Abstract
Perhaps for the first time since the computer made its debut, the teacher is in the position to command the technology-based instructional resources used in the classroom. Gone are the days when teachers must rely solely on the expertise of computer professionals to create computer-assisted instruction. With the advent of the World Wide Web, creating student-centered, ageappropriate material rests in the hands of the classroom teacher. The Virtual Tour is the newest link to literally millions of content specific sites that supply images, sounds, and video media.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Virtual Tour: A Virtual Tour is a Web-based teaching strategy that presents multisensory, multimedia instruction appropriate for individual student exploration and group learning experiences.
Concrete Learners: Individuals that learn best with hands-on methods and show the most success when doing it themselves, being involved with their learning process, and “doing” rather than “watching.”
Amplified Sites: Web pages that provide the specific content information. They are either external (found on the Internet) or internal (developed by the classroom teacher).
Multimedia: Refers to integrated collections of computer-based media including (but not limited to) text, graphics, sound, animation, photo images, and video.
Front Doors: One of 14 teacher-developed formats uniquely suited to serve as the opening page of a virtual tour, and addressing an instructor’s preferred teaching strategy and a student’s particular learning style.