EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS

From the New Hampshire Department of Education

Office of Educational Technology

 

 

 

December 18, 2003

 

IN THIS ISSUE

• NetTrekker

• WebTeacher

• Research: Distance Education

• WebQuests for Math & Science

• Safety in Science Classrooms

• Teachers at the Poles

• NEIRTEC DTI Online Course

• Windows XP Resource

 

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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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NETTREKKER

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www.nettrekker.com

 

Interested in trying the NetTrekker resources for your classroom? An educator trial access is available. NetTrekker describes their academic search engine as follows: “designed specifically for school use; enhances teaching and learning with Over 180,000 high quality, well-vetted, educationally relevant online resources; all content selected by educators; organized around the K-12 curricula so searching is logical and easy; aligned with the New Hampshire Curriculum Frameworks - a great way to integrate state goals and standards into your curricula; over 18,000 lesson plans and learning exercises at your fingertips.”

 

 

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WEB TEACHER BY TECH CORPS

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www.webteacher.org

 

This free web tutorial site contains about 80 hours of FREE lessons to acquaint visitors with all aspects of the way the web works, including Web Basics; Communicating with the web; Building Homepages; Using Images, Sound, Movies, Peripherals, & Utilities; and Classroom Resources on the Web.

 

 

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RESEARCH: DISTANCE EDUCATION

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http://www.psu.edu/ur/2003/chatrooms.html

Follow the above link to read more about preliminary results of a Penn State study which show “that introverted students in large classes who participated in instructor-moderated chat rooms shed their reserve and enhanced their understanding of course material. In course evaluations, students who didn't describe themselves as audio-visual learners indicated the hour-long chat rooms promoted learning, said Edward Glantz, a doctoral student in the School of Information Sciences and Technology. He conducted the study ["Understanding Distributed Cognition in Moderated Chat Rooms: A Preliminary Analysis"] with Michael D. McNeese, associate professor of information sciences and technology. For some students, participation in the chat rooms even resulted in higher test performances than from typical review study sessions.”

 

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WEBQUESTS for MATH and SCIENCE

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http://www.enc.org/features/focus/archive/webquests/

 

 “WebQuests as Powerful Teaching Tools for Math and Science” is the subject of this week's issue of ENC Focus. “Webquests are defined and analyzed piece-by-piece to provide clear directions for using them to enhance student math and science learning experiences with technology. The writers examine sections of various webquests and explain what makes each one successful. Several exemplary math quests and science quests are described to encourage educators to build similar tools for their own students.” 

 

 

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SAFETY IN SCIENCE CLASSROOMS

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http://www.scilinks.org/retrieve_outside.asp?sl=9263565510661033

 

SciLinks.org is a great resource for science educators. The above link will take you to information on the SciLinks website about safety in the science classroom. Visit the page and then start browsing the rest of SciLinks for some great resources!

 

 

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TEACHERS AT THE POLES

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http://tea.rice.edu/

Read about Robin Ellwood’s 2003 Polar Expedition!
This eighth grade Science and Adventure Based Learning teacher from
Rye, NH begins her online journal with: “And so the adventure begins! As with all properly planned adventures, this one begins with planning. The Teachers Experiencing the Arctic and Antarctic (TEA) program has assembled all the 2003-2004 field season participants for an intensive week of preparation and training. We have gathered at the Cold Regions Research Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire.”

The TEA website describes the program as “a research experience in which K-12 teachers participate in a polar expedition. The TEA teacher works closely with scientists, participates in cutting-edge research, and is immersed in the process of science. Enveloping this field experience is a diversity of professional development opportunities through which TEA teachers increase content knowledge, enhance teaching skills, transfer the experience to the classroom, assume leadership roles, and collaborate with a network of researchers and education colleagues.”  … Welcome back, Robin!

 

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NEIRTEC DTI ONLINE COURSE

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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 21, 2004 and ends March 16.  A two-day face-to-face Institute (part of the course) will take place on February 4 and 5 (Wednesday and Thursday) at the SERESC Professional Development Center in Bedford, NH (just south of Manchester, NH). Visit the above link for more details about the course and to enroll.  

 

 

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WINDOWS XP RESOURCE SITE

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http://www.theeldergeek.com/

 

Thanks to Jeff Kessler in Newport for sharing the above link to “one of the best non-Microsoft resource site on Windows XP issues.”

 

 

Regards,

Cathy Higgins for the staff at the Office of Educational Technology

at the New Hampshire Department of Education

Visit us on NH Educators Online at http://nheon.org/oet