TECHNOLOGY & EDUCATION DIGEST
Digest No. 23 -- September 5, 1997
A Moderated Mailing List
Steve Wildstrom (steve_wildstrom@businessweek.com), Moderator

Return to Technology & Education

As many teachers know, the national high schooldebate topic this year focuses on Renewable Energy. One of the most comprehensive Internet sites with information for students to glean insights is operated by the non-profit Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST) at http://solstice.crest.org . CREST posts the entire contents of its interactive multimedia CD-ROM programs, which includes the Gold Medal Winner of the International ECO Awards, THE SUN'S JOULES, a mul-timedia encyclopedia on renewable energy.

CREST also maintains nearly a dozen online discussion groups on spe-cific renewable topices (e.g., photovoltaics, bioenergy); is host to nearly 50 national groups working in this area; hosts half a dozen pe-riodicals in this area (e.g., Clean Energy Finance); and maintains the Internet Virtual Library on Energy (http://gem.crest.org), with more than 2,000 annotated links.

Of particular interest to science and math teachers is CREST's award-winning floppy diskette-based software, SCHOOL ENERGY DOCTOR, which en-ables students to inventory and calculate lighting and water savings, solar hot water options, and related pollution reductions in their schools, homes and community buildings (http://crest.org/efficiency/sed/). According to the U.S. Dept of En-ergy, schools nationwide could save more than $2 billion per year through energy efficiency investments showing a 2-3 year payback!

Michael Totten, Executive Director
Center for Renewable Energy & Sustainable Technology (CREST)
1200 18th St NW
9th floor
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-530-2231
Fax: 202-887-0497
email: mpt@crest.org

Hello. My name is Lisa Nehring, and I am a high school math teacher conducting a technology project with my Precalculus students. I am looking for people to participate with my students through email about how they use their mathematical skills in the your field of expertise. I have en-closed a letter explaining more about the project. If you are willing to participate please email me back asap. The project starts in less than two weeks. Thank you for your time and consideration

Lisa Nehring

The letter: Dear Partner in Education,

In the fall we will begin the second year of Project CLIMB: Creating Links In Math & Business in our Precalculus classes. We hope you are willing to participate.

Please e-mail Lisa Nehring at if you are willing to CLIMB with us this fall. Include at least 3 of the math topics listed below.

Your responsibilities:
1. Select at least three math topics that your company uses. The choices are:
Probability
Trigonometry
Logs/Exponents
Graphing (Linear and Non-linear)
Linear Programming
Matrices
Statistics

We plan to organize the responses soon, so if you could reply at your earliest convenience, we would appreciate it.

2. Respond to a student e-mail about every 2 weeks. A total of 5 responses will be necessary over the course of the project. The stu-dents will ask you about your company, teamwork, and the math topics you choose.

Student responsibilities:

1. Correspond with you via e-mail in a professional manner.
2. Ask about the next topic a few days after receiving your response.
3. Respond promptly to any inquiries you have or clarifications you need.

Thank you,
Lisa Nehring

Janice Grant (jgrantaia@ameritech.net) writes:

There's a web site called www.schoolnews.com that can be used to register information about yourself and locate past school friends that register and it's free! Janice M. Grant

Bill Brody (ewbrody@memphis.edu) writes:

The Department of Journalism at The University of Memphis (both fully accredited) is offering a masters degree in journalism via the Inter-net. Students can emphasize print journalism, electronic journalism, advertising, or public relations.

The degree requires 30 to 36 semester hours (30 with a six-hour thesis, 33 with a three-hour professional project, 36 all course work) and can be completed in 18 months. Both degree program and individual courses are identical with those offered on the university campus. The on-line program began in January of 1996 and is expected to have its first graduates in the current academic year.

The synchronous system (using RoundTable 2.0 from The Forefront Group -- www.ffg.com ) requires on-line class meetings. Classes are scheduled in keeping with student needs. Most meet from 8 to 11 p.m. Central on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Students from all U.S. time zones and from as far away as Rome and Brussels are participating.

The virtual classroom (http://umvirtual.memphis.edu) can be accessed directly or through the university's home page (http://www.memphis.edu). Complete information about the program, fac-ulty, courses, etc., is available at both sites. Anyone interested in visiting while a class is in session should (a) download the RoundTable 2.0 client, available without charge from the Forefront group web site, (b) load the software and (c) contact me for access in-structions.

[The Department of Journalism also offers undergraduate news-editorial and advertising courses for practicing profesionals through the Na-tional Newspaper Association.]

E.W. Brody, Ed.D.
Professor
Department of Journalism
The University of Memphis
Memphis TN 38152

Telephone 901-678-4779
Fax 901-748-0706
Email ewbrody@memphis.edu

NetVision Mentoring Program

NetVision, a volunteer group of people involved with education and technology, was formed to facilitate the integration of the Internet into classroom instruction in K-12 schools in Maryland. Last fall, we designed a "Teaching with the Internet" guide, also known as the "yel-low book", which was eagerly embraced by many teachers. In the spring, we provided training materials for Internet workshops held at a variety of locations throughout the state. This year, we want to create a mentoring program in which teachers already using the Internet in their classrooms will be paired with teachers or groups of teachers of the same grade level or subject matter who want to develop projects using the Internet in their classroom.

We are proposing a mentoring model in which the mentor would offer the mentee(s) both face-to-face and online assistance in developing an in-structional unit incorporating resources from the Internet. These units would then be shared with other teachers through the Governor's Tech-nology Showcase in December and the MICCA (Maryland Instructional Com-puting Coordinators Association) conference in March. Stipend and travel funds are being sought to cover mentor expenses for these events.

The schools eligible to receive this mentoring service will be selected from the pool of NetWeekend '97 applicants. Volunteer mentors will be paired with schools of their choice from the pool. An orientation meet-ing for mentors and mentees will be held in October.

If you would like to share your Internet ideas with other teachers, please volunteer for this worthwhile program. We all recognize the need for additional Internet training opportunities for teachers, and many of us have benefitted from the mentorship of a more experienced peer sometime in our past. Please consider sharing your expertise with your colleagues.

To volunteer, please send the following information to Steve Kohn (sjkohn@wam.umd.edu)

Name:
School Name:
School District:
Work Address:
Work Phone:
Home Phone:
email address:
Teaching Experience with the Internet (grade level and subject area):

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