1998.10.11

TechPlans - School Districts in British Columbia have submitted tech plans to the Education Ministry.

AUP - A collection of links to institutions with Acceptable Use Policies.

1997 Cyberfair Winners - Award winning school home pages from all over the world.

The Why Files - A wonderful resource for teachers and students who have an interest in how the sciences fit everyday life observations and activities.

A+ - Get the most out of the one or two computers in your classroom.

Education World - Updated daily with information resources for educators.

Ameritech Schoolhouse - Another excellent resource for Educators.

Straight Talk About Schools - Activities that are appropriate for use in computer, life skills, mathematics, humanities and other interdisciplinary classes. A site sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (US).

The Vocal Point is an international, student managed electronic education newspaper which originates at Centennial Middle School in Boulder Colorado. Contributions come from sites around the US and Canada. The paper was created to give the students a chance explore topics of interest to youth and to show how their ideas could be expressed to a worldwide audience using today's communication technologies. The newspaper has been produced since June 1994 and all back issues are available at the site. Themes covered run the gamut from Censorship and Violence to the Environment, Animal Rights and Sports. The issues are multimedia rich with examples of VMRL (Virtual Reality Modeling Language), movies, and sound files, along with the more traditional text and graphics.

Tammy's Tips For Teachers is an interesting collection of curriculum ideas for teachers, ranging from classroom management to class projects to school and district policies for internet use by students. Webmaster, Tammy Worcester, is a grade 7/8 computer technology teacher in Kansas.

Child Safe Surfing. Although there have not been a large number of reported incidents involving the abuse of children as a direct result of the use of the internet, the possibility exists. Therefore it is wise for parents, teachers and children to discuss the safe use of the internet and set common sense boundaries for exploration. This site, an offshoot of Canada Childfind, discusses the "risk/reward" use of the net, gives guidelines for parents and presents suggested rules for children to follow to decrease the liklihood of encountering abusive situations.

Educom Publications. The publications arm of Educom.edu. Educom (USA) is a lot larger organization than my EduCom corner of the universe. They are a consortium of university concerns in the United States and publish many fine documents and promote conferences and research. They have publications which are paid, and some that are freely delivered by email. This link will describe their various publications. You can branch from here to the official home page of educom.edu.

There are more than 100 models of digital cameras available for purchase today and it is very hard to make comparisons at the retail store. ZDNet has a collection of article references and pointers that should help you with the decision making process.

I will admit to being a Macintosh biggot, but, I haven't yet discovered a shareware or freeware program that will put interactive calendars onto a web page. HTMLCAL 2.0 (for DOS and Unix platforms) appears to be a tool which does just that.

According to the author, and from what I can see on the demo page, it makes full-page calendars that can be posted directly to your school's Web site or intranet.

Completing an online form to enter data about events will modify a text file used to create the calendar. Schools will find many potential uses for this type of calendar, including notifying the community of events such as PTA meetings, cultural and sporting events, non instructional days, etc. The FAQ makes it clear that a Macintosh server is not supported. Perhaps some enterprising Mac programmer will either figure out a way to duplicate this task, or, point me to a shareware or freeware program which does.

Lot's 'o Links for Kids is a good jumping off point for parents and teacher to take children to if they want to explore the net in a safe environment. Sponsored by Childfind Canada, the links from this site are all pre-screened to be interesting, fun and safe. One of the first links is to Rules for Online Safety which is a good read for adults and children alike.

Kid's Safety follows on last week's theme of Kid's Fun, for, what is fun, without safety. From this link you can get information regarding safety aspects of the web for children... including Articles, Reports, News, Acceptable Use Policies, Organizations and Technological Options.

CourseInfo has created an educational tool that allows instructors to manage course materials and students on-line. Although this is a commercial tool, the demo certainly gives the impression that this software can be used to create courseware and evaluation screens without an indepth knowledge of HTML programming. The user completes custom forms which then generate the pages. Updates and changes are likewise easily accomplished. A single course will cost approximately $200 US with hosting of the web pages for the course an additional fee. When you visit the site, you can create your own course on line to test out the capability of the tool.

AND NOW A WEB FROM OUR SPONSOR - How Online Advertisers Are Cashing In On Children.

This collection of articles explores the issues surrounding commercial sites which use glitzy and enticing characters, graphics and phrases to entice children to keep coming back for more. Some of the sites referenced also collect demographic information from children to use in marketing campaigns.

Because these techniques are aimed at children, it is helpful for teachers and parents to know the techniques of soft selling that are being employed so they can address them with the children.

CyberSchool - I spoke recently to a friend who's wife is in her second year of law at a university nearby. She is taking two of her courses over the internet. The CyberSchool site linked to this story has nothing to do with university, online courses, but, it did get me thinking that the role of the traditional school is likely to change as we move to the next millenium. The CyberSchool referenced in this article was the focus of an article on one of the Microsoft pages I read today. This link may die ... certainly sooner than the CyberSchool link itself. If you have in interest in how an online school could be combined with a traditional school district, as is done in Eugene Oregon, check this site out!

Ask Dr. Math is a question and answer service for K-12 math students and their teachers. Students from K-12 can submit math questions using a form from the web page. Personal answers are emailed back to the students and the questions and answers are archived by topic (searchable) on the site. Since its electronic inception in 1994, over 150 volunteer "doctors" have worked with the program. There is also a good reference to sites where math puzzles can be found.

Netiquette. The author of The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette is Arlene Rinaldi. By her own admission, Ms. Rinaldi is NOT Miss Manners of the Internet. She has, however, produced an award winning document which is a useful resource for those wishing to avoid being flamed! Ms. Rinaldi has been active on the internet since 1990 and developed this document for faculty and staff at Florida Atlantic University.

Mark your calendars for October 21, 1997 3:00 P.M. EDT... Lycos CyberSurfari'97 launches its third annual virtual expedition, with a total of more than $100,000 in cash, software, T-shirts and certificates to win.

CyberSurfari '97 is a World Wide Web treasure hunt designed to help individuals, families and school teams learn about and enjoy the World Wide Web. The CyberSurfari challenge is to submit as many treasure codes as possible during the contest by finding specific pieces of information on fascinating Web site "outposts" around the world.

It's FREE and there are 100 entertaining, informative, fun and interactive sites to explore online, such as the National Gallery of Art, National Geographic, the Computer Museum Network and Warner Bros. Online and more than two dozen international sites.

KidNews is a free news and writing service for students and teachers around the world. KidNews is a member of the National Elementary Schools Press Association and is published by Peter Owens, an English and Professional Writing Professor at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth. The pages are continuously revised and updated with submissions from children all over the world. Students can submit news stories from their own communities; reviews of books, software, movies and more; request penpal exchanges; share creative writing and classroom projects.

KidsKorner is a site which I recently visited after reading a review by Lynn Thomas, a Project Manager for the Schoolnet Digital Collection Project. Lynn's review follows:

This site is supported by the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Public Libraries Board. The sites' look is very smooth and clean due to the amazing graphics developed by Schoolnet's Homepage Olympics winner, Scott Martin.

The site is very useful for kids, teachers, parents, and community members alike. The main page consists of two links, the first "I am a kid." This link takes you to an area where the child/student can choose from four links, Science, Nature, Fun House and Animals, to give them a list of valuble resources they can access.

"I work with kids", the second link, takes you directly to a resource page where you can choose various resources depending on your involvment as a parent, teacher, or community member. There is also a link where you can access various sites teaching you how to search the internet, develop a webpage, and even to learn programming.

The "Educational Resources for Parents" link takes you to a list of educational parenting links, the "Educational Resources for Teachers" gives you a list of resources for both planning and actual classroom activities and the community link will give you direct access to the Community Access Project which is an Industry Canada funded project to promote rural connectivity throughout Canada.

Kids Korner also uses Shockwave to play its two interactive games; Animal Puzzle and Mystery Photo. Its bright, and vivid graphics along with its easy navigation can be used by children of all ages makes this page a very valuable.

Thanks for the contribution, Lynn!

Bruce Haig is a retired teacher in Lethbridge Alberta. Twenty-five years ago he involved his students in a project which commemorated the one hundredth anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He has documented this project at his website with the objective of encouraging others to plan activities around the 125th anniversary next year. As Mr. Haig reported in a message to a newsgroup I read, he is:

"developing another sketchbook of students artwork from around the world to present at locations with global connections to Commissioner George A. French who led the Mounties west in 1874. Commissioner French played a part in the history of Ireland, Canada, United States, India and Australia."

Schools participating in the project will receive a FREE set of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Centennial Prints shown in the graphic on this page. Others who wish to purchase the prints without participating in the project may do so by writing to Mr. Haig.

Electronic School Online chronicles technological change in the classroom, interprets education issues in a digital world, and offers readers -- some 80,000 school board members, school administrators, school technology specialists, and other educators -- practical advice on a broad range of topics pertinent to the implementation of technology in elementary and secondary schools throughout North America.

Contents include electronic reprints of the articles in the print version of The American School Board Journal.

According to the information presented at this site, Views of the Solar System has been created as an educational tour of the solar system. It contains images and information about the Sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets and meteoroids found within the solar system. It contains over 220 pages of information, over 950 high-resolution images and animations, and over 880 megabytes of data. The image processing for many of the images was done by the author.

My brother knows that I have an interest in all things digital, including cameras. I had been going back to the ZDNET reviews over and over as they updated them, however, the site reference he gave me the other day is one worth looking at if you have any need for current information about this changing technology.

The big news for me at Comdex two weeks ago was the number of new cameras on the market ... the increase in resolution ... and the lowering of the price points.

The authors of the Digital Camera Resource Page kicked off their site last week and promise to have daily news updates covering industry announcements and developments, camera reviews - including the option for readers to add their own comments, sample output, hints and tips for getting the most out of a digital camera and more.

This site will be a regular stopping point for me.

Santa Claus welcomes you to Claus.com!

Yellow Pages for Internet Kids

There are many and varied ways to kick off the New Year. One group of 75 individuals has done it by starting the Vietnam Challenge. The Challenge is a three week, 1,900 km bicycle tour through Vietnam. The participants are a mixed group of able-bodied and disabled athletes... including former world champion Greg LeMond. The journey can be tracked at the Asia Society, AskAsia, website. The first photos of this event, which began on January 1st, have been posted at the site. Teachers interested in developing lessons around the event can check out the resources available online. According to information at the site, all the resources have been cleared for copyright and can be freely used in lesson planning. An "Adult Free Zone" provides activities and links for students to learn more about the Asian continent.

The site referenced here was originally posted as a pick of the week during the week leading up to Valentine's Day. Teachers, parents and kids look for web sites with some good graphics to use for holiday web projects. It is great when you can find a site that encourages the use of their clip art for these types of projects. Celeste's Holiday Graphic Collection is one such site. The author began collecting graphic images for the Christmas season in 1995 and has continued to add to the site... as such it is a changing venue and worthy of more than a single visit. Visitors are encouraged to download and use the graphics for non commercial purposes, with credit by way of a link back to her site.

The EdView Smart Zone was recommended to me by the company CEO, Tim Wilson. I took a look at what they have to offer and believe it is a site worthy of your time to investigate. There is a mild commercial aspect to the site ... it appears to be sponsored by Kellogs, however the Kellogs logo is very understated. Further, EdView is using the site to market their internet screening product, Channel Lock which is currently available only on the Macintosh platform with a Windows version coming soon. The purpose of Channel Lock is to allow access only to the sites in the EdView database. Sites can be recommended and submitted by those who visit the EdView site and are broken down into Elementary, Middle School and High School categories. There is a good search engine which allows you to enter keywords to get URL references either globally or within predefined subject categories.

Tim wrote to me that the sites in the EdView Smart Zone follow guidelines which have been adopted by a National Advisory Council of education and business leaders, administrators, teachers and students and are used by the over 100 educators reviewing sites. Families can access the EdView Smart Zone+ which has all the educational sites and includes more fun, games and entertainment sites appropriate for home access.

March 2 - 8 is Education Week in British Columbia. The Ministry of Education, Skills and Technology (or, whatever their new name is after the cabinet shuffle last week) has a link from their web site to honour the activities surrounding this day. At this site, you will find the Education Week Ideas Book... a resource supplied to school district contacts to help them promote Education Week 1998. It also describes many of the activities from last year's Education Week and is intended to help stimulate ideas for this year's activities.

On the Road Again: U.S. Postcard Project

I subscribe to a number of education newsletters and some of them offer links to interesting sites to review. This is one such review. I apologize for not noting the source (email list) of this document, but, it seems to have wandered off my electronic file system ...

A former history teacher, Priscilla Sarsfield, and her husband, Ken, invite you to join them via cyber-postcards on their trek across the U.S.

They're visiting all 50 states and all state capitals and sharing what they see on the Internet through daily postcards posted on their Web site or sent directly to your e-mail address (at no charge!).

Why Are They Doing This?

According to Priscilla, "We knew our friends and family would demand postcards while we were away so Ken decided he could create our own, using a digital camera, and then send them out each day on the Net. Then we realized we could send these postcards to anyone who's interested ... Teachers, students, students of life, armchair travelers, photography or history buffs ... anyone at all."

For instance, if the Sarsfields are in South Dakota seeing Mount Rushmore, Ken photographs it using his digital camera while Priscilla researches the area, and when they get back to their trailer, they design a postcard together in their "cellular office" and send it out that very night. Viewers can see the exact weather conditions and image of that day's site. The design format is just like the postcards you find in your regular mailbox -- only they appear in your e-mail in-box instead.

These cross-country travelers have since expanded the postcard idea to include a "Fun Facts" page and more for students, as well as Travel Tips and a Diary for parents and teachers.

To join in the cyber-caravan, go to the Web at http://www.postcardsfrom.com/.

Lach Farrell is a retired educator from the Kootenay region of British Columbia. In October, 1997, he set out on a journey to fulfill a dream ... travelling through the two Americas. Heading south from the interior of British Columbia, Lach is heading along the west coast of the United States, through Mexico and Central America into South America and eventually back up the East coast of the US, into eastern Canada with Alaska as a final stop.

His journey is being documented with audio, video, digital and traditional photography. His tools include a Macintosh Powerbook and a satelite phone to allow him to communicate with students in schools all over the world. The "virtual" passengers on this road trip of a lifetime have an opportunity to communicate with Lack via email. Some have enjoyed telephone conferences with him along the way.

Find out more about this fascinating adventure by visiting the project website which is supported by the Boundary School District.

Every so often I visit a site which has links to other resources on the net ... these sites act as a clearinghouse for pointers to other good sites on the net. Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is one of these resources. The site has been active for more than three years and has been recognized by many publications as a must see site. Links are classified by subject area, from Agriculture to World Languages with other options to link to search engines and additonal resources.

Ms. Shrock is the District Technology Department Head for the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District on Cape Cod, MA. Her interests include Internet research and investigation and as a result, she updates the site daily. One link at the site references the new locations which have been added in the current month.

In my current role as a consultant for PLNet, the Provincial Learning Network in the Province of British Columbia, I have been doing a lot of travelling to school districts and colleges in the province. Last week, I visited Ashcroft, BC a town which was involved in the Gold Rush many years ago. The area has a number of former gold rush towns and cities and the region is known as Gold Country. Industry Canada has sponsored a Community Access Programme to encourage local citizens and businesses to get on the net. There are 8 of these CAP sites (Webstops) in the region, all staffed by students under 18 years of age. The students have built the site, manage the web pages and take care of the web needs of the community at large.

My first exposure to a Webstop was when I pulled into town late in the afternoon after a drive up from Vancouver. I had no idea what it was at the time, thinking it was a tourist information centre. And, it was... these sites act as that too, with the usual maps and brochures for the tourist along with public access terminals to check for e-mail or do some web browsing. These locations are all non profit, with whatever income there is going to the future development of the community sites.

This web site is a great example of what students can do as a contribution to their community with a little support from the government and the school district.