One of the components of the "Internet" is the World Wide Web. A connected series of websites where links connect the browser from one web page to another. From an end users' point of view, having a good source of these links makes speedy access to desired resources, activities, professional development, webquests a valuable resource for use in the classroom.

In the past few years, the Greater Essex County District School Board was part of major projects to identify and classify resources in Science and Technology, Social Studies, History and Geography, and Mathematics. The resources were identified as having appropriate content in the context of the new Ontario Curriculum. The resources were then further classified by appropriate grade level. These links were all identified by teacher volunteers and stored for perpetuity on CD-ROM. For easy classroom access, these links were also placed on the Student Reference Portal. That way, students could be easily directed to appropriate resources for classroom work.

In addition to the projects identified above, the Portal also contains links to websites that have been identified over the years and classified by subject areas.

It seems like a perfect solution. And, really it is -- for a while.

But I knew that this day would come.

The problem is that nothing is ever static on the internet. Web sites come and go, webmasters reorganize their directory structures, entities purchase better internet address names, great content is purchased by others, and the list goes on and on!

The computer / internet using teacher is most at risk for unsuccessful computer implementation in cases like this. However, once you realize that the Internet is a living, breathing, and constantly changing entity, it gets easy to understand. Just like using a television, VCR, overhead projector, the Internet links that you plan to use need to be verified in order to ensure that the learning activity comes off successfully.

So, back to our board's projects.

In the time since the project was complete, many changes have occurred. Some really good internet sites have just changed location or have otherwise become unreachable.

I'm pleased to note that this has been rectified as of this newsletter. The Curriculum links portion is all verified on a regular basis, but it had been a while since the big projects had been checked and verified. As of the writing of this newsletter, all links in Science and Technology, Social Studies, History and Geography, and in Mathematics have been verified and updated.

In addition, a feedback link has been added to the pages so that broken links can be easily reported. Support for these projects, and keeping it viable, is appreciated by all who use them.

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