Work with the agency and teacher members of your team to determine the pedagogical method the learning module will advise and the level of interactivity that will be necessary for it to be available on a web site.

   Experiences:

Various pedagogical methods were employed in units developed by the Consortium for Education teams. Some web sites presented didactic lessons based on core knowledge and resources of the agency. Some had inquiry-based lessons using primary source documents and images. A few involved students in field examinations and research, and one project used experts in real-time investigations. Each of these opportunities required a different level of interactivity in the web site interface with the user—an archive of lessons being the lowest level and real-time communication with experts the highest.

In the process of planning and implementing their projects, Consortium teams discovered there are factors that must be considered in developing an interactive web site for use in schools. Many schools suffer from low bandwidths and unstable Internet access. The distribution of computers within schools is unpredictable-the machines may be placed in classrooms (whether or not teachers are comfortable using them) or all the computers may be housed in labs. Some Consortium teams found that not many teachers are knowledgeable and comfortable with integrating technology into the curriculum. For some Consortium teams these discoveries helped to determine the pedagogical method and level of interactivity of the learning module. In other cases, it defined how limited the audience for the site would be.

   Recommendations:

• Examine a variety of pedagogical approaches to define the most appropriate to your agency's resources.
• Give the teachers on your team a model of the type of unit you expect to produce.
• Give teachers a template to use when writing their lessons.
• Evaluate usability issues in your primary audience when considering the level of interactivity for your learning module.
• Understand the level of interactivity allowed on your agency's website and develop a learning module in keeping with it.

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