My classroom has been online for nearly two years now. Each year we learn something new, and each year we try to bring more of the Internet into our curriculum. Both the curriculum and the Internet address all of these issues, but in different ways. The challenge is to make them work together. We have made progress in that area, after two years online, but we are still learning.
Students pay attention to virtually anything online.
We used e-mail extensively during the first year we had the Internet in our classroom. When we went online in the classroom later, the letters were copied and pasted into an e-mail window and sent out. Students wrote to keypals in every state in the country. One of our most powerful lessons came from a student in Alaska. Even though this particular student has been identified as gifted, correct spelling has never been a priority for him.