Technology To Support Project Work

Within iEARN, technology is seen as an effective means of involving exponential numbers of students and teachers in collaborative projects. Technology is the means by which iEARN participants focus on how important student-to-student and teacher-to-teacher interactivity is to the network and to the learning process in iEARN. We cannot stress enough that iEARN is a participant-based network. Each student and teacher has a vital role and responsibility to actively engage and contribute to others.

Daniel Reyes, a visionary and founding member of iEARN from Argentina, often remarked,

"No one person knows so much that he can't learn from others, and no one person knows so little that he can't teach others."

Within iEARN technologies are seen not as "technical issues," but rather we see that technology can maximize interaction among participants--as part of the overall goal of making a difference in education and on the planet.

There are four types of technologies iEARN participants use to communicate with one another:

		e-mail: one computer to another computer, with possibilities of multiple copies
		forums: one computer to a discussion room/forum ("newsgroups" or "web forums") into which people "walk" and interact with whomever is in the room and which is accessible by thousands of computers
		WWW: depository of files with text and graphics in a "gallery" which visitors can admire, download, and perhaps meet others
		video-conferencing and chat: taking advantage of both video and audio capabilities of the internet

Technologies you can use to find partners around the world

iEARN puts these technology tools in the hands of teachers to enable them to coordinate projects in a variety of curriculum areas.

For example, if a class studies China in the 6th grade or has a world cultures class :

1. teachers should first browse such forums as China (Newsgroup apc.iearn.china) and they can post requests for help to other participants in forums such as Teachers or China

2. teachers can use the iEARN Directory of Participating Schools

3. teachers can use the WWW-based "People Place" Database

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