Curriculum Webs: A Practical Guide to Weaving the Web into Teaching and Learning (Paperback)

by Craig A. Cunningham (Author), Marty Billingsley (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Curriculum Webs helps in-service teachers, curriculum developers, and pre-service teachers use the World Wide Web as a central resource to facilitate learning. A curriculum web is a Web page or pages designed to support a curriculum. This text describes the process of building curriculum webs from the early planning stages through design of the Web pages, using the finished product in classrooms, and teaching teachers with curriculum webs. Readers will see how successful Web-based curricula can be developed based on the stages of curriculum development and the needs of learners. On the Companion Web site, (www.curriculumwebs.com,) Web examples and sample lesson plans will serve as an inspiration and guide as students work to create their own curriculum webs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon; 1st edition (April 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0205336590
• ISBN-13: 978-0205336593
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,249,847 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique and wonderful guide for teachers using the web, May 21, 2002

By	Rachel Parnes (Chicago Il USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Harnessing the World Wild Web to enhance and expand curriculum and students access to knowledge and constructive information have become an important and viable vehicle to me as a school administrator. However, using this tool efficiently and educationally poses many challenges and requires new training for teachers and schools. I have found Cunningham An Billinsley's Curriculum Webs to be a rare, unique and excellent guide for educators and school administrators in preparing them to explore, utilize and maximize the benefits the web has to offer to education, as well as in creating their own units and webs for practically every subject matter and curricular area. The book takes you step by step through all the essential stages and components in the process of creating a traditional curriculum and applies them to the creation of a web based curricular unit. Its web companion provides and interactive hands-on way to easily implement the newly acquired skills, In addition to the ease and clarity it presents from a technical standpoint, it offers wonderful insights about instructional methods and strategies, based on the most current research in the field of learning and education. The book is delightful to read, uses relevant examples, is easily applicable, and is reflective and thought provoking. A must for teachers, teachers to be, and parents who wish to use the great possibilities of virtual learning to enhance their children's critical thinking skills, knowledge, individual growth, progress, and pursuit of personal interests.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is now a second edition, October 5, 2005

By	Craig A. Cunningham (Chicago IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There is now a second edition of the book, available on Amazon.Com, ISBN 0205459404. It's a better book in a lot of ways, partly based on user feedback, and partly on changes in the technology. Check it out.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars e-Learning Work Book, May 19, 2003

By	Prof David T Wright (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews

Check- subject matter expertise.
Check- use of the web for learning (whether academic, professional, self-directed, or corporate)
Check- understanding of the key issues.

Now you need a resource showing you how to make it all work effectively, and give you new ideas. This is where Curriculum Webs fits in- whether corporate HR intranet or K12 science projects, or anywhere in-between.

`Curriculum Webs' is clear, well-illustrated and thorough, with lots of examples giving you the confidence to move forward.

Chapters span:
- planning- context, process
- curriculum goals- learners, subject, pre-requisites, rationales
- learning activities- individualizing, grouping, activities
- gathering web resources- bookmarks, searching, evaluation (m, copyright issues
- designing effective websites- audience, information and materials, visual metaphors, navigation, chunking
- laying out web pages- design, white space, colo(u)r, styles, moving, frames/tables
- multimedia
- interactivity
- organizing ands assessing learning
- evaluating and maintaining curriculum webs
-teaching
- teaching teachers- training, standards, organizations
- appendix- servers, clients, browsers, bandwidth, names/URLs, html

Note: steers away from eLearning hype (although misses opportunity for entertaining eLearning anecdotal sidebars!).

Overall, a very worthwhile, vendor neutral, action-focused workbook on practical eLearning.