ALTP News February 10, 2001
Edited by Richard Brincefield

Recent ALTP News

Reminder: ALTP BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING (OPEN)

Wednesday, February 28, 2001
7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. 

• Phoenix: US WEST, 3033 N. Third St., Room 208.09
• Tucson: US WEST, 333 E. Wetmore, Room 323

Dial-in attendance: contact tkraver@qwest.net

ACTION AGENDA         Saturday,  February 10, 2001

Arizona Learning Technology Partnership, Inc.
Governors Strategic Partnership for Economic Development

II. GATES FOUNDATION AND SOUTHWEST:

III. PHOENIX APPROVES AGGRESSIVE HI-TECH ECON. DEV. STRATEGIESV.

IV. IEEE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2001 ISSUE:

X. WISDOM BYTES

I. ASU K-12 PHYSICS INSTRUCTION PROGRAM DOUBLES STUDENT LEARNING

The Modeling Method has a proven track record of improving student learning. Data on some 20,000 students show that those who have been through the Modeling program typically learn TWICE as much as other students. Hestenes attributes much of the program's success to the fact that it explicitly addresses common student misconceptions about physical processes.

For the second time in 5 months, this ASU Modeling Instruction Program in high school physics has received a top award from the U.S. Department of Education. Our joy is tempered by the fact that, in order for top-notch programs like this one to persist, University - School partnerships for math/science reform must be developed. Specifically, programs such as this must become regularly-offered college courses that universities support financially. And schools must provide incentives for teachers to achieve mastery by taking such courses.

The program, called Modeling Instruction in High School Physics, recently earned the U. S. Department of Education's highest honor for its success in reforming the way high school physics is taught.

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/ORAD/KAD/expert_panel/newscience_progs.html

Modeling instruction engages students with simple scenarios, such as the movement of a falling object, to learn to model the physical world. Instead of relying on lectures and textbooks, the Modeling Program emphasizes active student exploration of these models in an interactive "learning community," says the program's developer, Professor Emeritus David Hestenes. Hestenes has based the program on more than 20 years of research, implementation, and testing.

Classroom activities start with a demonstration by the teacher - of the swinging of a pendulum, for example - followed by a group brainstorming session in which the students identify factors that might influence the pendulum's motion. The students then work in small groups to develop models describing the motion and conduct self-designed experiments to test their ideas. A comparison of the experimental data with the model provides a focus for continued discussions, in which the students present their conclusions to the rest of the class.

Hestenes stresses that instruction centered around models provides "a conceptual structure with models as units of coherently organized knowledge. It is a framework that students can use to organize information about the physical world in many different situations." Hands-on student exploration of phenomena is also an integral feature of modeling because it makes what they've learned in the classroom more meaningful.

Jane Jackson, Co-Director, Modeling Instruction Program

Box 871504, Dept.of Physics & Astronomy,ASU,Tempe,AZ 85287

480-965-8438/fax:965-7331 <http://modeling.asu.edu>

David Hestenes, 480-965-6277

http://clasdean.la.asu.edu/news/modelingrl.htm

TopOfPage

II. GATES FOUNDATION AND SOUTHWEST:

www.gatesfoundation.org

The Crownpoint Chapter of the Navajo Nation, (N.M.) will become the 51st chapter to receive a new public computing station through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Native American Access to Technology Program. This week, four new computers will be installed in the chapter house, giving all 34,083 Crownpoint residents access to the world of digital information. Crownpoint expands over 3.4 million acres with an unemployment rate of approximately 67.93 percent. Software on the computers was designed with input from Navajo Nation leaders and includes language, music, history and art programs that meet the unique needs of Navajo communities.

The Navajo Nation (Arizona-New Mexico) is engaged in a comprehensive effort to improve technology infrastructure for all 110 Navajo Nation chapters. This program, in addition to partnerships with the Southwest Navajo Nation Virtual Alliance (SWNNVA) and other ongoing projects, is helping the Navajo Nation to bring information to Navajo communities. The progress of the Navajo Nation Delta One Project helps to develop programs in education and training for software development and computer technology. The program's intern component is crucial to sustaining this effort, involving Native American students from a variety of local colleges who provide ongoing technical support to the chapters. The students also gain the skills and knowledge base to help them as they prepare for the world of work after high school or college. Currently, the program is approximately halfway to meeting the goal of installing 397 computers in all Navajo Nation chapters; including investment in the infrastructure and in the people."

Gates Foundation Philosophy: "Advancements in human knowledge are changing the world. Our ability to collect, analyze, store and share information is creating unprecedented opportunities for learning and discovery that can be extended to people everywhere. With high-speed computers and Internet connections, public institutions such as libraries and schools can offer citizens access to the world's treasures of art and literature, science and history, as well as practical information on everything from health care to getting a job."

Arizona was in the second round of states to receive Gates grant money. Previous to this round, the larger public library systems in Arizona received significant grant moneys to update and connect their libraries to the Internet. The round currently going on allows rural, small, under-served public libraries to receive hardware, software, and human support to help connect their facilities to the Internet and to various programs that benefit the public. Computers are English or Spanish, and according to the population size and needs, numbers of computers or a lab are considered.

The Foundation partners with public libraries in the US and Canada to provide both physical tools and technology training necessary for libraries to become gateways to the digital world for the patrons in low-income communities. The Foundation also is working on efforts to equip a variety of community life places with hardware, software, and training necessary to become access points to the Internet and resources for computer based solutions. This is the upcoming round of grants that will be done this summer for all of our tribal communities in Arizona.

In both cases there are or will be interns enrolled in a higher education institution that are helping with the training and will serve as support personnel as this project is implemented and pursued. Gates has made a commitment to come back into each state and upgrade the hardware/software in 2-3 years as another follow-up, which will be another round of training and facilitating.

The privately funded Gates Foundation supports technology access for public libraries in the US and Canada with at least a $200 million commitment. The 187 computers have been granted and installed with a value of more than $1 million. The state library department, Arizona Libraries, Archives, and Public Records, is the coordinating agency. Jane Kolbe, Extension Division Director of this department at jkolbe@dlapr.lib.az.us has more information. She will also have the exact information about which sites ( approximately 110 sites in this round) are receiving what equipment etc.

Betty Marcoux, Ph.D.; marcoux@azstarnet.com, Director of Certification and Interdisciplinary Programs; School of Information Resources and Library Science; University of Arizona

TopOfPage

III. PHOENIX APPROVES AGGRESSIVE HI-TECH ECON. DEV. STRATEGIES

The Phoenix City Council gave the go-ahead to a Community and Economic Development Department work program that targets the technology sector. The New Economy changes the way the city of Phoenix works and delivers services. Retaining, growing and attracting technology-based firms to Phoenix is critical to its overall economic vitality. The work program will focus on partnering with other economic development agencies and enhancing local and international awareness of Phoenix as a top technology center in the United States. The program goals include expansion of telecommunications fiber service to companies, improving employment opportunities, encouraging workforce development in the local high-tech industry and providing technical assistance to the technology business cluster.

TopOfPage

IV. IEEE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2001 ISSUE:

http://lttf.ieee.org/learn_tech/issues/january2001/index.html (HTML version)

http://lttf.ieee.org/learn_tech/issues/january2001/learn_tech_january2001.pdf (PDF version ** PDF version is 9 MB)

CONTENTS:

* International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2000), August 6-8, 2001, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

* The Inquiry Page: A Collaboratory for Curricular Innovation (Bertram C. Bruce)

* Using Active Worlds Technology to Build an 'iUniverse' of 3-D Collaborative Learning Environments (Katy Börner)

* Loosely-Integrated Open Virtual Environments as Places (S. J. Simoff and M. L. Maher)

* Flex-eL: - flexing the boundaries of e-Learning (Marian Boman)

* Computers and Lifelong Learning: From Graduate to Employee (William Egnatoff)

* Designing and Building an European Occupational Therapy Internet School (Gillian Armitt, Sharon Green and Martin Beer)

* The Need for information Literacy in Online Learning (Mary Hricko)

* Interactive CD-ROM to Help Childhood Cancer Patients (Roberta (Robin) Sullivan and Michael A. Zevon)

* Parlez-vous Internet Detective (Debra Hiom and Emma Place)

* The Virtual Training Suite (Emma Place)

* Computers As a Second Language: For Teachers Too! (William J. Kortz Jr.)

* The AURORA Project: Using Mobile Robots in Autism Therapy (Kerstin Dautenhahn and Iain Werry)

* Learning System Design: More than Atomic Science (Dirk Rodenburg)

* Using Web Authoring to Increase Student Engagement (Jason Sadler and John Woollard)

* Teaching Troubleshooting Skills With Technology (Peter Fenrich)

* Thinking Space Required (Christina Preston)

* History Finds Home on the Internet (Marc Schulman)

* Basic understandings for developing learning media for the classroom and beyond (Ronald M. Stammen)

* TRAILS: Facilitating Learning in The New Learning Environment (Gearoid O Suilleabhain)

* Multi-modal Interfaces for Second Language Learning (Susan E. George)

Dr. Kinshuk kinshuk@massey.ac.nz kinshuk@mailandnews.com editor, Learning Technology; Chair, IEEE Learning Technology Task Force

www.massey.ac.nz/~kinshuk

TopOfPage

X. WISDOM BYTES:

Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day.

-- Bertrand Russell

Yield to temptation; it may not pass your way again.

-- Robert Heinlein

It is a perplexing and unpleasant truth that when men already have "something worth fighting for," they do not feel like fighting.

-- Eric Hoffer

TopOfPage

The ALTP News/Action Agenda is produced by the Arizona Learning Technology
Partnership http://altp.org, and edited by Richard Brincefield rbrincefield@softrain.com.

To subscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU with the message
body "SUBSCRIBE ALT-SIG Jane Hull" (or your own name, if it's not
"Jane Hull").

To sign off the list, send email to LISTSERV@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU with the
message body "SIGNOFF ALT-SIG".