almost endless listing of links to online resources to help with teaching nearly every subject
• Instructional Strategies for Online Courses — some good strategies for incorporating different learning styles in online courses
• Journal of Online Learning and Teaching — an online journal about online education that features dozens of great articles on online teaching
• Teaching Tips for Instructor Learning Online — many good resources on how instructors may best teach online with recommendations from online students
• SMART Board in the Classroom — best practices for using electronic white boards in the classroom
• Technology Tools for Teachers — ideas for using desktop presentations and the Internet in the classroom
• Teacher's Technology Tools — fantastic collection of tools and templates for teachers