EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS
From the New Hampshire Department of Education
Office of Educational Technology
Date: December 12, 2002
Volume: 02.12.01

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IN THIS ISSUE

- E-Rate Update
- Assessment Module Published by GLEF
- Designing for Technology Integration Course Still Has Openings
- McAuliffe Conference Materials from NHDOE Sessions

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ET News is sent from the Office of Educational Technology at the New Hampshire Department of Education. Please note that, while ET News is forwarding information about technology related products and services, we have not conducted a formal evaluation of such products/services. We encourage you to let us know if you find a particular item of high quality and value to your school. You can find previous issues of ETNews on our web site at www.nheon.org/oet/etnews.

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E-RATE UPDATE
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http://www.sl.universalservice.org/whatsnew/

FY2003 E-Rate Application Filing Window Extended Three Weeks to February 6, 2003

The Year 6 application window opened on November 4, 2002. The closing deadline has been extended to Thursday, February 6, 2003 at 11:59 PM EST. This deadline extension is in response to concerns from the applicant and service provider communities, and in consultation with the FCC and the USAC Schools and Libraries Committee. Those who began online Form 471 applications during the first two weeks of the window may have experienced difficulties because of technical issues involved with the migration to a new technology for the form. Although applicants could continue incomplete forms after the original online interface was restored on November 14, the SLD has determined that all applicants should have at least 74 days to complete their application process using the original interface.

The SLD will make every effort to review applications as quickly as possible in order to minimize delays in the issuance of funding commitments. The SLD will begin reviewing applications as soon as they are received, so applicants are strongly encouraged to file Forms 471 at their earliest convenience. Expectations remain high that there will again be greater requests for discounts than the E-Rate program can provide.

Year 5 Funding

Even as the Year 6 application process continues, SLD is still disbursing Year 5 funds. To date, SLD has released sixteen waves of commitment letters and funded nearly $1.5 billion in discounts. While SLD has determined that all eligible internal connections applicants at the 90% level will receive full funding, it has not yet determined whether internal connections applicants below 90% will receive full or partial funding.

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ASSESSMENT MODULE PUBLISHED BY GLEF
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http://www.glef.org/Assessment/index.html

GLEF has just published Assessment, the third in its series of online instructional modules developed by education faculty and professional developers. They can be used as extension units in your existing courses, or independently in workshops and meetings. Each module includes articles, video footage, a PowerPoint® presentation, and class activities. They draw
from the wealth of GLEF's archives of best practices and correlate with ISTE/NCATE NETS standards.

This assessment module is meant for use either after completion of the project-based learning module or with participants who are familiar with project-based learning. The module is designed for a two- to three-hour class or session, divided into two parts.

1. Guided Process: Designed to give participants a brief introduction to assessment. Questions include, "Why is Assessment Important?" "What are Some Types of Assessment?" and "How Do Rubrics Help?" The Guided Process includes an Assessment Resources section and a PowerPoint® presentation, including presenter notes. This presentation can be shown directly from the Web site or can be downloaded for use as a stand-alone slide show.

2. Group Participation: Includes suggested readings and activities for experiential, project-based learning. Ideally, the activities will be accomplished using group collaboration and with the use of technology.

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DESIGNING for TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION
COURSE STILL HAS OPENINGS
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http://neirtec.terc.edu

NEIRTEC announces "the next session of *** Designing for Technology Integration *** an innovative seven-week course combining online learning with a two-day face-to-face institute. The course starts January 22 and ends in early March.

A two-day face-to-face Institute (part of the course) will take place on February 4-5 (Tues-Wed) at the Kasparian Center in Springfield, MA. This is the last session of the NEIRTEC DTI course that has been scheduled for the 2002-2003 school year. For more information about NEIRTEC and the DTI course and to register, visit http://neirtec.terc.edu and click on Enroll.

The DTI course will give you the opportunity to learn how technology can be used as a teaching and learning tool that supports student and teacher inquiry, problem solving, and higher order thinking skills and extends creative thinking processes. This course will guide you through the design of a unit of practice that can be used in your school or district. Creating this unit (a professional development workshop or a curriculum unit) will strengthen your understanding of how to design, use, and promote effective models of technology integration in your school or district.

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McAULIFFE CONFERENCE MATERIALS
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http://www.nheon.org/oet/

Looking for information shared at the recent McAuliffe Conference? Couldn't attend but wonder what you missed? Presentations made by the NHDOE staff and any material referenced at those sessions has been posted to our website. Visit our office's website on NHEON and click on the "2002 McAuliffe Conference Materials" link at the top.

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Regards,
Cathy Higgins
for the staff at the NHDOE Office of Educational Technology

*** Visit us on the NHEON.ORG web site at www.nheon.org

We welcome comments about how this site could be more helpful to you.