Some of the information they found was good, and some was not. Of course, I accepted. The project focused on two communities in the Shenandoah Valley, a Civil War site in Virginia. The type of information available on the site ordinarily would have required an actual trip to the Shenandoah community. Students enjoyed using the computer as a research tool.
Technology encourages students to learn more.
Some students who would not ordinarily do an extra-credit assignment involving library research now grab the opportunity to work on the computer to do a project. Each of them contributed to the new national standards for education. Content on marcopolo is driven by teacher feedback. Nothing gets linked to the site without being reviewed. The marcopolo partnership demonstrates that technology may play a role in creating new educational models that encompass much more than just providing access to interesting content.