The beauty of the Web, the huge change it brings to us and to our students, is found in its open and accessible nature. I wonder how many of us have even begun to appreciate the scope of change that this can bring, should bring, will bring to education.
Self-education for educators is essential, then, if we are to both take part in this changing world ourselves and enable our students to take advantage of it. Thomas Freedman, et al, have provided a wonderful addition to our self-education bookshelf...and it's free. Coming of Age: an introduction to the new world wide web is a 92 page compilation of some of the best thoughts of the best thinkers in field of instructional technology in education. Once you have downloaded the material, you can read online or print all or some of the essays. What a gift!
For fun, try out the Visual Thesaurus. This one isn't free, but it's definitely fun. The available trial lets you do severaly word searches, and by leaving the website and returning, you can start the trial all over again. The cost is pretty reasonable, too, if you want to "own" it or have access online. I can certainly think a ways to use this with youngsters which would broaden their appreciation of language, the interconnectedness of words, the variations in meaning, and more.
Pew Internet and American Life Project has an interesting memo on our awareness of Internet terms.
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