The Practical Internet
Learn Hands-On With This Interactive CD and Book Companion!
Book Review

By Dale Farris, Secretary Golden Triangle PC Club August 2004 In the exciting book publishing business, there are various special areas of interest in which many publishers choose to focus. For example, some publishers specialize in children's literature, while other publishers focus on other specialized areas, such as science fiction, romance novels, western novels, etc. One of the many specialized areas in publishing is the important field of textbooks. Textbooks are especially designed to meet the exacting needs of educational instructors and students. Generally, textbooks are designed with classroom instruction in mind, which results in titles that tend to have far more full-color photographs, figures, diagrams, or screenshots, along with extensive, detailed, step-by-step instruction that guides students through the various approaches to using the various features that are coded into today's software. This attention to detail, and to making the book most relevant to the needs of students results in a tendency for textbooks to also be priced higher than books that are designed for the common retail market. While many readers may think the typical retail bookstore shelves are already filled to overflowing with more titles on software of their interest than they could possibly keep up with, nevertheless there are nearly as many titles designed as educational textbooks that cover the same vast array of software that do not usually show up on the retail shelves. In this niche field of publishing comes this super title that provides an excellent introduction to the Internet. Published as part of Course Technology's strong Practical Series of titles, "The Practical Internet" is just right for all classes designed to acquaint for the first time students to the Internet. As in all the marvelous Course Technology Practical Series titles, using this innovative series is as easy as 1-2-3. First, you read a chapter, in the book, or on screen. Second, you use the Book-on-CD and click the Do It! button. The figure on the page turns into an interactive, step-by-step tutorial. Third, you turn to the last page in a chapter to test yourself with interactive QuickChecks and Skills Tests. The Practical Series The Course Technology Practical Series of titles includes, in addition to The Practical Internet, Practical Office 2003, Practical Office XP, Practical Office 2000, The Practical PC, 3rd Edition, The Practical PC 2nd Edition, and Practical Computer Literacy and Skills. Course Technology calls their Practical Series a computer-based training with training wheels. This means a combination of an interactive computer-based training product with a strong textbook to provide a focused introduction to computer skills. The focus of the book is for students or professionals who want to learn enough to complete practical tasks at school, work, or home. The text includes a hands-on interactive CD and companion book to teach the essentials of how to use the Internet. The Practical Internet Features Simulations allow students to learn e-mail and browser skills in a safe environment. The interactive Book-on-CD teaches students how to use the Internet by offering videos, animations, screen tours, and plenty of hands-on activities. The book includes FAQ's (frequently asked questions) to help students focus on what they really need to know to use the Internet. Also, the book offers built-in assessment with interactive Quick Checks and on-screen quizzes that enable students to track their progress. The accompanying book contains a static version of the CD's content, making it a great reference tool. About the Book Each page of this innovative CD book looks exactly like its corresponding page in the printed book and contains interactive elements, such as pop-up definitions, interactive step-by-step tutorials, and interactive end-of-chapter material. The Book-on-CD requires no installation, so it is easy to use at home, school, or at work. The Practical Internet provides a focused introduction to the things you really need to know about the Internet, including browsing the Web, searching the Web, using e-mail, and transferring files. The book is designed to teach you how to use the Internet effectively for practical tasks at school, at work, or at home. The first page of each chapter introduces the chapter topic and lists the chapter contents. Each chapter includes FAQs and an assessment page that contains self-test activities, including 2 sets of QuickCheck questions and 4 interactive Skill Set tests. The assessment activities provide you with essential feedback that indicates how well you have mastered the materials in the chapter. Data from the Skill Sets can be stored on a Tracking Disk, and an instructor can consolidate data from all students, generating a variety of reports. About the Book-on-CD The Book-on-CD is loaded with the following features to enhance and reinforce learning: Play It! - Play It! buttons provide animated screen tours that demonstrate how to accomplish various tasks. Do It! - Do It! buttons launch interactive simulations that let you try your hand at the activities presented on that page. Get It? - The Get It? section at the end of each chapter contains an autograded interactive review of skills. QuickChecks - Interactive end-of-chapter QuickCheck questions provide instant feedback on the concepts you have learned. Pop-up Definitions & Glossary - Clickable boldface terms display pop-up definitions. A Glossary button provides easy access to all definitions from any page. Projects - A set of seven projects located at the end of the book provides structured practice for the skills presented in each chapter. Table of Contents The book is organized into five parts, with eight chapters. Part A:  Internet Basics Chapter 1:  Connecting to the Internet Part B:  Browsers and the World Wide Web Chapter 2:  Browser Basics Chapter 3:  Exploring the Web Chapter 4:  Searching for Information Part C:  E-mail Chapter 5:  E-mail Basics Chapter 6:  E-mail Tips and Tricks Part D:  Internet Utilities Chapter 7:  Zip, FTP, and Chat Part E:  Projects Chapter 8:  Projects ISBN 0-619-02075-X 2001 Price $40.46 Authors June Jamrich Parsons Dan Oja Targeted Readers This super Practical Internet title is just right for folks who want to learn about the Internet. The book explains how the Internet works and gives you background on the basic technical aspects of e-mail. The Interactive simulations show you how to use popular e-mail and browser software. You can use the simulations even if you do not have any Internet software installed on your computer. The projects at the end of the book do, however, require access to the Internet, a browser, e-mail software, and an e-mail account. The gook is also unique in its coverage of several popular software packages all under one cover. Browsers covered include Internet Explorer, AOL, and Netscape Navigator. E-mail coverage includes Outlook, Outlook Express, AOL Mail, and Hotmail. Coverage is also provided for WinZip. The book is designed to work as both a learning environment and as a quick reference. The authors recommend using the Book-on-CD for learning how to use browser and e-mail software. After you have mastered the basic techniques, keep the book near your computer as a quick reference. The book is super for beginners, but it also serves as a useful quick reference or refresher for intermediate users. You can skim over the features that you already know and quickly learn how to use features that are new to you. Additional Instructor Tools An electronic Instructor's Manual is available for instructors assigning The Practical Internet to their class, and the manual outlines each chapter, provides valuable teaching tips, and offers solutions to the end-of-book projects. The Consolidation Module enables an instructor to consolidate results from student Tracking Disks. The instructor can generate various reports from the consolidated data to show the progress of individual students, or entire classes. In addition, the teaching tools include an ExamView Textbank & Engine, a sample syllabus, and figure files. About Course Technology In the textbook publishing world, there are numerous companies that have targeted this special niche in the publishing business, but few can match Course Technology's tremendous variety of titles that cover literally all extant software now on the market. Course Technology is one of the most advanced, exciting companies in the textbook business, and this review deals with the company and its high quality books that will meet the needs of any instructor at any level of training. Since 1989, Course Technology has been publishing innovative texts and creative electronic learning solutions to help educators teach, students learn, and individuals expand their interest in and understanding of emergent and current technologies. The mission of Course Technology is to help people teach and learn about technology. The breadth of their product portfolio, the strength of their technology tools, and the coverage of their distribution is unrivaled throughout the U.S. and abroad. Their goal is to produce dynamic books in all technology-related disciplines, as well as complete instructional resource materials and powerful technology-based assessment and learning solutions that surpass their customer needs and expectations. About Thomson Learning Course Technology is a part of Thomson Learning, which is part of the larger Thomson Corporation. The Thomson Corporation is a leading global provider of integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides must-have information, with technology and applications that help its customers make better decisions, faster. Thomson serves more than 20 million information users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment, financial services, scientific research, and healthcare. Common Shares of The Thomson Corporation are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:TOC) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:TOC). Thomson At A Glance • 2002 revenues from continuing operations: US $7.5 billion (5% over prior year) • 56% of revenues derived from electronic products and services • 62% of revenues derived from subscription-based products and services • 43,000 employees • Operations in 46 countries Catalog Variety What genuinely sets apart Course Technology in the huge book publishing world is their commitment to providing a variety of titles on literally all aspects of information technology, and to providing different titles that focus on different levels of experience. Just about any existing software application on the market is addressed by the many different books you can find from Course Technology. In addition to this superb variety of titles that cover varying experience levels, Course Technology succeeds as a preeminent provider of books that are especially designed for use by students in formalized instruction settings. Rather than targeting only the retail, walk-up market, Course Technology goes the extra mile by developing titles that will meet the explicit, unique needs of information technology instructors and students. This places Course Technology in the textbook publishing market, a niche in book publishing that is truly unique. Instead of producing text-only titles that are designed to be read from front to back, in the field of information technology, publishers face the many added expectations of students and instructors for titles that will aid in learning how to use the various applications covered by the Course Technology titles. Learning software applications is a process different from other, more conceptually based courses, such as business or accounting classes, and classes in the liberal arts. While these other classes require students to remember ideas or principles, or the lessons learned from a sequence of events, dates, or names, learning software requires a great deal of hands-on practice by students who need a type of help quite different from help, for example, in remembering lectures for the next history exam. This approach can many times replicate the algorithmic approach to learning medical, clinical responses to what is presented by a patient. Learning software requires students to learn the many features and capabilities of the featured application, how to activate these various features that are coded into the software's menu commands, and how to carry out these functions in accordance with the software's coded requisites. This results in the need for examples of what is going on with the software, examples of what the software looks like when attempting particular functions, and the step-by-step, algorithmic instructions to implementing these various software features. To the rescue to students facing many times a bewildering array of nearly endless functionality comes these super learning titles from Course Technology that are all designed around the principles of how to learn software applications. Target Readers of Course Technology Titles The targeted readers of Course Technology titles are students at all levels of skill and ages who are learning various computer software applications. With the company's commitment to publishing many different titles on the same software application, this results in many choices for instructors, and it means that instructors will find exactly the level of instruction from these many options that will meet the needs of their students. From introductory students to higher end users, Course Technology provides marvelous textbooks that will help all students learn the various software applications now on the market. Course Technology Computer Titles What is common to all Course Technology titles is the commitment by the publisher and the authors to providing well organized, fully illustrated textbooks that are designed with the special needs of students in mind. This results in a superb lineup of textbooks that are organized in numerous different series that provide students at all levels and instructors with variously designed books that all cover different software applications with these different levels in mind. This also results in an extensive array of many different titles on the same software application, prepared by different authors and produced for different levels, all of which mean instructors in all high school, college, and university learning environments will certainly find the exact title from Course Technology that will exactly fit the unique needs of their different students and classes. Publisher Contact Jennifer O'Toole Course Technology Thomson Learning 25 Thomson Place Boston, MA 02210 617-757-7900 800-648-7450 jennifer.otoole@thomson.com www.course.com