Many language teachers are finding that the World Wide Web is a treasure chest of authentic language materials and are actively integrating on-line realia and other resources into their classes. Useful Web sites have been collected and annotated...
...as well as put together with suggestions for using them in language instruction...
Language teachers are likely to be interested as well in the potential of the ever-increasing number of interactive Web or Web-launched sites and programs such as "Moo"s, "Chat" sessions or audio- and video-teleconferencing...
A powerful instructional use of the Web is for teachers to put their own language learning materials on-line, creating home pages through using the language of the Web, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)...
There are actually many options now available for Web page creation, including use of an HTML editor such as FrontPage, PageMill, or HomePage. Once you are familiar with the basics of creating Web pages, you can take the next step and make your pages interactive, by providing feedback to the user, or by collecting & storing information sent. This can be done in a number of ways. What we are looking at is doing it through the use of HTML "forms" which are processed by a Web server. Writing the HTML code that will display a form on a Web page is no more difficult than other facets of HTML and is covered in most on-line HTML guides (such as the HTML Quick Reference) or books on HTML.Look at one sample form or another to get an idea of what's involved. Remember that you can always see the HTML coding for any Web page, including one with form fields, by using "View source" on your browser. Keep in mind that writing the correct HTML to display the form on a Web browser is only the first step; a script or application on a Web server must then process the form (covered in How?).
Language teachers inevitably supplement textbooks with handouts, containing tutorials, additional exercises, readings or other materials. Electronic handouts through the Web offer several advantages...
--Exercises can provide immediate feedback to the student, including links to on-line tutorials.
--Access to materials is not time, place, or computer-platform dependent.
--A variety of help can be offered at different levels, allowing for individual customization; this includes students with special needs...
There are no studies I know about which show the effectiveness of using the Web for language learning, but it stands to reason that if you are using the Web to make language documents available, making those materials interactive tends to activate students more. Web forms, for example, can contribute to student-centered learning by allowing students to add sites to a list of internet sources supplied by a teacher; students with Internet access are going to surf the Web anyway -- we might as well try to channel that time into something useful.There are of course many other ways to create computer-based interactive learning, both on the Internet or with stand-alone applications such as HyperCard, Toolbook, or Authorware. Web forms are not the be-all, end-all of computer-aided instruction. Local applications can often provide more flexibility, speed and reliability than interactive Web pages and may be better choices in situations in which remote access, platform independence and centralized file management are not important. However, watch in the near future for added speed and interactivity on the Web itself through new approaches such as Java or Shockwave. For some ideas on linking programs to Web pages, you might take a look at the Program Linking page of Language Interactive.
Whatever development tools you decide to use, be prepared to spend some time learning the basics before you're ready to create your own interactive learning materials. Computer programs and operating systems are getting easier to use all the time, but it still takes work to develop something of your own. But if you do it yourself, it's tailored to what you want and you can change it anytime and any way you like. A canned program created for you by technical folks may not be easily updated or customized if you have little idea how it was put together. Of ccourse, the important reason is that you have the teaching experience and knowledge that is indispensible in creating programs for language learning. One important factor in choosing your electronic tools and toys is the degree of local support you have. It can be invaluable to have a local guru nearby who can help you over the first inevitable stumbling blocks. As with much else, getting started is the most difficult part of the process.
You will need...
None of this requires being a rocket scientist, but it does require a certain degree of technical know-how. Fortunately, the medium you'll be working in -- the Internet -- is one which carries with it a tradition and philosophy of actively supporting self-starters (mostly for free!). You may find that the hardest requirement is gaining access to a Web server. Web, or more properly HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) servers run on a variety of platforms, but most commonly on Unix computers, whose administrators are notoriously leery of allowing regular folks to run scripts on their systems.Unix isn't the most friendly environment to be working in anyway and fortunately there are other server options. Inexpensive HTTP servers are available for Macintosh (MacHTTP) and Windows (Windows httpd) computers, although Windows 3.1 is not a recommended choice -- by me, others disagree -- (WindowsNT and Windows95 are viable alternatives). It is by no means an inconceivable task for a language teacher (or lab director) to set up a departmental Web server. My experience in setting up and operating a Macintosh-based Web server has convinced me you don't need someone wearing a white lab coat to do it for you...
Once you've gained access to a Web server and have dutifully written your HTML form, you'll need to have the server hosting your pages actually do something with the data the user sent in submitting the form. This is where a "CGI" (Common Gateway Interface) script comes in; is it either a (complied) program or a script which runs on demand when a form arrives at the server. It takes the data from the form, such as user's name, comments on a page or answer to a question and sends some response back to the user (like "Thanks for the input" or "Wrong again, Dummie") and can also save the data into a text file, send it to someone by e-mail or pass it along to somewhere else such as a data base.
How CGI scripts are written depends on what flavor of server you're running, since scripts tend to be platform-specific. The most widely used options for Unix servers, Perl and C, however, can also be used on other platforms. Visual Basic is often used on Windows servers, as is AppleScript on Macs.
If you're undecided on what kind of server (and therefore what kind of CGI scripting) to consider, I would recommend for non-programmers starting off with AppleScript running on MacHTTP (or its big brother, Webstar) for a couple of reasons:
My recommendation of a Mac server/scripting solution comes despite being a long-time (and continuing) Windows user -- I happily use the 486 on my desktop daily. However, after experience with both Windows 3.1 and Unix Web servers, I am convinced of the greater ease of use and performance of MacHTTP. Unix, of course, is the main-stream solution, but not recommended for the faint of heart, and for normal volume sites may not be worth the hassle or the security concerns Unix embodies. The CGI set-up described in this guide mostly assumes use of a Mac server, not -- I hope -- out of arrogance that it's the only way to go, but as an example which has parallels on the other platforms (and because that's the set-up I'm most familiar with).Whichever CGI scripting language is used, you will need...