The following topics are addressed . . .

• Searching the Internet and accessing online library resources using Altavista search engine and Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browsers.

 
• Developing electronic slide presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint presentation software.

 
• Finding clipart and images on the Internet.

 
• Recording lectures to be presented on the Internet using steamed audio and Real Player 7 Plus.

 
• Planning discussion forums.

 
• Planning video conferences.

 
• Planning audio conferences.

 

Searching the Internet

Background Information
AltaVista Search Engine

How AltaVista Ranks Sites
General Guidelines for Simple Searches
Constrained Searches
Advanced Searches

SEARCHING THE INTERNET

Background Information

A Brief History of the Internet

Major Search Engines

22 search engines are briefly described with links to each engine listed.

Search Engine Sizes

8 of the leading search engines are compared in terms of millions of Web pages indexed, engine growth over time, and coverage of the Web by percentage.

Search Engines Comparison by Feature

The Web site uses tables to compare search engines by the following features:  search engine math commands, power searching commands, search assistance features, display features and Boolean commands.

Features Comparison by Search Engine

This Web site contains a robust matrix that compares the leading 13 search engines by search features.  Individual links to each engine are provided as well as links to individual reviews.

Individual Search Engine Reviews

This Web site contains individual reviews for 12 search engines, 5 directories, 8 search able news databases, and 2 Usenet news discussion forums.

Search Engines Statistics

This Web site provides access to search engine statistics including database relative size, total size estimate, database overlap, unique hits report, dead links report, and change over time.

Internet Search Strategies

This Web site offers helpful strategies and short cuts that can be used with any search engine.  Three strategies are described; URL guessing and cutting, using subject directories, and using search engines.

Internet Subject Directories

This Web site contains a table that compares 5 directories.  A directory includes human-selected Internet resources arranged and classified in hierarchical topics. Most search engines portals have a subject directory component or partner.  In addition to the secular directories identified in the table, several key Christian directories are listed below.
 

Bethel's Christian Resources:  contains daily devotionals (6), scholarly discussions and information (16), references, books, magazines and other texts (18), Christian resource list (11), other Christian resources (11), organizations (20) and search engines (3).

The Omnilist of Christian Links:  contains 18 categories and 67 sub-categories. Included in the directory are Bibles & Studies, churches, informational resources, ministries, periodicals, publishing, and Web directories & supersites.

Christian Net Surfing:  contains Bible studies and helps (10), Christian resource directories (10), general Christian links (22), leader resources (13), searching the net (6), seekers (5), youth and college ministry (7), and worship and Christian music (11).

Other Christian Directories:  All-In-One Christian Index, Best of the Christian Web, Christianity Online, Global Christian Network, GOSHEN Christian Directory, Yahoo! Religion.

AltaVista Search Engine

Simple Search Help

How AltaVista Ranks Sites

According to Richard Seltzer, the author of The AltaVista Search Revolution, when you submit a Simple Search query, Altavista ranks the results in accordance with the rarity of the words you provide in the search query and the location of the search words in the documents found on the Internet.

Extremely common words such as and, the, Internet, computer, are ignored for purposes of ranking because they appear in so many documents.  Altavista presumes that the position of the word in the document is an indication of its importance.  For example, a word in a title is "more indicative of the content of the document as a whole than the word in the body of the text.

AltaVista prioritizes according to the following rules.
 

1. Pages that have the target words in the HTML title and near the top of the text are ranked higher than others.  This rule includes any content in the <META> tags in the head of the document.
2. Pages in which the word(s) appear near one another in the text are ranked higher than those in which the words are farther apart.
3. Pages in which the word appears twice are ranked higher than those with only one occurrence.  More than twice makes no difference.

 
The indexing software looks through documents in the index and considers every document that includes at least one of the words in the query, calculates the score for each matching document, ranks the matching documents according to score, and then generates a prioritized list of Web pages.

 
General Guidelines for Simple Searches

90% of all searches can be conducted using Simple Search only.  The following general tips are suggested and may be used in most search engines.
 

1. Try natural language queries in the form of a question?
2. Use exact phrases by putting them inside quotes.
3. Search for Web pages in a specific language such as Greek or Hebrew.
4. Use lowercase text in your searches, the search engine will find both uppercase and lowercase results.
5. Include (+) or exclude (-) words if you want a word to always be included or excluded.
6. Use a wildcard by typing an asterisk (*) at the end of a keyword to find multiple forms of the word.

 
Simple Search Examples

Conduct the following simple searches.  Substitute the example for another you might prefer.
 

• predestination

This query finds documents containing the search word.  The more unique and uncommon the word, the better.
 
• predestination  armenianism

This query looks for all the Web pages that refer to both terms.  Web pages that contain both terms appear near the top of the list.
 
• +predestination +armenianism

This query will match only pages that include both words but not necessarily in that order, or even near one another.
 
• elder* +church

This query will show all pages that have the word church, and the pages with the word elder, elders or eldership.
 
• "distributed learning" ministry

This query will show all pages containing the phrase distributed learning and ministry; those containing both terms will appear near the top, and next those containing one of the words most frequently.
 
• "women in ministry" +ordination

This query will show all pages containing the phrase women in ministry, but only those referring to ordination.
 
• "women in ministry" -ordination
This query will show all pages containing the phrase women in ministry, but only those not referring to ordination.

Constrained Searches
 
Constrained Searches:  Simple and Advanced Searches can be improved by searching according to structural elements.  Structural elements for Web Searches include anchor, applet, domain, host, image, link, text, title and url.  The keyword (i.e., anchor, link, etc.) must be immediately followed by a colon (:) and the search word or phrase.

Conduct the following constrained searches.  Substitute the example for another you might prefer.
 

• anchor:apologetics

Finds pages that contain the specified word or phrase in the text of a hyperlink.
• link:www.bethel.edu

Finds pages with a link to a page with the specified URL text.
 
• url:theology

Finds pages with a specific word or phrase in the URL.
• title:reformation
• title:theology
• title:"marriage and family"

Finds pages that contain the specified word or phrase in the page title (which appears in the title bar of most browsers).
• image:masada

Finds pages with images having a specific filename.
• text:"delusions of grandeur"

Finds pages that contain the specified text in any part of the page other than an image tag, link, or URL.

Advanced Search Help

The Advanced Search mode should be used when you want to search for a word or phrase that occurs near (not necessarily beside) another one; to organize long, complex queries; to restrict your search based on dates; or to retrieve more than 200 matching items.

((strategic OR ministry) NEAR plan); ranking "ministry plan"

Finds the specified words (strategic or ministry) within the set of parentheses and within 10 words of plan.  Ranks the results by putting ministry plans at the top of the list.   In this particular example, only those documents that which have been submitted or revised on or after 1 Jan 95 will be included.

BETHEL LIBRARIES

• Bethel Seminary Library - St. Paul
• Bethel Seminary Library - San Diego
• Minnesota Theological Library Association
• CLICNet - Bethel's Online Catalog

ELECTRONIC SLIDE PRESENTATIONS

Quick Start Tutorial

This Website offers a tutorial slide show demonstration designed to get you up and running quickly in Microsoft® PowerPoint®. It includes PowerPoint basics, a guided tour of important features, and lists of tips, tools, and tricks.

Microsoft Clip Gallery

Clip Gallery Live provides over 100,000 graphic images and sounds, including clip art, photographs, and Web animations. You can use clips from Clip Gallery Live to enrich and enhance your Office documents, including FrontPage® Web sites, Publisher publications, and PhotoDraw™ pictures.

Using PowerPoint Presentations

This Web site was designed by Martha C. Sammons and describes the use of PowerPoint presentations as a lecture aid in the higher education writing classroom. It summarizes types of presentations that are useful and student assessment of these             presentations. It also provides some advice on required equipment, issues to be aware of, and tips for effectively using electronic    presentations.  The visuals used provide excellent examples of good presentation practices.

Basic PowerPoint / Graphics & Images on the Internet (Jim Raferty)

This link was used by Jim Raferty to teach on PowerPoint 97 / 2000 and graphics and images on the Internet.  It includes sampoles and guidance.  It also includes information regarding recording lectures to be presented on the Internet using streamed audio and RealPlayer.

Advanced PowerPoint Exercise (Jim Raferty)

A link to an exercise for those who have used PowerPoint in the past and are familiar with the basics.

Other Helpful Tutorial Type Resources

• PowerPoint Introduction
• Using Electronic Presentations
• Refining Your Presentations
• Getting Started with PowerPoint
• Create Your First PowerPoint Presentation
• The Basics and Some Tricks

Presentation Guidelines

1. Use Sans Serif or Arial only.
2. Avoid saturated colors.
3. Use 6 lines @ 36 pt maximum.
4. Use five words per line max.
5. Use key words.
6. Avoid gimmicky builds and transitions.
7. Keep drawings simple.
8. Use bold lines.
9. Use solid colors.
10. Remember: photos use alot of memory.

GRAPHICS AND IMAGES ON THE INTERNET

• Altavista Image Search
• Microsoft Clipart Gallery
• Clipart Sites

DISCUSSION FORUM GUIDELINES

1. Students are required to participate in the asynchronous online discussions in accordance with a planned schedule. If divided into groups because of size, clarify the rules of engagement within their assigned group and, if permitted, with the other groups.

 
2. One additional folder should be open for specific questions to the professor.

 
3. Remind your students to carefully review the discussion folder schedule. Caution them not to wait until the last day of the open folder to record their remarks.

 
4. Once open, each folder should remain open for a pre designated time and then closed. Student entries should be monitored and scored by you, the ‘lurking' professor. Occasionally, you should inject a response to let students know you are indeed monitoring their participation and quality of contributions.

 
5. Everyone should make a significant contribution to assigned discussion forums. Significance is defined as comments that demonstrate measured and thoughtful reflection.

 
6. You might want to recommend that students respond substantively to at least two other students remarks in each folder unless otherwise directed.  Substantive responses are defined as comments that go beyond personal opinion to informed opinion based on your study of the subject matter.

 
7. Interaction by student with other students is crucial and expected. In addition to stating their opinion, they should interact with other responders by adding to what has been said or providing critical analysis of other student's responses.

 

Bethel Discussion Fourum Guidance

AUDIO CONFERENCE GUIDELINES

1. Students schoud call in a few minutes before the scheduled time to ensure proper connection. They should stay on line for the entire discussion to get credit. Otherwise, they should not receive any points. The moderator (professor) should let the students know when to get off.

 
2. One person is permitted to talk at a time. The moderator should tell the student when a response to statements made is permissible.  Questioning a responder for purposes of clarification is permissible, rhetorical questions should not be permissible.

 
3. The moderator may, on occasion, stop a responder because the discussion may be getting too far afield or others need an  opportunity to share. Inform your students ahead of time so they will not take it personal when it happens.

 
4. Inform the students that they must introduce themselves before each and every comment (i.e. "This is ______________, I feel that . . ."  Let them know that their comments should be succinct as a courtesy to others who wish to share in the discussion.

 

Uses of Conference Calls:  conference calls can be used to build on classroom participation, bring in an expert to the discussion or provide for collaboration among students.

Considerations for an Effective Conference Call:

1. Arrange conference call in advance with telecommunications (if for an InMinistry class, this will be done for you by the Inministry team).

 
2. Establish the purpose/agenda for all participants.

 
• Convey information.
• Provide context for live, voice-to-voice interaction.
• Bring in a guest lecturer/presenter.

 
3. 3. Establish common understanding of ground rules for participation.

 
• Each speaker must introduce him/herself before speaking.
• Speakers should be able to complete thought without interruption.
• Background noise must be kept at a minimum (noise will make that extension "live" in the conversation).
• Leader must actively and overtly lead — calling on students to answer, etc.

 
4. Establish preparation necessary to an effective call.

 
• Reading that must be completed.

 
5. Establish the length of call.

 
6. Ensure that students have access to calling instructions, including phone number.

VIDEO CONFERENCE GUIDELINES

General Guidelines

1. Test system prior to program date.
2. Prepare graphics or electronic presentations in advance.
3. Start on time.
4. Familiarize learners with rules of engagement.
5. Use a variety of interactions.
6. Call on people by name and allow time for response.
7. Limit the number of sites.
8. Summarize key points.
9. Conclude on time.

Logistics

• Pre-plan each session and fill out C/V use form.
• Set in pre-sets for camera positioning.
• Call telecommunications for pre-class system checkout.
• Check out all media planned for use.
• Use a TA to operate equipment if possible.
• Call students by name - learn their names.
• Zoom camera into close views whenever possible.
• Anticipate glitches and be flexible.
• Use classroom telephone to call for assistant or distant site if necessary.
• Set up room and microphone for maximum effectiveness.

Methods To Avoid

• Walking around the room while lecturing.
• Use a lecture style with little to no student input.
• Ignoring the remote students and focusing solely on local students.
• Keeping camera in one place or on the instructor exclusively.
• Maintaining instructor-centered teaching style excluding student involvement and interaction.

Prepared by:

Dr. Gregory W. Bourgond
Dean of Academic Affairs & Instructional Technology
Bethel Seminary

April 7, 2000