BRIDGE - a model of "bridging" the instructional day with the growing tendency of students to engage online at night.
A simple model that takes advantage of the tendency of students to go online at home, such as "MySpace". Make it mandatory that all homework, writing prompts, assignments, etc., be submitted online to the teacher through an authenticated portal, under the guise of something like a "Google Account". Then teachers email accounts don't get messy, there is structure to the environment, and with time, teachers can introduce the other online tools of portals and Learning Management Systems. These tools might include web links, streaming videos, online quizzes, moderated chat rooms, threaded discussions, etc.. It's a great way to increase the amount of completed homework, the quality of homework, and ease teachers into the digital world. Students get more focus on the good of online collaboration and productivity. Think about it. Don't have a portal, drop me a line - there are some great ones that are open source, it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg......Bridge - copyright © 2006, ITjab, all rights reserved
