Many communication scholars believe that the change from print to hypermedia is an evolutionary change. We use the term "evolutionary" here to distinguish it from the more common "revolutionary" because we don't believe anyone really thinks that emerging technologies will "overthrow" older ones.

What many people do think, however, is that using electronic media (such as television or the WWW) is different enough from using printed texts that it will result in real changes in the way we deal with information that will in turn result in changes to the major institutions in our society (See J. David Bolter, Michael Joyce, George Landow, Stuart Moulthrop).

If you think that is hyperbole, consider the fact that schooling as we know it can be traced directly to the invention of movable type. Or that one of the major changes already facing education is the change in focus from teaching to learning, from instruction to the construction of knowledge. If you think that this happening at the same time the "Information Revolution" is eroding our notions of "authority" is just a coincidence, we suggest you think again.

One of the greatest challenges facing educators today, then, is using electronic technologies in the classroom. We believe it is both hard and important because electronic technologies are radically changing what it means to be literate in our society and so we need to be changing both how and what we teach students.

These pages are an introduction to some of the basic literacies teachers need to begin using the Internet in classrooms. You will find sections which give performance standards for electronic literacy, a brief history of the Internet, information on email and other forms of telecommunications such as newsgroups, listservs, and chats, Internet etiquette (netiquette), websurfing, websearching, website evaluation, and tips for using the Internet in classrooms.

Check it out!