The following activities are intended to engage both online and face-to-face workshop participants. The goal is to give additional background and support to you as you become familiar with the Internet for your own purposes and contribute towards the building of a collaborative online community for coordinators of school-workplace learning programs.

Any new Internet user arrives with a notion of what it's all about. It will be based on stories that others have told and what they have gleaned from the media. For many this impression will be one that reinforces an information model of the Internet, a model that promotes the concept of the Internet being a "big library in the sky". However, it's the communications aspects of the Internet that many users find most powerful.

By providing ways for people to communicate with others and participate in online activities a sense of community can evolve as people with a common purpose share information and ideas and solve problems. The bottom line is:

Communication and Information: a powerful combination

For a more detailed overview of the communities model of the Internet as it underpins the VECO project, see the Powerpoint presentation VECO.ppt (MS Powerpoint 7.0 - 436 KB)

Go to the Activities for Understanding Online Communities:

• Developing a Concept for Online Communities

• Discussing Online Communities
  
  
   
  First published April 24, 1997. Last revised November 17, 1998.