BKNETLSN.RVW   940428

"Net Lessons", Laura Parker Roerden, 1997, 1-56592-291-3,
U$24.95/C$35.95
%A   Laura Parker Roerden
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   1997
%G   1-56592-291-3
%I   O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O   U$24.95/C$35.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104
%O    nuts@ora.com
%P   306
%T   "Net Lessons: Web-Based Projects For Your Classroom"

Doing Internet training, you will find lots of books (and people) that
tell you to promote the Internet to the audience because you can use
the net to find out everything you want to know about volcanoes. 
Trouble is, most people don't want to know all that much about
volcanoes (or any other single topic).

("So what about this book?"  Patience, patience.)

As a card-carrying (RAVC, mostly) member of the computer antivirus
research community, I, like my colleagues, see endless postings with
queries along the lines of, "So, can you tell me everything about
computer viruses?"  These questions, for some unfathomable reason,
seem to show up in great flurries around October or February.

("The book?"  Yes, yes, I'm coming to that.)

Let me say that I am, first and foremost, a teacher.  I have waded
through dozens of tomes on technology directed at the education
market.  Most of them are of poor quality, lacking in understanding of
the basics of that which they presume to teach, long on enthusiasm,
and very short on useful information.  So, I was delighted to see "Net
Lessons" from O'Reilly.  These are the people who can make a good book
out of the use of the net by real estate agents.

I was a tad startled to find that the CD-ROM included with the book
was an America Online starter kit.

This book is lacking in the basics of the technology, long on
enthusiasm, and short on useful information.

"Not so!", its defenders will cry.  "This is a compilation of unit
plans!  Nothing is of more value to teachers!"  Yes, it *is* a
compilation of unit plans.  Some of them may be of value to you if you
are in a bind for time, and your class is already familiar with the
net.

Those queries for help?  Almost every unit plan involves a "Call for
Collaborators".  Most of them are simply collaborative work on a large
scale, using email penpals.  Internet Research resources are skimpy,
perhaps one per unit.  Some of the units have no appreciable net
involvement:  "Letters to Felix" throws in email sharing of stories as
an afterthought, and doesn't say whom you would share them with.

The early chapters of the book laud the Web, but cite "success
stories" that use email.  The plans will require lots of outside
preparation in a variety of fields, and the use of the Internet is
hardly central to any.  (Some may object to that statement, since
email plays a central role in a great many plans.  Yes, email is used,
but it could be replaced by mail, and dozens of plans are really only
variations on the "write to your penpals about.." theme.)

Sorry, this is not the ultimate net education book.  Maybe, though, it
simply isn't possible.  The Internet is the ultimate discovery
learning resource.  It doesn't do well on worksheets.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997   BKNETLSN.RVW   940428