Welcome to Learning to Use the Web

These skill development activities will introduce you to using the web in the most efficient manner.

The first skill development activity will introduce you to using different search techniques to access pertinent information on the web. Information can be accessed in different ways and include:

• Indexes such as Yahoo.
• Search Engines such as Alta Vista and HotBot.
• Metasearchers such as MetaCrawler and Dogpile.
• Specialized Indexes such as Yahooligans and Education World which are primarily for kids.

The second skill development activity will focus on how the resources should be assessed and evaluated. Also, citing resources from the web can be problematic, so this issue will also be addressed in the second skill development activity.

The third skill development activity will teach you how to find software which you can download on a trial basis or use for an unlimited period of time. This type of download is known as shareware or freeware and is available from numerous companies and sites on the web.

Freeware is copyrighted software which is freely given away by the author. Although it is available for free, the author maintains the copyright and the user can only use the software in a way specified by the author. Usually this means that individual use is permitted, but the software can not be sold by the user.

The fourth skill development activity will guide you in finding and downloading images for your own use. Also, how to save them and do some simple manipulation techniques with the saved files.

The fifth skill development activity will discuss copyright and fair use issues and the need to address these issues as they relate to the online environment.