MEANDERING IN CYBERSCHOOL

Teachers develop and shape content, place it in multiple contexts, and assist in building learning communities whether that occurs in a self-contained classroom or in cyberspace. Using the web in teaching, curricular content is not bound by textbooks, traditional teaching materials, or the individual teacher. Specific content may be designed and direction given, but the learner is free to explore alternative pathways to new content. This is not to say that teaching and learning are characterized by aimless wanderings or lack of purpose, although some of our most inspiring discoveries are found as a result of intellectual twists and turns with no fixed direction in mind. Even when one enters the web for a particular purpose or to access specific information (and it is certainly possible to do so), the acquisition of data or satisfaction of a need may lead to a new, unanticipated route. Often the desire to reach a set destination gives way to a sense of destiny as encountering new ideas or meeting new minds assumes priority. In this way, each student creates individual learning paths, shapes personal meanings, and can share ideas or validate new knowledge with others in the virtual world as well as within the classroom community. Encountering web content or the creators of that content from different perspectives encourages the recognition that there is no one right way to perceive the world and helps students to break out of the limiting contexts of a particular teacher, classroom, discipline, region, or nationality. Thus, teaching is less about control and more about helping students sort out, select, and make sense of many alternative meanings.

At its best, the creative use of www technologies blurs the lines between science and art and is an ideal way to extend young people's involvement with literature. Like a picture book, the web combines text and illustration to create a virtual world that can be experienced in many different ways and from many points of view. Critics study literature by examining authors, audiences, and the external world recreated in a work, as well as the text itself and that text within the author's canon, a particular genre, or the larger literary canon. Each of these approaches to a literary work is enhanced by access to information and ideas on the www. Most readers enjoy learning about the authors of favorite books, and this is certainly confirmed by the popularity of author websites. The focus on audience reception or reader response theories of literary criticism has always been important in teaching and has achieved scholarly importance in recent decades. For those involved in this kind of literary study, the web vastly expands the interpretive community and facilitates the examination of factors that influence response and interpretation. Simultaneously, students begin to break out of the personal and cultural confines of their own responses as they discuss literature with others in that expanded interpretive community.

Teachers have long used stories to extend and enhance understanding of history and of other cultures; but, with the www, that understanding can be extended exponentially. Imagine, for instance, U.S. students in a community with almost no cultural diversity discussing a story about Japanese-American Internment camps during World War II with Japanese-American students from around the country. Since many Japanese students study English, and novels such as Journey To Topez have been translated into Japanese; it would be possible to extend the discussion to students in Japan. Young people from other nations could also add their perspectives in a truly international forum about one of many aspects of American history frequently ignored in the authorized curriculum. That forum could be enlarged to include historians and other adults who lived through the internment camp experience.

What has been true of older technologies is also true of the www. Students must be taught to be enlightened consumers and critics, as well as creators, of the products delivered through that technology. Certainly one of the most frequently raised questions surrounding the web is that of authority. It is true that anyone with adequate resources can create a webpage, but the same might be said for the publication of a book; and few of us would consider that reason enough to bar young people from bookstores. Instead, we can capitalize on interest in the web to teach critical skills that will enable students to identify and benefit from the very best websites.

Assuming access to the www and an excitement about its possibilities for teaching and learning, there are still many questions to be considered before deciding to develop a website. The first considerations must be educational. Who is the intended audience? What is the purpose of the website? What content is most appropriately placed on the web? How is true inquiry built into the site rather than just activity? Can websites be designed to meet personal learning styles? How does a teacher imbed fundamental philosophical beliefs into a website? For instance, how are gender-fair and multicultural principles communicated to website users? How can the www be encompassed into the ongoing learning environment rather than being used only for "enrichment" or "reward"? At what point do graphic and technical elements (illustration, sound, animation, etc.) cease serving as enticement or enhancement and become distractions from content? How can we be certain that images, especially clip art images representing racial, ethnic, national, religious, or cultural groups, are not stereotypical or offensive?

Other questions have to do with the allocation of resources, both personal and technological. How much time and energy can a teacher devote to a website without shortchanging students in the primary learning environment? Is there enough web access for students to benefit not only from the local site but from global resources? How are anticipated users likely to access the website and how does this influence web design? If students participate in developing websites, how involved should they be and how is this work justified as an aspect of their learning? How does a teacher balance quality control of the site with authentic learning and fair evaluation of each student's work? How does one attribute authorship when students do initial work but the teacher verifies and adds to the site and assumes responsibility (perhaps with future students) for maintenance and updating? Once the intellectual content and design is achieved, is it a legitimate use of students' school time to work on the technical aspects of preparing materials for the web?

After a website is mounted, new questions come to the fore. Of critical concern to the educator, now webteacher, is: How much time can be allocated to the maintenance of the site? Even the most simple sites often require updating and/or enhancement and those with external links must be verified regularly to assure that the sites linked are still functioning and that the content is still appropriate. Many sites also generate a great deal of email. Interactivity is one of the greatest advantages of the web, of benefit to the creator as well as to the consumer. Confirmation and compliments are gratefully received, as are some suggestions for additions to a site. It becomes clear, however, that many users assume that the availability of a website means its creator is also available as a reference librarian, a bibliographer, or a research assistant to anyone who can relate a personal project even tangentially and remotely to the content of the website. It is essential to consider where the teaching responsibility ends. As a teacher, one may be able to distinguish among sincere but naive inquiries, students from other institutions trying to enlist someone to do their homework, trivia questions, and interesting intellectual challenges. All of these require time, if only the reading time, and most present teachable moments. The problem is that the number of those moments is so great that responding can become, literally, a full-time responsibility. In most of the links above, only a portion of the sometimes lengthy and continuing correspondence is included.

While the technology is still young, it is important to think through the educational possibilities and implications of the www. The name itself suggests one of greatest possibilities. The web is truly a global medium, allowing users to reach beyond geographic boundaries to share information and ideas and to engage in dialogue with people throughout the world. Those of us with English as our primary language are fortunate that many other language communities study English and are willing to accommodate us in communicating. Although there will undoubtedly soon be programs for simultaneous translation on the web, perhaps this global electronic sharing will encourage English speakers to learn other languages to more fully understand and appreciate cultural nuances.

Those interested in children's literature might use the web to do more collaborative work, both nationally and internationally. There are many children's literature websites, but there is abundant duplication among them. To some extent, this is of value as users encounter different approaches to a topic or different titles selected for a bibliography on that topic. On the other hand, we might present a fuller and more useful picture of the field if we could agree to work on different aspects of the general body of knowledge and then share areas of specialization based on geography, personal history, or professional expertise. On the international scene, we might begin by encouraging the listing of award winning books and key authors and illustrators from every nation. The ability to see a bookjacket and read a brief annotation would at least create an awareness of existing works world-wide and, hopefully, stimulate interest and exchange. Of course, there are problems of translation too numerous to discuss here; but, even within the English-speaking world, there is far too little of this kind of sharing.

Teachers will continue to be concerned about authority, plagiarism, copyright, censorship, and child protection on the www. This is essential, but it is also essential that we see the web clearly for its possibilities as well as its limitations and its dangers. Never before has it been so easy for students and teachers to expand intellectual boundaries and become active participants in a global community. Well used, the web offers a wealth of scientific, aesthetic, and cultural information that can be personally tailored for and quickly delivered to individual learners. Literature has always been one of the ways human beings reach out to each other across time and space. The www also breaks those barriers and, in so doing, increases the capacity of users not only to gain information, but to understand and appreciate others.

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