| Educational institutions have a mission to prepare | | | | 1. School Calendars and upcoming events can be |
| students for achanging world - but do we actually | | | | availableonline and can be easily updated by |
| do this? While the corecurriculum is important, we | | | | administrators. |
| need to also prepare our students forour | | | | 2. Classroom teachers can post homework, |
| technologically changing world. All students | | | | project informationand field trip details online. |
| shouldconfidently handle and compose emails, | | | | 3. Parents/Guardians and Students can access |
| participate in onlineconferences and bulletin boards, | | | | homework,project information and school notes |
| navigate and create electroniccontent (i.e. web | | | | online. |
| sites), and use instant messaging with | | | | 4. Teachers can securely make marks available |
| properetiquette. | | | | online for individualstudents and their parents |
| A handful of schools have taken their websites | | | | guardians. |
| beyond the basicinformational format. They are | | | | 5. Clubs and Teams can post information, |
| developing web communities thatallow students, | | | | schedules and results. |
| parents and educators to communicate freely | | | | 6. Students, Parents and Teachers can |
| online. | | | | communicate with eachother on their classroom |
| Combining technology and education is the present | | | | bulletin boards. |
| and future ofteaching and learning. Many | | | | 7. Assignments can be submitted and assessed |
| educators and boards are intimidated anduncertain | | | | electronically. |
| about incorporating many of these technological | | | | These are some of the common uses for online |
| advancesinto their systems, however, | | | | communities, thepossibilities for educators are |
| incorporating technology into theclassroom will not | | | | endless. Many institutions have addedchat |
| only facilitate learning but enhance it. | | | | features, internal email, forums, Blogs and even |
| Below are some feature that an online community | | | | audio andvideo lessons online. |
| providesfor educators and administrators. | | | | |