TECHNOLOGY & EDUCATION DIGEST
Digest No. 13 -- July 10, 1997
A Moderated Mailing List
Steve Wildstrom (steve_wildstrom@businessweek.com), Moderator

Return to Technology & Education

I request assistance /or more particularly advice. When the Wildstrom article first appeared June 9, I wrote that we at The Duke Institute for Learning in Retirement had just 'adopted' a nearby elementary school (k-5). The school until recently had one 'technology' teacher, a computer lab with 12 Macs, ONE hooked up to the internet. There were no teachers at all on the internet at home, and none had experience using same. The total exposure to internet was one volunteer teaching 3 kids at a time how to access and use internet and search engines. DILR has helped 7 teachers take computers home for the summer, install modems, install Mindspring (an ISP), Netscape and Eudora Lite email. We have also initiated training classes for the teachers and all has been enthusiastically received. We started with the teachers because all the hardware in the world( arriving by the truckload) is useless if the teachers don't buy in. I the fall we hope to initiate pen-pal programs, including using CU-SeeMe for audio visual.

More important though, we now need advice on web sites, and CDs, for the teachers to evaluate and try which will help bring alive history, art, geography, cultural issues, science/technology, etc. appropriate for k-5. I would appreciate any suggestions concerning that which has been found useful, as well as the reverse. We would like to hit the ground running in the fall-the with teachers all revved up, as we also expect to get Duke and private high school volunteers.

Do any of the engineering /scientific professional societies have web sites including sections meaningful to elementary school kids for educational purposes? All of industry, (I'm a retired businessman) laments the critical need for entry level people with adequate training for our high tech world. Do any of the major high tech corporations?

Waiting for government to help is a non-option. I'd as soon wait for Godot!

Herb Halbrecht (919) 620-0546 Fax (919) 620-0454

A very good example of educators and business working together to implement technology in the schools can be seen at http://www. rockets. org. This is the Web site of an inner-city elementary school, with content and programming accomplished by students with guidance from their teachers and a business partner, a newspaper editor, an ISP, and a lawyer. There is an article that explains the intent of the Web site at home. netscape. com/comprod/business_solutions/education/stories/andrew. html and another article at //www. rockets. org/news/newspapers/jbj/jbj02. html that also has some good information about the school/business alliance. And, at http://www. swaninc. com/news/nuzabout/rockets. html there is another article that explains how the building and the maintaining of the site has been used by the teachers to expand the children's horizons.

At the same time the Web site has had a significant impact on the students and teachers, based on e-mail we've received, it has influenced other educators in the U. S. and elsewhere.

Be that as it all may, the Web site is really only a vehicle for the children to show the world what they are doing with technology in their classrooms, and the site is only a very small part of the technology they use.

My company has worked with the school for many years to demonstrate how great things can be accomplished in education when imagination and creative thinking are used to compensate for little or no money. The inspiration for our work with the school has been it's principal, Dr. Carolyn Chambliss, a feisty lady with imagination as big as the universe. She has spent a large portion of her 30-year career proving the naysayers wrong about the value of technology in the classroom.

Carolyn has just retired and is taking her crusade nationwide via a commercial venture that is intended to generate both funds and expertise for other schools, teachers, and children seeking assistance with educational technology. Visit http://www. teacherzone. com to get a glimpse of that campaign.

BTW: Although the teachers and children at Carolyn's school have learned much and accomplished much, the people at my company have learned far more, and been rewarded in our hearts 10 times over, from sharing our knowledge and time with them.

Carl E. Carlson
President,
Swan Communications, Inc.
http://www. swaninc. com

>Harold Lamar wrote:
>This is an appeal for either funding or computers
>for Union Elementary School.
>Located in Tolleson, Union School is the oldest active public school in
>Arizona.>

Ken Hunter,
I have listed below a contact that will help you with your quest. Please contact him.

CONTACT INFO for ARIZONA
Dr. David Alexander, Director ASSET
(Arizona School Services through Educational Technology), Inc.
P.O. Box 871405
Tempe, AZ 85287
(602)965-1004
aztechcorps@asu.edu
Mike
Michael F. Pitsch
State Coordinator
Tech Corps Wisconsin
70671.2234@compuserve.com
414-886-1807

"We know, purely and simply, that every single child must have access to a computer, must understand it, must have access to good software and good teachers and to the Internet, so that every person will have the opportunity to make the most of his or her life." (President Clinton)

The program that you describe sounds very attractive for a small number of participants in a rather exclusive setting. I wonder whether / how we can bring some of these benefits to more of the system. One way might be for those that 'have' to tutor those that do not. Does your program allow for some of the older participants to use their knowledge, skills and resources to work with children in less advantaged schools? Or with senior citizens?

I'm asking because I am seeking a similar outlet for my son. He is 12, has used a Mac since he was 7, wrote his first HyperCard applications at 8, and currently is doing 3D graphics [Photoshop, RayDream, Adobe Illustrator] for his personal web site. Last school year, with considerable prodding, his middle school let him do tech support and tutoring for some of the other kids. He contributed substantially. I'd like to learn about schools that might be trying to do this systematically.

Thanks, and all the best in your programs.

R/ Den Crane

Schools around the world
trying to integrate Internet
July, 1997, The Institute (IEEE)

BY ANNETTE CODISPOTI
Assistant Editor, The Institute (IEEE)

Around the world the pressure is on for schools to gain Internet access, and in the midst of this wiring frenzy are scattered groups of educators and non-profit groups, each devising its own plan on how to integrate the Internet.

Computers for Classrooms, Inc. , Atlanta, Ga. , USA, is one non-profit group that focuses on teacher training for inner-city schools with support of volunteer instructors and companies donating equipment. According to Tip Kilby, executive director of CFC, many of their graduates are now the technology leaders in their schools.

In Washington, D. C. , last May, Kilby was one of several witnesses for a hearing of the House Subcommittee of the Technology Committee on Science. Education leaders are wary that schools are getting access to the Internet without educating teachers and developing integration plans.

TEACHER TRAINING. Phil Redman, a teacher advisor in the Lambeth borough of London, is helping teachers understand this new tool under a government funded inner-city initiative called the Brixton Connections Project (http://www. brixton-connections. org. uk/). "They need more education. They need more confidence," he said. "I don't think any of our teachers have become experts, but several are keen on using the Internet and have come to grips with it. "

Redman, a teacher himself, has the freedom to develop his own Internet projects for students and teachers. The first global project at his school united 66 elementary schools around the world. For "Our Day Today" these Internet pen pals used their math skills and their new computer skills to complete class surveys and then tally the results. The students then did optional writing assignments including "day in the life" stories to share cultural information.

ONE BY ONE. To reach the schools Redman contacted Classroom Connect in Lancaster, Penn. , U. S. A. (http://www. classroom. net), a provider of information for K-12 educators on how to use the Internet in the classroom. Rem Jackson, vice president and Web site manager of Classroom Connect, has seen schools in the U. S. connect one district at a time, a reflection of the economic disparity of the U. S. system. "The integration is not going to change that issue -- it will just magnify it," said Jackson. Suburban schools will be first and rural schools will have the toughest time. While he said it's still "early in the curve," eventually every school will be connected and every teacher has to be trained. He also noted their eagerness and ability to learn is not gender-based or age-based.

School Web sites worldwide vary in style and content. For example, Mary Butterworth Middle School in Edmonton, Canada, has a very structured Web site, with a student page that lists subjects by grade with suggested sites for assignments.

In Canada, SchoolNet (http://www. schoolnet. ca/) provides education information and a directory of Canadian schools by province. At the Alberta Education site, parents, students and teachers can access anything from an outline of the education budget and goals to information on parenting and pediatrics.

Alberta Education and other teacher and education groups in Alberta have devised a plan to provide training for nearly 3,500 of Alberta's teachers over a two-year period. Their goal is to have at least one teacher as an Internet leader for both students and teachers, much like Phil Redman in London.

In the U. S. , the Federal Communications Commission recently approved a plan offering discounts of up to 90 percent to connect classrooms. Discounts would depend on the wealth of the school and its accessibility, with rural schools being granted greater discounts due to costs associated with developing telecommunication capacity.

Archives of this list are available at www.businessweek.com/bwplus/teched/charter.htm

To subscribe, send mail to listserv@listserv.businessweek.com with the message body: subscribe tech-ed (your name)

To unsubscribe, send mail to listserv@listserv.businessweek.com with the message body: signoff tech-ed