Electronic Learning articles from September 1994

Electronic Learning archives from September 1994

Rural Information Network: free-nets for $10,000 and under. (includes related article on building a rural network)
September 1, 1994... For $10,000 or less, rural towns or regions with populations of 50,000 or less can establish local networking and Internet links for schools and the community at large, thanks to an initiative called the Rural Information Network (RIN). The RIN...

Beyond test scores: other ways to measure your technology program.
September 1, 1994... IF WE HAD A NICKEL FOR EVERY REPORTer who called us at the Center for Children and Technology to ask us if our research proves that technology raises test scores, we wouldn't have to apply for any more government grants. Every time we hear...

Killing the fatted calf: Skinner recanted behaviorism. Why can't education? (critique of computers as a tool to boost standardized test scores) (Column)
September 1, 1994... Editor's Note: Beginning this month, David Thornburg writes a new column on technology, professional growth, and school change. I wish I had a dime for every dollar school districts have pumped into the coffers of those who tout their drill...

Technology fashion victims. (critique of how computers are marketed to educators) (Bruce Sterling) (Interview)
September 1, 1994... About a year ago, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., sponsored a Convocation on Technology and Education, in which notable figures from various industries spoke about the future of American schools. One of the more...

CopyRight and wrong: what's legal and what's not in software use. (interview with Software Publishers Association Manager of Litigation Peter Beruk)(includes glossary of software license terms) (Interview)
September 1, 1994... One-quarter to one-third of all software used in K-12 schools is illegal. That startling figure comes from the Software Publishers Association (SPA), a Washington, D.C.-based trade group that is spearheading a nationwide campaign to educate the...

Walking a new walk. (technology use at Brown Barge Middle School, Pensacola, Florida)
September 1, 1994... With this issue, EL establishes a new feature, "Schools That Work," in which we focus on institutions of learning that are outstanding in their use of technology to spur educational innovation. In each column we will highlight the schools and...

The energizer. (educator of the year Mel Levin)(includes related article on other award winners)
September 1, 1994... Three hundred-sixty Philadelphia students, from bouncing fourth graders to hip-hop eighth graders, thronged into Prince Hall Elementary School on a Saturday last May, not to participate in an athletic competition or to attend the school...

Can technology change the test? (includes related articles on whether technology improves test scores and cultural biases in standardized tests) (Cover Story)
September 1, 1994... A popular science fiction story in the 1950s and 1960s told the tale of a boy living in a world where your future was determined by your score on a single test. Everyone was required to take it by a certain age, and the results sealed your...

Gradebooks, the next generation. (overview of six gradebook software packages) (Buyers Guide)
September 1, 1994... Let's lay it out straight: if you teach and you're not using an electronic gradebook, you're losing a chance to reclaim some of what is a teacher's greatest impoverishment--time. Think of those long hours late into the night--especially in the...

Power plays: a look at the new Power Mac from Apple. (Hardware Review) (7100/66AV) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1994... IMAGINE BEING ABLE TO SET UP A computer lab that runs all types of educational software, where students don't have to worry about whether they have the right software for the platform they are working on, where every computer can potentially...

Classroom maestros: professional music software that's a boon to the classroom. (Software Review) (Opcode's Musicshop, Intellimation Inc's Music Fundamentals Series and Passport Designs Inc's MusicTime)(includes related article on other music programs) (Evaluation)
September 1, 1994... MUSIC SOFTWARE HAS FINALLY COME INTO ITS OWN, giving music teachers a dynamic way to enrich instruction. Learning from design errors of the past, music software publishers have greatly improved the content presentation, screen design, and...

Wired in Wisconsin. (how a high school won a technology grant) (Interview)
September 1, 1994... A new column on teachers who have been awarded technology grants and how they won them, interviewed by Alan November 1. How did you get the grant? We had been using a local bulletin board for things like a pen pal exchange with the...