Software Review: Learning.com

Web Browsing:
Research and Citing Sources
Grades: 6-8

Click on the image below to access the page for the main website:

ISTE NETS Standards for Students

Browsing Basics

5.	Digital Citizenship
	Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:
	a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.

6.	Technology Operations and Concepts
	Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:
	a. understand and use technology systems. b. select and use applications effectively and productively.

URLs

1.	Creativity and Innovation
	Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
	a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.

2.	Communication and Collaboration
	Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
	a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.

6.	Technology Operations and Concepts
	Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:
	a. understand and use technology systems. b. select and use applications effectively and productively.

Web Searches

3.	Research and Information Fluency
	Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
	b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media. c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

4.	Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
	Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:
	c. collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.

5.	Digital Citizenship
	Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:
	a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.

Validity and Sourcing

1.	Creativity and Innovation
	Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
	a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.

2.	Communication and Collaboration
	Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
	a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.

5.	Digital Citizenship
	Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:
	a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology. b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.

MINI REVIEW: This series of tutorials did a great job at relaying basic web browsing skills. Browsing Basics taught students basic information about how to use a web browser to find information on the World Wide Web, including the use of URLs, links, home pages, scroll bars, and navigational buttons. The lesson on URLs taught students the basic makeup of a URL and the lesson also touches on bookmarking pages and basic troubleshooting of error pages. The lesson on Web Searches taught students effective Internet search strategies using keyword and phrase searches as well as truncation. The lesson also teaches students how to determine the relevancy of information found with a web search. The lesson on Validity and Sourcing taught students about information privacy, website credibility, copyright and fair use laws, and sourcing. There are no evident barriers to success when using this program in the classroom. It is very engaging and would prove to keep the students attention. I would recommend this program to any teacher that desires to mix up their lesson a little bit by getting the students involved in using technology in the classroom.

References:
1. (2009). Learning.com. Retrieved February/March 2009, from website: http://www.learning.com/home/index.htm.
2. International Society for Technology in Education. (2009). ISTE's Educational Technology Standards for Students. Retrieved March 2, 2009, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/
ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007.htm.