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Archive.edu: A Storehouse of Classroom Resources on the Web
The Need for an Educational Archive
Bernard Robin
Sara McNeil
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
University of Houston, USA
brobin@uh.edu
smcneil@uh.edu
As the World Wide Web has expanded, a number of trends have become evident. One trend is that new Web
sites appear almost daily, and this ever growing list of sites vie for the attention of Web users. Although the
proliferation of Web pages adds to the number of matches that Web search engines return, this volume of
material makes it difficult and often frustrating for users to easily locate the information they are seeking.
Additionally, we are seeing a rapid rise in the number of commercial Web sites, where copyrighted material is
displayed, but users are not allowed to download and use these materials for their own purposes. Further, the
ability of users to download material is becoming faster and easier as the Web evolves into a more user-friendly
resource. Perhaps most significantly, the Web is now capable of distributing multimedia materials that go
beyond just text and graphics. Hypermedia projects developed with software such as PowerPoint, HyperStudio,
and Authorware are increasingly being disseminated through the Web.
These trends are also having a dramatic effect on the educational community as more schools and universities
become connected to the Web. Many educators are wanting to, and in many cases expected to, integrate
technology into their classroom instruction. The Web, with all of its potential to deliver educational materials,
is often a confusing and underutilized resource for teachers and students. The current state of the Web with
respect to education may be summarized as follows:
1. There is a comparatively small amount of relevant downloadable courseware, instructional graphics, video
clips, and technology tutorials available on the Web for educators.
2. What materials do exist on the Web are often difficult to find, and educators frequently do not have the
required navigation and search skills to access them. Perhaps more importantly, many educators simply do
not have the time necessary to search for materials that can be used in their classrooms.
3. When educators do find instructionally-relevant materials, many times these materials are copyrighted.
Copyright laws for the electronic dissemination of information are still evolving, and most educators are
unclear about their rights and responsibilities. According to Baer [1996], even unintentional copyright
infringement is still a violation and “...the same powerful tools that make your original creations possible
are also unsurpassed tools for infringing copyright” [p.163].
Description of Archive.edu
To make instructional resources that educators can use in their classrooms more accessible and downloadable,
we have created Archive.edu. This Web site will serve as a storehouse of instructional materials on a variety of
topics that educators can easily access. But more than just another Web site, Archive.edu is a location where
educators will have permission to download any of the materials. These materials can be used as they are, or
customized and incorporated into other instructional projects.
The design and development of Archive.edu is based upon interviews with educators and students who have
expressed an interest in locating educational materials on the Web and plan to use this resource. The
prospective audience for Archive.edu includes preservice and inservice K-12 teachers and technology
coordinators, university faculty and students, and others interested in educational materials.