The Spotlight Site for December is WWW 4 Teachers, a site run by the South Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium which proclaims it is "for teachers powering learning with technology." At a time when most educational sites seem to focus on very advanced uses of the Internet and their applications to higher education, this site will be a breath of fresh air to K-12 educators, particularly those looking to begin incorporating Web technology into their instruction (and college professors may find some interesting ideas as well).

Following the philosophy of teaching by example, a large portion of this site features testimonies and examples of classes, sites, and lessons that have been used successfully by educators and their students. The articles come from both the teachers and the students, and cover everything from elementary uses of HTML to in-depth Web pages on particular subjects.

In addition to the example sites shown, WWW 4 Teachers includes one of the single most useful tools for an Internet beginner: a glossary of terms, from "acceptable use policy" to "zipped files." Terms are not always cross-referenced as well as they could be, but they are clearly laid-out alphabetically and easy to read. Furthermore, if a definition that you would like is not included, you can use an easy Web-based form to request its addition. The same form also enables you to suggest articles, sites, or features you would like to see on the site.

Moreover, this site is clearly and logically organized, making it refreshingly easy to navigate. The main page fits on one browser screen, and features a menu of the areas on the site, with a blurb about each. Within each section is a listing of the featured articles, with short abstracts of each, along with the author's name and the date on which it was written (an important consideration in the rapidly-changing world of the Internet). There is also a link to the archive for that section, which follows the same format. The lack of "back" buttons on each page might be a minor inconvenience for beginning Web-surfers, and the text often occupies a bewilderingly narrow section of the page, but otherwise the site design is clear and easy to decipher.

With this offering, SCR*TEC has truly created a valuable site for the underrepresented K-12 instructor just beginning on the Web.

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