The Internet: An Aid for Educators

             The internet can be used by educators in many ways, and this technology may be the greatest asset to the classroom since the printing press. The Internet offers infinite opportunities for enhancing the classroom. From multimedia presentations to split-second academic research, no school should be without adequate computer access for teachers and students alike. Finding predesigned lesson plans online is easy to do with a simple Google search, but finding quality lesson plans can be more difficult. However, as long as a teacher understands that pre-made lesson plans are only a springboard for inspiring and adding to their own lesson plans, these lesson plan online resources can be a wonderful asset. Every teacher, group of students, and direction of learning is highly individualized and no pre-made materials can serve as a replacement for plans written by the individual teacher for his or her own class. However, the Internet may be the best tool available for researching and enhancing lesson plans. Research of academic journals, magazines and newspapers, and even text books is simple, fast, and free online. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, is perhaps the greatest free exchange of knowledge in all of history. Teachers can meet other teachers from around the world and exchange classroom ideas, experience, and advice. The internet and computer technology allows teachers to teach using multimedia presentations, and to even allow students to create their own multimedia presentations in an interactive learning environment. The best part of Internet sources for lesson plans and classroom use is that there is always new information and it is free, unlike text books that cost a lot of money and do not self-update. The following four lesson plan websites are examples of some of the websites aimed at educators for use in the classroom and a brief overview of the content available on the site as well as some of the pros and cons of this particular website.

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