Above: 35 Auburn teachers attended the "Internet Grammar" Workshop

"Empowering Learning by Developing Web Literacy" (Internet Grammar) was one of the many teacher workshops held this summer during Auburn School District's, 6-day, "Tech U". What made this workshop unique was that it was conducted entirely via Skype, a free video conference application. Through the use of Auburn's facility (their high school cafeteria), and their equipment, (a projector, a computer with a built-in camera, microphone, internet connection and set of speakers), workshop presenter, Brian Mull, of the November Learning Team, (founder, Alan November), was able to conduct the entire workshop from afar. The Skype program allowed Brian to see and hear the teachers, as well as answer their questions, as if he were actually in the same room.

By utilizing the Skype screen sharing feature, Brian demonstrated the many internet tools available to help students evaluate websites, narrow internet searches and validate web resources. Auburn teachers brought along their own laptops so they could follow along as he introduced search tools and techniques that could be used by students for effective internet research. After Brian's presentation, the teachers formed discussion groups and re-designed lesson plans to integrate internet and communications literacy. In both content and delivery, this workshop was a fantastic instructional model for 21st century learners.