by Dave Spreen, TCETP Volunteer Coordinator and SMUG Member
The first bulletin focused on the development of the Tri-County Educational Telecommunications Project locally, but this bulletin will take a look at a few things happening on the national level.
I've about had it up to here with initials for various groups (like TCETP?), but indulge me a moment to throw a few more at you from the Electronic School House (ESH) on America Online:
Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) is a major, long-term research project sponsored by Apple Computer, Inc. The project explores how learning and teaching change when teachers and students have access to interactive computer technologies. ACOT, which is in its sixth school year, seeks not only to demonstrate innovative uses of technology, but also to influence educational reform by sharing its results with educators, parents, legislators and school administrators. The information gained by ACOT also is fed back to Apple engineers to help them develop new and better products. ACOT's goal is to improve instruction, technology and assessment.
The National Student Research Center (NSRC) envisions educating children around the world to become humanitarian and ecological 21st century citizens in an ultimately diverse and highly interdependent, science and technology based, global community.
The National Student Research Center (NSRC) at Mandeville Middle School in Mandeville, Louisiana, USA, facilitates the establishment of Student Research Centers in schools across the United States of America and around the world. The NSRC disseminates the innovative, highly effective, and empirically validated Student Research Center approach to instruction. The instructional approach is an interdisciplinary, student centered, and high technology program dedicated to promoting language arts, scientific, and technological literacy. It is based upon the constructivist learning model.
The NSRC's telecomputing network on America OnLine and Internet facilitates an international Electronic School District where students from distant schools have the opportunity to participate in cooperative student research teams and interschool research projects, exchange scientific data, query a support team of professionals about their topics of study, and send research abstracts to the NSRC for publication in its printed and electronic journals and databases of student research. Electronic journals and databases of student research are maintained in the NSRC's Electronic Library and are freely available to teachers and students. Program development materials are available without cost via postal mailings.
The Distance Learning Resource Network (DLRN) is a free service provided by the US Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement. They maintain all types of information on distance learning and can provide it to you as a free service. DLRN can also provide consulting services or try to find other information that relates to distance learning, educational and information technologies. (1-800-662-4160)
Then there's LabNet and KIDSNET and...