We have assistance available to help the beginners. Staff members also help teachers use non-computer technology such as graphing calculators and laser disc players. Lesson plans are as varied as the teachers in your school. Lesson planning is effective when there is staff on hand to help teachers, encourage sharing ideas, encourage consistency across the curriculum, and train department mentors. We have developed a lesson plan sheet that specifies objectives, whether the assignment is in class or out of class, individual or group work, and whether the students are to use the Internet or specific software packages.
Teachers discern the use of library research vs. electronic research.
One of the best ways to search on a general topic, for example, is to look in the electronic encyclopedia, then jump out to the Internet to sites already chosen by the encyclopedia as being suitable sites. Teaching the students to search without specific sites has to be monitored closely and will mean that more time will be involved in completing the assignment. Computer-using students must be supervised. We learned from the very beginning to make it absolutely clear that the computers are for educational purposes only. It also is a struggle to emphasize copyright policies for electronic media and to teach students to verify the source used.