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THINK OF IT AS AN INFINITELY EXPANDING UNIVERSE OF IDEAS, resources, contacts, and curricula. The Library in the Sky (http://www.nwrel.org/sky/), the online resource collection of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, offers a galaxy of educational opportunities to teachers, students, parents, and librarians all over the planet. Open one door, and it will lead to another. Look through one window, and a world of educational opportunities appears -- a world that changes weekly as new Web sites and resources are added and "dead links" are removed. Sitting at your computer, you can:
This is a just a tiny sampling of the endless educational resources you can tap through the ever-growing virtual library. Launched in 1995, The Library in the Sky contains nearly 6,500 links to other Web sites. If you've visited in the past, you'll find navigating the site much easier and quicker after a major redesign by Web developer Kevin Rankin of the Northwest Laboratory. You can enter the library in two different ways: by keyword search or by your role in education. If you know what you're looking for, you can type in a few key words and search the library's extensive database. If you're a teacher, you can click the "Teacher" button and you will be taken to a page tailored specifically to the needs and interests of teachers. Students, parents, librarians, and community members also have pages tailor-made to meet their needs and interests. "The great thing about the library is that it does the searching and careful selecting of information for you," Campbell notes. "Try doing a search for 'lesson plans,' for example. The last time I tried, I got 59,178 matches. How do you know which ones are the best? Who has the time to look at 59,178 Web sites? All the resources in the Library have been reviewed and found to be of high quality for our users." To be included in The Library in the Sky, resources must be useful for teachers, students, parents, librarians, or the community. They must be safe and appropriate for children. They must contain what Campbell calls "real stuff" -- actual documents, projects, pictures, lesson plans, discussion groups. And they must be current. Most resources considered for The Library in the Sky have been recommended by an educator, a librarian, or a national reviewer. The Northwest Educational Technology Consortium, operated by the Northwest Laboratory, also maintains a Web site (http://www.netc.org) focusing on several areas of educational technology: integrating technology with teaching and learning; identifying and supporting leaders at the building level; developing and implementing technology plans; and building infrastructure for networking and telecommunications. Additional technology resources and regional information can be accessed through the Technology Center at the Northwest Laboratory (http://www.nwrel.org). From the Laboratory home page, select "Programs and Services" and then "Technology." The Technology Center's can respond to reference and information requests. Contact them at (800) 211-9435.. BASIC GUIDANCE FOR BEGINNERS who want to bring the worldwide computer network into the classroom is available from the Education Research Service in its 1996 publication The Internet Roadmap for Educators. "Exploring the Internet is like embarking on a journey," the book asserts. "To arrive at your destination, you need to know where you're going, how you'll get there, and what to do if you encounter a roadblock." Promising to take readers where they want to go, the book gives:
Among sites listed are Roadmap (http://www.liv.ac.uk/~evansjon/roadmap/Welcome.html), "a popular site that provides a free, 27-lesson Internet training workshop." Another is the Busy Teacher's Web Site (http://www.ceismc.gatech.edu/busyt/), which "serves as a one-stop Internet location for teachers, grouping classroom resources by subject area." Copies can be ordered for $20 (plus $3.50 for shipping) from: ERS, 2000 Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201. For information, call (703) 243-2100 or send e-mail to ers@access.digex.net. GET AN UP-CLOSE AND PERSONAL LOOK at the teachers and students involved in the 10-year Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow study in Teaching with Technology: Creating Student-Centered Classrooms. Published in 1997 by Teachers College Press, the book gives a detailed account of how teachers' roles, strategies, and attitudes changed over time when their classrooms were saturated with computers and other high-tech equipment. Authors Judith Sandholtz, Cathy Ringstaff, and David Dwyer describe the gradual alteration of technology-rich classrooms from teacher-centered to student- centered. As technology took hold, students began playing a more active role in their own learning. Meanwhile, teachers gave up their position as "sage on the stage" to become coaches or facilitators-the "guide on the side." The book offers insight into a broad range of changes-many of them unanticipated-that occurred as the project progressed. Kids who were low achievers or social misfits, for example, often blossomed when they had access to technology. Peer tutoring became commonplace. Students often surpassed their teachers in technology savvy to becoming expert resources, not only for other students but for their teacher, as well. Assessment strategies moved away from reliance on traditional testing toward more use of performance and portfolio assessments. Here's an excerpt from the book: "The benefits of technology integration are best realized when learning is not just the process of transferring facts from one person to another, but when the teacher's goal is to empower students as thinkers and problem solvers. Technology provides an excellent platform-a conceptual environment-where children can collect information in multiple formats and then organize, visualize, link, and discover relationships among facts and events. Students can use the same technologies to communicate their ideas to others, and to add greater levels of understanding to their growing knowledge." The book is full of anecdotes —real-life stories about the struggles and successes of teachers and their students. It conveys the frustrations and struggles of venturing into new technologies as well as the surprises and triumphs. You can order the book for $18.95 (plus $2.50 for shipping) from Teachers College Press, P.O. Box 20, Williston, VT 05495- 0020. For more information, call 800-575-6566 or visit the Web site at http://www.teacherscollegepress.com/. BRIMMING WITH IDEAS FOR TEACHERS who want to venture onto the information highway is NetLearning: Why Teachers Use the Internet, a fat book and accompanying CD-ROM from Songline Studios.
The book is packed with addresses of promising Web sites, where teachers can find ideas, hook up with existing projects, or get further training in using new technologies. Copies can be ordered for $24.95 (plus $4.50 for shipping) from The Book Shelf, EPE, Suite 432, 4301 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008. For information call 800-346-1834. "MY EIGHTH-GRADERS AND I HAVE ONE CLASSROOM COMPUTER, a pieced-together 286 PC that somehow manages to run Windows on one megabyte of RAM. Hooked up to a 2400 bits-per-second (bps) modem and phone line, it isn't exactly state of the art, but we love it. It works and it gets us out-out the door to a world beyond Pease Middle School and San Antonio, Texas...." These words from teacher Linda Maston begin a collection of case studies, Tales from the Electronic Frontier, compiled and published by the WestEd Eisenhower Regional Consortium for Science and Mathematics Education. The slick, colorful book presents the first-hand accounts of 10 teachers who have used the Internet in K-12 science and math classrooms. Linda Maston's story, "Something in the Air," describes how students' scientific sleuthing led the school district to repair a faulty ventilation system in the school. Glenn Lidbeck's account, "Confessions of a Fourth-Grade Newbie," describes a multischool project to measure the Earth's magnetic field at different locations. Other stories describe student research in the fields of astronomy, meteorology, ecology, and geology, among other explorations. All of the stories are written in a lively narrative format, honestly recounting both the high points and low spots of classroom experiments in networking. The words and actions of students and teachers come alive in the telling. Here's an example from Karen Nishimoto: "Now I was the one feeling nervous. None of us were Internet experts. I had been using e-mail for four months; most of the students had been using it for one. What if something went wrong? I didn't want students spending all their time troubleshooting technological glitches. I was also concerned with how telecommunications would fit in with what we currently do. I want my students to learn how to think scientifically and to conduct scientific investigations. How would using e-mail help them to learn and carry out these processes?" Throughout the book are sidebars listing Web sites that offer curricula, online projects, and other resources. The book also provides tips on newsgroups, electronic mailing lists, training opportunities, acceptable use, and "shareware" (free software). Copies can be ordered for $9.50 (plus $4 for shipping) from: Tales from the Electronic Frontier, WestEd, 730 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA 94107. For information call (415) 565-3000.
The lead story on a recent issue focused on multimedia projects and electronic portfolios. It discussed the relative advantages of software such as HyperStudio, ClarisWorks, HyperCard, The Digital Chisel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. It offered tips for "harvesting" online images, video clips, and sound effects. And it provided addresses for Web sites where readers can see examples of electronic portfolios. Another recent cover story was about using e-mail to teach writing. Stating that "e-mail can be incorporated into any unit that involves writing," the article discussed "keypals" (online pen pals) and provided addresses for a number of keypal sites where readers can find students to link up with. It also talked about using e-mail as a publishing tool, contacting online authors, and corresponding with students who speak other languages. Also discussed were online mailing lists for young writers. "Classroom Connect is one of the best sources for information about Web sites," says Amy Derby, resource librarian for the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's Technology Center. For a year's subscription, send $39 to: Classroom Connect Inc., P.O. Box 10488, Lancaster, PA 17605-0488. For more information, contact Editor Kathy Housley, 800-638-1639 or mail to: editor@classroom.net. Visit the Web site at http://www.classroom.net. KIDS DO A LOT OF THEIR COMPUTER WORK AT HOME. To help parents to better understand and monitor their children's online explorations, the U.S. Department of Education has produced a booklet titled Parents Guide to the Internet. Beginning with the very basics (it defines terms such as "mouse" and "modem"), the booklet takes readers through the steps of choosing a computer, getting connected to the Internet, "surfing" (browsing) the World Wide Web, using electronic bookmarks, sending e-mail, joining online mailing lists, and other Internet-related activities. Of particular interest to parents is the section titled "Tips for Safe Traveling." "Just as we tell our children to be wary of strangers they meet, we need to tell them to be wary of strangers on the Internet," the booklet stresses. "Most people behave reasonably and decently online, but some are rude, mean, or even criminal." The booklet advises teaching children that they should:
Other sections of the booklet give guidelines for limiting children to appropriate content on the Internet and supporting school use of technology. An Internet site listing categorizes sites as "family-friendly," "megasites," "online reference material," and "sites for parents and parent groups." A glossary defines common terms encountered in online travels. Single copies of the booklet can be ordered by calling 800-USA-LEARN. You can also find it online at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/internet/. —Lee Sherman
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This document's URL is: Home | Up & Coming | Programs & Projects: Northwest Education | People | Products & Publications | Topics © 2001 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
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"NetLearning is a guide with stories by educators for educators who seek to understand the learning opportunities the Internet provides," write authors Ferdi Serim and Melissa Koch. "This work addresses the educational benefits of connecting to the Internet, and in doing so, relies upon the real-life experiences of hundreds of Internet pioneers. Each of these people remembers the dues paid in becoming cybercitizens and hopes to reduce the pain of your learning by sharing his knowledge."
Stressing the importance of linking technology to curriculum goals, the book offers detailed descriptions of all sorts of online resources and tools along with firsthand accounts of actual classroom strategies and practices. Among the topics the authors touch on are:
LOOKING FOR A GOLD MINE OF PRACTICAL TIPS and ideas for integrating new technologies into your curriculum and instruction? A newsletter called Classroom Connect might be just what you need. Published nine times a year, the magazine-style newsletter is crammed with lesson plans, Internet resources, success stories, global projects, new-user basics, and dozens of Web sites for teachers, teens, and kids.
