But once they decided to build a web site, schools found themselves
faced with a very basic, even fundamental, question that for some reason
they forgot to ask before deciding to build that site: What did they need
it for? The most common use of the World Wide Web in educational settings
is as a conduit: a link to information out there that someone thinks should
be useful to a teacher or pupil. Yes, online courses exist that not only
provide access to information but also organzine that information in a
logical fashion, thus making resources available to pupils in a manner
that leads toward real learning. But schools rarely have the resources
for building courses of this sort. Instead they think they're fulfilling
an important service by providing lists of links to information - links
that, more often than not, are haphazardly organized, become outdated quite
quickly, and weren't necessarily the best sources in the first place. Other,
non-school, sites often have more extensive, better organized, and more
frequently updated lists of this sort. But these lists don't take up much
space on a school's web site, and the sites seem sparse and lacking. Something
more is needed to justify the site's existence. And that goes a long way
toward explaining why school web sites prominently display the school credo,
carry a greeting from the principal, and are adorned with lots of poorly
designed graphics that the pupils have been permitted to post. And for
a few weeks, until the novelty wears off, the parents take a look at the
site a couple of times and exclaim how nice it is that their kids' school
has a site.