Threaded Beads Model for Integrating the Internet into Learning Environments

The Beads The basis of the threaded model is based on economic system, which largely determine how people spend their time. In the agricultural age, the gathered their raw materials from cultivated fields, and processed and consumed them in the home. During the industrial age, they mined quarries and forests for raw materials, processed them in factories, and distributed them through stores and mail orders. Today and tomorrow, people will spend their time mining the Internet (or what ever the Internet evolves into), processing their information raw materials using information processing software, and then distributing their information products back through the networks -- the Internet.

This provides a model for how students might use the Internet and technology in the classroom. They mine the Internet for information raw materials. Then they analyze, synthesize, and process the information into unique and valuable information products, and finally publish their information products to authentic audiences rather than just to the teacher and just for a grade.
The Thread The thread that holds the beads together is the curriculum. As students conduct their research, analyze and assemble information products, publish and react to authentic feedback, the teacher role becomes the consultant and the guide. She or he creatively and carefully crafts the students' activities such that their work is grounded in curriculum goals. The curriculum must be the context.
The Background Our threaded beads rest on a back ground, which is the technology. For the past 20 years we have been adapting technology to help us do what we do in classrooms -- word processors in the place of pencils, drill & practice software for flash cards, multimedia for textbooks, and the Internet for encyclopedias. Today, we need to start looking at what is truly unique and powerful about the Internet and related technologies and to leverage these opportunities for more powerful learning. Some of those qualities are: Rich information resources, collaboration, and self-expression. Tapping into these qualities empowers students and connects learning.