Teacher's Resources for Basic Internet
For practice in downloading a self-extracting file, click here to download the file Mog.exe. This an 80Kb file and should take less than half a minute.
Here is some extra information to help you keep up with the continual changes in web site addresses, search engines and so on. The page will be updated regularly and you can print it from your browser.
Updates
Basic Internet is now in its 3rd edition but the content is the same except for some updated illustrations. The following notes apply to all editions.
In Fig 1.3, the Dinosaurs link is no longer there but you can find the page in Science & Nature or by entering the address - and who knows, the BBC may put it back!
In Fig 2.3, Brittanica is unfortunately now subscription only, but you can try the Columbia via RefDesk, Bartleby.
In Fig 2.6, the LookSmart directories are slightly reorganised.
In Fig 2.7, Encarta is reorganized – look for Encyclopedia articles.
Multimap now offers aerial photos of some areas, world maps, even driving directions! It now covers most of the world.
AltaVista is different and you might also try Google, which is excellent, though it warns that all images are copyright. For royalty-free images you can search on "royalty free" or “free images”.
In Fig 5.5 go to www.tucows.blueyonder.co.uk.
How do you know if someone has read your e-mail message? You can set Return Receipt but this only works between the same type of e-mail program.
Newsgroups can be read on Google.
Connecting up
Internet access is available only from an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Between you and the ISP come several options.
Most common is a phone connection, requiring a modem (modulator/demodulator) which these days operates at 56k bits/sec, the minimum practical speed for browsing web pages. Becoming available is broadband, usually ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) which is not only 20x faster but doesn't interfere with the voice service but you must be within 5km of an exchange. Another option is via Cable TV, requiring a cable modem. An ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) line gives a fast but expensive digital connection requiring a terminal adaptor instead of a modem, and can only be used as a direct connection between two ISDN subscribers. Both cable and ADSL need a network card in addition. For more details see www.adslguide.org.uk for ADSL and www.sales.ntl.com or www.blueyonder.co.uk for cable. A more expensive option is satellite: see www.everywherebroadband.com for domestic users and the Remote Area Broadband Inclusion Trial (RABBIT, www.rabbit-broadband.org.uk) for SMEs.
The computer dials in on a special line to the ISP, who gives you a username and password. While all this sounds technical many ISPs offer a free connection, and their software does all the installation for you including Internet Explorer and Outlook Express which are free.
Setting up e-mail
Should you need to do any other setting up in Tools, Accounts, you specify POP3 (Post Office Protocol) for incoming mail and SMTP (Simplified Mail Transfer Protocol) for outgoing.
Useful reference sites for teachers
www.learn.co.uk Guardian learning resources
www.schoolzone.co.uk educational resources
www.bbc.co.uk/education/schools BBC schools
www.channel4.com/schools/ Channel4 schools
www.tes.co.uk Times Ed
www.vtc.ngfl.gov.uk BECTA
www.guardianunlimited.co.uk Guardian
www.searchbox.co.uk educational search engine
www.topmarks.co.uk general educational site
www.edit.legend.yorks.com EduLinks UK educational links, especially science
www.hyperhistory.com has timelines, with lifelines of the famous
www.bbc.co.uk/history/walk/ walk through time
www.newscientist.com New Scientist
www.sciam.com Scientific American
www.about.com a thematic collection of human Web guides
www.ipl.org Internet Public Library
www.open.gov.uk public sector sites
www.ofsted.gov.uk OFSTED
www.chalkface.net website tailored to teachers' needs
www.isis.org.uk independent schools
www.schoolsnet.com SchoolsNet, revision covering key skills 3 & 4
www.tate.org.uk/home/default.htm Tate Gallery images to download
www.artcyclopedia.com art online
www.findarticles.com finds magazine articles back to 1998
Online Educational Resources
www.angliacampus.com
www.bbc.co.uk
www.rospa.org.uk
www.ianmayer.com
www.learndirect.co.uk
www.learn.co.uk
www.teachingideas.co.uk
www.primaryresources.co.uk
www.educate.org.uk
www.icteachers.co.uk
www.schoolsnet.com
www.samlearning.com
www.trainingzone.co.uk professional training
www.tes.co.uk Times Ed
www.metoffice.com Met Office
Education
www.dfee.gov.uk Dept of Education & Environment
www.ngfl.gov.uk National Grid for Learning
www.ofsted.gov.uk
www.qca.org.uk Qualifications & Curriculum Authority
www.vtc.ngfl.gov.uk BECTA
www.teach-tta.gov.uk Teacher Training Agency
www.nc.uk.net National Curriculum Online
www.feonline.net Further Education
www.jobs.ac.uk Top
Services
http://sms.lycos.co.uk/mobile send text messages to mobiles free
www.yell.co.uk Yellow Pages
www.worldemail.com e-mail addresses
www.infobel.com/teldir phone numbers
www.nhs.uk NHS
www.police.uk Police
www.ukonline.gov.uk government information and services
http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/ Free Online Dictionary of Computing (Foldoc)
www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/ TechEncyclopedia
www.somewherenear.com finding pubs, theatres etc in a UK mainland locality
http://calendars.net make a free online calendar
Shopping
www.diy.co.uk B&Q
www.dulux.co.uk Dulux
www.tesco.com Tesco
www.letsbuyit.com collective buying
www.insight.com/uk computers and software
www.primelocation.com search properties from hundreds of estate agents, with lots of help
www.a2btravel.com book flights, ferries, cars, hotels …
www.ebay.co.uk eBay online auctions
http://uk.pricerunner.com reviews and cheapest deals
General interest
www.mnh.si.edu/earth Dynamic Earth tells you all about rocks, stones and minerals
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov NASA satellite pictures and animations of the earth – all public domain.
www.volcanolive.com everything about volcanoes, virtual tour of Pompeii and live volcano cams. www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/ Zoom Inventors and Inventions
www.exploratorium.edu San Francisco science museum
www.nationalgeographic.com National Geographic
www.anagramgenius.com anagrams galore!
www.wynnesdiary.com the fascinating diary of Winifred Llewhellin, born on June 15th 1879
www.africam.com webcams trained on animals
‘eye witness reports’ of major historical events
Search engines
Google currently rated the best; also local
www.froogle.com new Google shopping
www.yahoo.co.uk Yahoo UK & Ireland has good directories
www.excite.co.uk Excite UK
www.lycos.co.uk Lycos UK
www.xrefer.com Xrefer reference site (you have to pay)
www.completeplanet.com Complete Planet: finds normally invisible pages
www.galaxy.com Galaxy thematic directory of detailed categories
www.webbrain.com WebBrain gives a visual representation of categories
Open Directory
www.about.com useful thematic directory
Metasearch engines - search other engines
www.metacrawler.com MetaCrawler
www.dogpile.com DogPile (careful which class you announce this one in...)
www.metor.com Metor
www.iwon.com iWon
For other specialized search sites see the Yahoo directories (). Top
Browser shortcuts
If you are entering an address with www. and .com, just type in the middle part and press Ctrl-Enter. Internet Explorer enters the www. and .com for you.
Instead of adding a page to the Favorites list, you can put it on the Links bar to be more accessible. Display this from the View menu - it can be either under the address bar or to the right of it.
Internet Explorer 6 is much the same as 5, but the File, Print dialogue lets you print individual frames and a table of hyperlinks.
Downloading
Some popular sites may keep you waiting to download and will be slow, but they often have ‘mirror sites’ elsewhere that you can access quicker. You will be directed to these. Generally, you will be able to download files faster from European sites than from American ones, especially during US working hours. When downloading very large files, the connection may be broken or the computer may hang up. In this case, it is useful to have a Download Manager such as GetRight www.getright.com which will resume the download rather than having to restart.
Check officeupdate.microsoft.com for MSOffice updates, www.windrivers.com for Windows drivers.
Check you have a virus checker installed for your network or individual machines. This should monitor not only files on disk but also files arriving via the Internet or e-mail. Although files downloaded from well-established sites should be quite safe, executable (.exe) files can be infected with viruses, and Word .doc and .dot files can harbour macro viruses. You can find out more about viruses and virus checkers on www.mcafee.com, www.nai.com or look for Norton AntiVirus on www.symantec.com. These cost £20 - £30, while Antivir (www.free-av.com) is free.
Preventing e-mail viruses
The e-mail macro viruses that take over Outlook Express are .vbs files (Visual Basic Script). This is normally used for operations like synchronising hand-held computers with desktop PCs so can be disabled if you don’t use these functions. To do this:
Select Start, Settings, Control Panel and double-click Add/Remove Programs.
Click the Windows Setup tab, open Accessories and uncheck Windows Scripting Host.
You will also need to disable VBS scripting in case you have already downloaded vbs files. Double-click the My Computer icon, select View, Options, select the File Types tab, look for VBScript File in the list, and if it is there select it and click Remove. This will prevent them from mailing themselves to your mailing list. There is also a free program Watchdog (www.winmag.com/fixes/watchdog.htm) that warns you whenever a dangerous script is about to be executed. There are several bad viruses circulating now. Top
Plagiarism
The issue of wholesale copying of material for school work has come to a head with the Internet. Some different approaches to dealing with it are:
- Looking up some keywords in a search engine to find the source
- Blanking out some words and inviting the student to fill them in from memory!
- Getting the students to give a brief talk on the subject.
