TECHNOLOGY & EDUCATION DIGEST
Digest No. 98-10 -- October 26, 1998
A Moderated Mailing List
Steve Wildstrom (steve_wildstrom@businessweek.com), Moderator

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FROM THE MODERATOR: Sorry about the stream of test messages, but I think they have served their purpose. For the moment, we have a pretty clean list on a new server. One request: The biggest chore in managing any mailing list is dealing with bounced messages. If you change e-mail addresses, pleasde signoff the list under you old address and signon under the new. If you have trouble doing this, send me a note and I'll handle the change. It saves me from chasing bounces later.

Measnwhile, here's a short digest.

Steve Wildstrom

Joan Kotas (jkotas@oprfhs.org) writes:

Dr. Duncan Hutcheon, a retired pediatrician and medical school professor, has spent considerable hours working with our biology students and our computer equipment to come up with a PowerPoint presentation/web page that covers the basics of human genetics.

The plan he uses is this:

1. Show the students the basic PP presentation he produced.
2. They are assigned a specific disorder to research in teams of 3 or 4 students. Their assignment output is another PP presentation, which they use as a base for a team report. These sub-presentations could be linked to the master one.

If you would like to see this, check out the addresses below.

http://oprfhs.org/division/library/genetics.html
http://oprfhs.org/division/library/

Joan Kotas
Technology Learning Center
Oak Park River Forest High School

Anyone interested in a web page where 4th through 8th grade students can communicate directly with a scientist or engineer, please contact me at jthompso@spsu.edu.

Jim Thompson

On Wednesday, October 14, The Read In Foundation hosted an interactive online event using state of the art technology known as the Palace. With a simple, free download, one was able to speak in real time using a graphical interface...It was hilarious and GREAT fun! We had over 6,800 participants in three countries and plan to host more events...

In an effort to expand the scope of the annual Read In! project (this year it will be held on May 13, 1998), we are creating and developing an online "palace" (a home base) for monthly author/special guest events. This will be a school house or, perhaps a library, with various rooms in which you will be able to chat with friends, hold meetings, meet others from around the world, or attend scheduled "classes" or events. As with the Read In! there is no cost to participate: these are educational events to encourage literacy.

Mr. Stine has agreed to a return monthly Palace "engagement" in December! We also have "Little Critter" author Mercer Mayer scheduled for an event in early 1999. The moment we have the details finalized on his visit, they will be posted on the newly revamped Read In! website in Webster's Notebook.

Registrations have just opened for the Sixth Annual Read In!, With 20 of the anticipated 22 authors on board, and two surprise authors soon to be added, this will, as usual be a heavily attended event.

Date: Thursday, May 13, 1999 (to accommodate our friends overseas) Time: 8 AM-7 PM ET/5 AM-4 PM PT Authors appearing online live at half hour increments:

Tim Bowler, Michael Hardcastle from England;
James Moloney from Australia;
David Boyd, Joan Irvine, Karleen Bradford from Canada;
Avi, Bruce Balan, Daniel Hayes, Ed Emberley, Evelyn Clarke Mott, Jackie French Koller, Jane Yolen, Judy Blume, R. L. Stine, Virginia Hamilton, Nancy Smith, Jan Brett, Fred Bowen, and Mercer Mayer from the United States

Please register on the website at: www.readin.org

Sincerely,

Jane ;-)
Jane Coffey
thereadin@aol.com
Director/The Read In!
http://www.readin.org

Computer Technician
Dennis Earl Elementary School
Turlock, CA

FYI--Here are the current statistics from the registrations!

Students: 40,161
Supervisors: 1566
Grand Total: 41,727
Computers Online: 2681
Number of States: 39
Number of Countries: 5: Australia, Canada, England, South Africa, US, and the Virgin Islands

Remember: Read! Read!! Read!!!

I serve on the advisory board for the Micrografx Chili Cookoff, an annual fund raising event at Comdex serving the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ncmec.org)

While they started out focused on missing and abducted kids, one area they are now spending a lot of time on is the Internet. Why? Because pedophiles under age alias' pose as teens in chat rooms, lure kids to meet and sometimes nasty things happen.

Anyway, here's an idea I shared with the group on Monday evening during a conference.

NCMEC should partner with the D.A.R.E. (Drug, Alcohol Resistance Education) program. In DARE, local police officers come into schools (usually around the fifth grade) and give the kids the low down on the use of drugs/alcohol.

My idea is while they are there, they could also share with the kids who to and who not to talk to over the net.

Could you imagine the positive impact this idea could have if millions of kids were taught the dangers of the net at an early age.

Gary Beach
Publisher
CIO Magazine

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