HighWired.Net

Hi Everybody :-)... This month I thought I would review Highwired.Net, and hopefully encourage more schools to take part in this great project.

The next time someone asks how your high school is using the Internet, tell them to check the newspaper. Your paper, that is. Because now high school journalists can create their own online newspaper FREE of charge - simply by registering their high school in the Highwired Network.

Highwired.Net is the first online newspaper system for high schools. In seconds, a high school news team can zip fresh stories on the Web for all the world to see. This is a marvellous initiative and I would love to see more schools take part. Currently most of the schools that are participating are in the USA, but there are a few international participants as well.

Forget learning HTML. Forget complicated software. Thanks to a HighWired.Net even the most computer-challenged educators can put their high school newspapers online in a matter of minutes. In theory, going online with a high school newspaper is a wonderful idea. It teaches students about the Internet, improves school communication, and encourages reading and writing. But in practice, creating a website is a daunting task. First of all, most teachers have no training in the software typically required. Second, HTML websites require a lot of time and energy - both to build and maintain. Third, there's the risk of inappropriate material getting published without proper review.

Highwired.Net's online publishing system solves all these problems. The service is so user-friendly that the average teacher requires 10 minutes to get up to speed-with no training required. The school always maintains complete control of the publishing process. Students submit their articles and images to a private staging area to which only the journalism adviser has access. The teacher simply enters the password-protected area, edits and approves student articles, and publishes them "live" with a single mouseclick. Nothing appears on the school's site without the explicit approval of the journalism adviser. Principals and district superintendents value Highwired.Net because the service is FREE to high schools and there is no extra software or equipment to purchase. At no cost, schools can get their student paper on the Internet for other students, parents and the whole world to see.

For the current "Education and the Internet" competition, we are giving away a copy of the up and coming book, "The Prentice Hall Directory of Online Education Resources". It should be released very soon and comes with a CD-ROM as well. Here's what Amazon said about it:

"For students, parents and educators, here's a comprehensive, time-saving directory to

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