Distance Learning Programming and Resources A-G H-O P-W America Online AOL's strong point has always been its intuitive user interface which run from menus and icons, letting you easily open and flip between multiple windows and more. The AOL offerings have increased dramatically particularly in the area of on-line magazines and newspapers and the Internet. The San Jose Mercury News, Chicago Tribune, Time Magazine and the New York Times are just some of the on-line resources. Users get both full-text editorial on-line and interactive access to the news organization's editors and writers as well as information on how to use the resources for classes. The San Jose Mercury News is especially valuable, since it offers the full text of each day's edition, plus the ability to search back issues of the Mercury and 16 other national newspapers as far back as 1978 in some cases. The Mercury News is probably the most active newspaper forum as it conducts nightly chat sessions where guests, editors, writers, and on-line coordinators hold forth on such subjects as multimedia, education and issues in the news. During these chat sessions, you can participate live by typing your comments. You can also establish a private chat session with anyone you meet on-line. It is not uncommon to participate in a group session and carry out two or three private chats at the same time. AOL offers a number of education areas, ranging from on-line courses offered by the Electronic University Network, to resources for teachers and parents. Most notable is a series of courses being developed by the University of California at Berkeley through a Sloan grant. Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Project The Annenberg/CPB initiative, "New Pathways to a Degree: Using Technologies to Open the College," funded seven model academic programs that are demonstrating how colleges can use technologies to offer richer and more accessible degree programs (Ehrmann et al., 1992). Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow is a research project that explores learning when children and teachers have immediate access to interactive technologies. ACOT's extensive research portfolio includes R&D and longitudinal studies that examine the impact of technology on teaching and learning and create more powerful applications. ACOT R&D collaborates with university and research lab scientists in the development of technology tools that strengthen and accelerate learning. Currently there are over 20 such projects, including integrated media, simulations, intelligent applications, research tools, and other innovations. ACOT longitudinal research, coordinated by UCLA and Ohio State University, examines traditional and non-traditional outcomes of participants in the innovative program. The research team initially applied conventional measures to assess student achievement, and is currently developing more appropriate measures to assess problem-solving skills, process writing, and deep understanding. Arts and Education Network (A&E) (Cable in the Classroom) A&E Classroom, airs commercial-free Monday-Friday from 7:00-8:00 a.m. ET. Free teacher support materials. Each fall and spring A&E Classroom Kits are distributed to educators. Materials include scheduling descriptions and study guides. World Wide Web Site: http://www.aetv.com Danielle Jackson (212) 210-9780 Arts and Sciences Teleconferencing Service (ASTS), Oklahoma State University When the OSU College of Arts and Sciences voted in 1983 to raise the college graduation requirements, they included a foreign language requirement. Superintendents in the three-hundred-plus high schools who had no foreign language teacher felt that such a requirement would place their graduates at a distinct disadvantage for entry into OSU. Responding to this concern and a need for course offerings in a broad range of subjects, OSU created ASTS. In 1984, it began delivering via satellite enrichment programming to ten public schools in western Oklahoma. In 1985, German I was included in the offerings and the network was expanded to 50 schools. In 1992, over 1000 schools in the U.S. received some form of programming from ASTS (Holt, 1992). AT&T Learning Network In the AT&T Learning Network (http://www.att.com/learningnetwork/) groups of seven to ten classrooms constitute learning circles, which form the basic units of collaborative research and interstate and international information sharing. A teacher from Lake Charles, Louisiana, sent the following message about the learning Network to the NEA Special Committee on Telecommunications via electronic mail: "In our efforts to move toward total school restructuring at Fairview Elementary, telecommunications particularly the AT&T Learning Network, has become an integral part of the curriculum. It has served as the foundation for the development of interdisciplinary units. Electronic messages from Coober Pedy, South Australia, have unveiled explorations into aborigine caveart, homes built underground, and studios of the Southern Hemisphere. The interest of a class in Hilton, New York, in MardiGras has spurred in-depth research of our own Louisiana heritage"(NEA, 1991). AT&T's Learning Network represents a $150 million commitment to students to use technology as an effective teaching and learning tool. The program represents one of the largest philanthropic commitments in corporate history and adds to the $500 million that AT&T has contributed to education since 1984. Components of the program are Internet 101 - an online teacher tutorial on using the Internet; WebTour which walks teachers through education-related uses of the Web; AskLN which is an online mentoring program to provide coaching to teachers by teachers to use the technology effectively in the classroom. An AT&T Learning Network Community Guide helps schools and communities understand and plan for access to, and use of the Internet in their classrooms, libraries and community centers. Big Sky Telegraph Big Sky Telegraph was designed especially for Montanans. It went on-line January 1, 1988, funded inpart by US West through Western Montana College, to create an information exchange network for educators, students, business people, communities, and organizations. It features educational on-line resources such as a lending library of software, electronic newsletters, educational databases, technical and educational support, a children's literature library, and public domain software. It also offers people the chance to create their own on-line courses. BITNET BITNET is an electronic communication network linking institutional and departmental computers at 550 participating Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN) members and affiliates in the U.S., including universities, colleges, and collaborating research centers. With its cooperating networks in other countries, BITNET is part of a single logical network connecting almost 3,500 mini- and mainframe computers in about 1,400 organizations spanning 47 countries, for the electronic exchange of non-commercial information among its participants in support of research and education. Gateways allow the exchange of electronic mail between this network and CSNET (a CREN network originally serving computer science research departments and research institutions), the Internet (NSFNET and its associated regional, state, and campus networks), and many other networks worldwide. BITNET users share information via: electronic mail to individuals and shared-interest groups; transfer of documents, programs, and data; access to BITNET server machines and associated data services; and brief, nearly-interactive messages. Nearly 3,000 discussion groups active on BITNET cover most topics of academic interest and may have from five participants to several thousand. Black Entertainment Television (BET) (Cable in the Classroom) BET recognizes the importance of taking responsibility for youth by providing teachers with the best educational resources available. BET on Learning, the network's Cable in the Classroom umbrella effort, airs Teen Summit commercial-free the last Sunday of each month at 3 a.m. ET. Support materials include: YSB and Emerge magazines. World Wide Web Site: http://www.betnetworks.com 1-800-229-2388 Blacksburg Electronic Village The Blacksburg (VA) Electronic Village is envisioned to link together virtually all individuals and groups in the community; elementary and secondary students and teachers; people in businesses and professional services; Virginia Tech students, staff and faculty; civic groups and those they seek to serve; and individual citizens. The network would provide access to Internet, electronic mail, worldwide electronic discussion groups, information databases, and a wide range of educational, financial, business, and general communications services. The Blacksburg network would serve as a national model for future "electronic villages" expected to emerge around the nation in the decade ahead. Many Virginia Tech students, staff and faculty already own personal computers. The university has installed its own voice, data, and video network throughout the campus and residence halls. Computers are needed to efficiently participate in the electronic village network. Bravo in the Classroom (BRV) (Cable in the Classroom) Combines programming and resource materials that provide educators and students with a tool to enhance arts and humanities studies at the secondary level. Programs include literary and historical adaptations, the performing and visual arts, plus a profile series featuring well known writers, musicians and artists. Airs commercial-free service, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET. Programs have been cleared for up to one year. World Wide Web Site: http://www.bravotv.com Valerie Barkan (516) 396-4547 Buddy System Indiana The Buddy System project provides in-home computers, modems, and access lines to more than 2,000 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students at 19 Indiana Schools. The project's goals are to improve the educational process, boost student motivation, and stimulate the state's economy through a better educated work force. It has achieved success in its three years of operation. A 1990 evaluation showed 90 percent of educators agreed student work was more creative and of higher quality because of the computers, and 40 percent of the project parents increased contact with teachers about their child's education. Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, MA Bunker Hill Community College runs an analog fiber based network which links the college to three inner city schools. Plans call for links to additional schools, a senior citizen center, and a correctional facility. from "A Technical Guide to Teleconferencing and Distance Learning," 3rd edition