Education has yet to make use of technology like other aspects of our culture. For example, let's take a look at communication. The Pony Express rider sped a letter across the country in a whopping ten days, while teachers taught using textbooks and a chalkboard. Today, an email can be sent half-way around the world in just a few seconds with the single click of a mouse button, yet textbooks and chalkboards are still the "tools of the trade." While some argue that technology has no place in the classroom, I think we can all agree that the Internet is becoming more and more of a viable resource for people in many professions, including education. After all, since you are reading this newsletter, you obviously take advantage of this resource, even if you only use it to check your email. To make your classroom more efficient and effective, here are just a few of the hundreds of educational items you can find on the world wide web:

www.turnitin.com
One negative aspect of the ease of access to information on the Internet is the increased ability for students to plagiarize. This website started in 1996 when a group of college researchers created programs to monitor the recycling of research papers in their undergraduate classes. The site now includes a service called WriteCycle™, which includes originality checking, as well as a way to submit and grade papers, using a rich set of tools for clear mark-ups and custom feedback. If you are a Switched-On® user, you know writing is a key component in your students' learning. If you have ever wondered if your students are copying off the Internet, this may be a very useful tool for you.

www.google.com/teachers
Have you "googled" anything lately? The search engine www.google.com is probably the most popular search engine on the Internet. Here, Google™ has assembled information and tools specifically for teachers and students. Google Earth and Google Sky are excellent for bringing history and geography to life with their three-dimensional type graphics. Activities are continually being added for specific grade levels to help out in the classroom. Teachers can also customize the search process to streamline what comes up when you simply "google" a topic.

www.openoffice.org
This website contains "open source" (a software term for "free") office programs for word-processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and database keeping. If your Christian school ever needed this type of functionality but could not afford it in your budget, this is an excellent answer for you! You and your students can download and use these programs at school and home. All the programs have most of the features of pay programs, giving you and your students the chance to learn about and benefit from these industry-standard applications.

Whether you are a seasoned user of the Internet, or you are just starting to get comfortable with "surfing" online, you will definitely benefit from the many resources available. May we as teachers be willing to change the way we do things in order to utilize all the tools available to us and bring education into the 21st century!