Even teachers looking to the Internet for more specific kinds of teaching tools have a range of information to choose from. Before teachers devise or assign an activity that has students making use of the Internet, they have to determine whether it is easily carried out by students given the hardware and software requirements. For many Internet activities students need to be able to, at least, use a computer with a browser program and an Internet connection. Other popular activities make use of e-mail. For this, students need to be able to access the Internet with a mail program and their own e-mail address.
Teachers make arrangements for students' computer use in a variety of ways.
The school might have a computer lab for which the teacher can sign up and where the teacher can conduct an entire class session. Students may be able to sign up for computer time in a lab individually. Students might have computers at home. To test the various computer arrangements, teachers would be wise to survey students' ability to access computers. An initial, short, basic computer assignment could test students' ability to access computers with the required hardware and software.