Now that you have "hung ten" on Yahoo and Blue Web'n, you are experienced in the use of search engines and are somewhat familiar with the types of applications available on the internet. Because you might begin creating WebActivities in the next series of camp offerings, you'll want to understand the concept. Take a look at Tom's Definition of Activity as it relates to telecommunications-based learning. To refine your understanding, complete the assignment below (which is itself a Web-based activity).

Assignment: The point of this exercise is for you to gather insights that will help you in designing your Web-based activity.

Your task is to look at the Web pages of at least two Web-based activities (listed below) and answer the following questions:

1. What did you like in the pages you saw? Jot down your impressions as you look at each page.
   
   
2. What things did you see that you would specifically avoid in doing your own Web-based activity? Again, write them down and remember what page you found them on.
   
   
3. Having an audience in mind as you write is always important. Who do the pages you looked at seem to be written for? Students? Teachers? Library patrons? No one in particular? Who should your pages be written for?
   
   
4. Summarize your experience by writing some general principles for Web-based activity design. Your statements might begin with the phrase "A good Web-based activity should always..." or "A Web-based activity should never...".

Some examples of Web-based activities

• Tom put together activity pages for Black History Month and Donner Online
• Crayola has developed some modeling clay activities.
• CNN's Interactive Learning Resources utilizes CNN news stories for educational purposes.
• High-school teacher Ted Nellen has compiled a series of activities in his Cyber English page.
• Students guess word definitions in Houghton Mifflin's Fake Out game.
• College professor Alan Ng created this simple German 202 page.
• The Franklin Institute's Heart Exploration includes quizzes and a glossary.
• The BIOSIS Consensus Building page helps students learn about genetics.

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