Moving away from Textbooks in the Classroom

I recently read the following article - Technology and Education: Expectations, not Options, by Dr. David Thornburg.


The big push today is accessing computers as a learning tool for students to gain knowledge at a faster more accurate pace. Textbooks today are out dated and written on average, 2 levels above the classroom.

Students can not only learn history, but feel like they are the historian. Teachers have access at their finger tips, where they can even bring in the exact video, DVD clip to the class they want to cover. There are now pathway networks that streamline video to the exact chapter and/or clip that the classroom needs for a lesson. No more waiting until the teacher finds the correct spot through fast forward, or watching the whole video.

In my classroom, I access the safari montage program, which is part of the pathways network. We also have the luxury of Promethean boards to enhance student learning. I am currently looking into other ways to use technology into my 8th grade civics classroom. I am looking into moodle.org and http://myhistorynetwork.ning.com/ as ways to incorporate class discussions with my students. I would eventually like to branch out and have my students share with other students of different schools and countries.

Any tech ideas out there for an 8th grade government class? Any educators have experience with these type of forums/activities? I appreciate any help. -- thanks