2003-01-28

The rather playful title of this workshop suggests the reluctance - bordering on resistance - of some educators to take advantage of the World Wide Web as a pedagogical support tool for their coursework. Once people stop viewing the Web and the opportunities it offers as an end in itself but rather see it as a means to an end, namely the use of the Web to enhance, expand and enlarge the learning process, this reluctance usually diminishes significantly.
Of course, a large of number of people have taken the leap to embrace information technology as a curricular or co-curricular tool with varying levels of success. In my opinion, the level of success most people have experienced is directly proportional to the level and rigor of planning and research that preceded creation and implementation of Web-based tools. Simply put: the more a person understands a tool and its capacities, and thinks strategically and thoroughly about how that tool can be of service, the more successful that person will be with that tool.