🚀 go-pugleaf

Thanks once again to Chris Dalziel of ITC for the information that
follows:

Although she usually focuses on K-12, Pamela Mendels has written some
terrific articles on
distance learning in the NYT CyberTimes. Here are some of her recent
articles that might be of
interest. The easiest way to find them is to go to
http://www.nytimes.com/, go to the "Technology"
section, and click on "Education" in the CyberTimes area.  The blurbs
are from the Times, but I
added some comments in brackets below.  Chris

Advanced Placement Courses Offered Online
( April 28 ) A pioneer group of 150 students are taking an Advanced
Placement course offered over
the Web by APEX Online Learning Inc., a new company whose executives are
convinced there is a
market for Advanced Placement classes online. [Unfortunately, the
article does not mention the
many community colleges that use distance learning to offer advanced
placement courses. The
tuition at APEX is much higher. See http://www.apex.netu.com/]

Sowing Technology's Seeds in Developing Countries
( April 21 ) Three organizations dealing with technology and education
have launched a new project
aimed at raising a crop of Internet connections and technology-savvy
teachers at high schools in
developing countries around the world.

Publishers Extend Lessons Online
( April 7 ) Heeding teachers' pleas for up-to-date information and
assistance in integrating
technology into the curriculum, textbook publishers are increasingly
constructing detailed Web
sites that serve as virtual additions to their texts.  [This is a pretty
general article, but it
includes links to some Web sites publishers have developed to supplement
their texts.]

Technology Taking Students on Far-Flung Field Trips
( March 17 ) At least 600,000 middle-school children charted a small
band of scientists, students
and teachers who made a two-week expedition to the rainforests of Peru.
They used an interactive
Web site and live-from-the-rainforest television and Internet
broadcasts. [Were we deprived or
what?! Here are some of the sites: Classroom Connect
http://www.classroom.com/;  GlobaLearn
http://www.globalearn.com/;  The Odessey
http://www.worldtrek.org/odyssey/index.html;  The Jason
Project http://www.jasonproject.org/]

Can New Technologies Revitalize Old Teaching Methods?
( March 24 ) Despite talk about how the Internet could transform higher
education and make "brick
and mortar" campuses obsolete, Gregory C. Farrington, president of
Lehigh University is one
technology enthusiast who believes residential undergraduate colleges
are unlikely to close shop
anytime soon.

[In his article Farrington recommends residential colleges use digital
media to free their faculty
from the slide projector and lecture hall. Students can use study guides
and the Web to review
lecture notes and other resources on their own time. Educators should
devote the face-to-face time
they have with their students to what they, as humans and not computers,
can provide-to answer
questions, debate, and engage their students in free-range discussion.
Farrington's essay is one
of six featured in Dancing with the Devil: Information Technology and
the New Competition in
Higher Education, a new compilation from Educause. See
http://www.educause.edu/pub/pubs.html.]