Planning a Workshop
PRE-PLANNING PHASE
It is of utmost importance that you as the workshop-giver know as soon as possible WHERE the workshop is to take place (computer lab, electronic classroom?), what sort of technology (hardware and software) will be available to you, and who the contact person is at that location.

There are certain questions that you MUST pose BEFORE you begin planning the workshop:

  • How many computers are available for the workshop?  Are they PCs, Macs, or both?  If both, how many Macs vs. PCs?   Will each person have access to a computer, or must computers be shared? 
  • Can you project the monitor screen of the computer you will be using?  What sort of projection system is available?  Projector or LCD panel?  Will you be able to "control" what is on the monitor of the participants (i.e., can you automatically make what you're projecting appear on each computer screen)?
  • Will there be technical support staff on the premises to help in case you or any of the participants experience technical problems with hardware/software?
  • What browser (and what version of that browser) is installed on the computers you and the participants will be using?
PARTICIPANTS & THEIR PREVIOUS EXPOSURE TO THE INTERNET
The ideal would be if you can specify the experience-level with the Internet for your workshop group.  It is always easier and more productive if workshop participants are either ALL beginners or ALL advanced users.  Speak with the workshop organizer to see if this is possible.  If it is not (and most times it isn't), then you must ascertain what level of knowledge relative to the Internet the participants possess.

To facilitate matters, it is advisable to ask all participants to fill out a pre-workshop questionnaire.  This will also aid you enormously in planning and structuring the workshop, and it will also help you gauge what sort of activities will be useful, and/or the participants want or need to learn.  Specify a FIRM date by which you must receive the completed questionnaires and MAKE SURE that you give yourself enough time between submission of the questionnaire and the date of the workshop to build in any suggestions made by the participants.  For a sample online questionnaire of this sort (which can also be printed out and sent to you via "snail mail"), click HERE!  
It is a good idea to ask a question on the questionnaire about technical resources they have access to at their schools, as well as any restrictions on Internet or hardware use imposed by the school administrators or school district.
WHAT SHOULD YOU PRESENT?
Depending on the answers to the questionnaire  you may need to introduce at least some Internet basics.  To assist you with planning, you may want to write an outline and allow a certain number of minutes for each part or activity.  Don't forget to list the "performance outcomes" and goals of the workshop--i.e., what should the participants expect to have learned at the workshop.  Also, if you have them do group work of any kind, it is helpful to set up dates IN ADVANCE for assignments to be completed and "handed in" before you all depart (see "Follow-up").
  • Search engines: It is entirely possible that even more advanced groups of workshop attendees will not be familiar with the best search engines/programs to help them find German resources.  A search engine is a database system designed to index URLs, image locations, etc.  There are subject or directory-oriented search engines/programs (like YAHOO or DINO) which normally have a "human" looking at the sites submitted and/or found before making the decision to include them in the database.  However, most search engines have "bots" or "spiders" (programs, not humans) which find URLs to be included in the database.  You should plan to review search strategies with the workshop participants.  I recommend strongly that you begin the workshop with an introduction to search engines and search strategies. 
  • German Resources: Click on the button below!
  • Web Exercises and Activities: Click on the button below!
WHAT SHOULD THE PARTICIPANTS LEARN?
Again, this will depend to a certain degree on the responses to the questionnaire.  However, it should be one of your goals to have the participants develop/create learning scenarios and standards-based Web activities and exercises.  You will certainly be able to use the exercises on the new and improved AATG site (to go "live" in May 2001) as examples of first-rate activities/exercises. 

Just in case they need to be reminded, participants should be referred to the standards page on the ACTFL Web site--> http://www.actfl.org/public/articles/details.cfm?id=33
as well as an excellent page on which most of the foreign language state standards and curriculum frameworks are available--> http://www.PutnamValleySchools.org/StSu/Flang.html
There is also a site which features "Technology Standards" for most states:
http://www.PutnamValleySchools.org/StSu/Technology.html

LEARNING SCENARIOS: Click on the button below!
 

CREATING A WEB SITE

The participants may well want to create a web site for their classes or want to be the one to develop the workshop group's web site.  If so, you should point them to a few useful tutorials on the Web:

Tutorial on How to Use Netscape Composer 

Other WSIWYG ("What you see is what you get") editors

"Learn HTML in 20 Minutes" (the basics of HTML coding)

There are also free templates available for creating online exercises and quizzes.  For a list of these, click HERE!

You will likely not be able to "teach" everyone how to use an editor or to do HTML coding during a one or even two-day workshop.  Therefore, it is best to ask a participant who already has experience to be the "Webmaster" for each group.  Other members of the group can concentrate on the "pedagogy" part of the web site or find web resources to incorporate into the site.  If time permits, you can offer a special tutorial to those workshop participants who express interest in learning how to create a web site.