ALTP News March 24, 2001
Edited by Richard Brincefield

Recent ALTP News

Reminder: ALTP BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING (OPEN)

Wednesday, April 25, 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,  March 24, 2001

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

NO ALTP BOARD MEETING THIS MONTH

I. TIME TO REDESIGN ARIZONA INTO AN E-LEARNING STATE

II. CEO FORUM RELEASES EDTECH POLICY PAPER

III. OFFER FROM MEXICO, CONTACT FROM RUBEN

IV. E-COMMERCE: PUSHING AHEAD WITH ONLINE EDUCATION

V. CYBERSCHOOL PIONEERS LEARN FIRST-YEAR LESSONS

VI. LARRY ELLISON'S NEW INTERNET COMPUTER COMPANY

VII EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET

X. WISDOM BYTES

I. TIME TO REDESIGN ARIZONA INTO AN E-LEARNING STATE

Four years ago, the ALTP produced a wide ranging, participation generate, strategic plan for technology adoption in K-12 education. Success has been partial and slow, but Arizona is now on the right path. Over the past 6 months a wave of energy and effort has swept Arizona with a high level of interest. E-learning portals, Arizona Economic Partnership, School Facilities Board, university research, E-learning companies, and many other new factors are now in place. But they are not integrated into one design, one vision, one framework, one system working in concert.

ALTP has also been exploring the national arena, and other states, industries, emerging companies are building to a tsunami of change that will sweep over both formal education and informal learning, and every one of us will be greatly effected. Over the this coming week I will be in Santa Fe. I will be assembling a framework of ideas, linkages and critical assets that I have been collecting from all of you. The ALTP goal is to systemize and interorganization design that will catapult Arizona into becoming the leading e-learning state. We can do it, but sure as "God made little green apples" it will not just happen by chance.

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II. CEO FORUM RELEASES EDTECH POLICY PAPER

On March 20th, the CEO Forum on Education and Technology released a policy paper, entitled "Education Technology Must Be Included In Comprehensive Education Legislation", that contains education technology recommendations for federal policymakers. The paper expresses concern that the major current federal legislative proposals, including President Bush's "Leave No Child Behind", lack adequate educational technology plans. Founded in 1996, the CEO Forum issues an annual assessment of the nation's progress toward integrating technology into American public school classrooms.

CEO Forum has been a strong resource for ALTP over the years, this is a must check out. (Ted the Ed.) (http://www.ceoforum.org/)

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III. OFFER FROM MEXICO, CONTACT FROM RUBEN

History, Discussion Forums on Education, Community Development, TEACHER DEVELOPMENT, etc also Discovery Kids and similar channels in Spanish.

I worked for a high level University in Mexico on the exchange programs department, and know that this system can be a great tool for U.S. students in order to learn or improve the Spanish language skills. I sell the reception/decoder system, and the Edusat signal is free. It represents a one time investment for 365 days, 24 hours a day native speaker teacher.

My question is, since you represent an active organization interested and worried about education, what could you suggest me in matters of who can I contact or what kind of people shall I look for. There's being a few schools which already have or requested information about Edusat in Phoenix and in general the State of Arizona, reason why I look for your help.

I will really appreciate your help. I will also be able and willing to send you a CD-ROM with the features and benefits of the equipment and Edusat signal in case that you are interested. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you. Best Regards,

Lic. Ruben R. Juárez Avila Ventas Internacionales Vission Pro S.A de C.V.

rj@vissionpro.com Tels/Fax: +52(4) 248 0224/0225/0226

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IV. E-COMMERCE: PUSHING AHEAD WITH ONLINE EDUCATION

While some corporate trainers and a handful of universities have found a lucrative niche in online education, many companies that target online education to the average consumer are struggling. In additional to getting consumers to pay for information they think they can get free elsewhere on the Web, online education companies have failed to dispel the image of e-learning as a feeble alternative to the real thing. "This whole idea of selling e-learning to the mass market has mostly failed because our culture hasn't moved to the point where we are self- directed learners," said Cushing Anderson, an analyst with IDC, an Internet research firm. "These companies have had big trouble finding people who simply want to learn stuff." (Wait until the next generation of learning technology finds itself into the commercial mainstream and then see informal learning take off. Ted the Ed.) [SOURCE: New York Times (Online), AUTHOR: Bob Tedeschi]

(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/12/technology/12ECOMMERCE.html)

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V. CYBERSCHOOL PIONEERS LEARN FIRST-YEAR LESSONS

USA TODAY has been chronicling the progress of 34 ninth-graders enrolled on a Daniel Jenkins Academy in Haines City, Fla. Students at Jenkins do all their online coursework in a lab setting at school, working with teachers who are elsewhere. While a handful of students opted out of online learning early and were transferred to a nearby traditional high school, the others are nearly done with their studies and will be able to start their summer break weeks earlier than their public school peers. Among the major lessons learned this school year were that the classes were too big, and that students might need to take more in-school classes. "Based on what we've learned, we're going to limit students to three online courses'' rather than the five or six allowed now, says principal Sue Braiman.

[SOURCE: USAToday (6D), AUTHOR: Karen Thomas]

(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010313/3132578s.htm)

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VI. LARRY ELLISON'S NEW INTERNET COMPUTER COMPANY

NIC is OS Version 2.0 for its New Internet Computer (NIC) which offers new functionality and features providing faster, easier access to the Internet.

NIC OS v2.0 makes LAN, DSL and cable-modem setup remarkably simple. The NIC target market is home and business users looking for an affordable, ultra-reliable way to add new points of Internet access. NIC now has the only Internet computer priced at under $200 that's capable of running with the latest Real Player and Macromedia Flash players. It's also the only one that works with the widest variety of broadband and dial-up ISP connections." NIC offers Netscape 4.76 web browser - Upgraded plug-ins for the browser, Macromedia Flash 5.0 , RealPlayer 8.0 - Sleeker, more intuitive setup interface - Easier setup for LANs, DSL and Cable Modems - Improved performance and reliability for modem connectivity - Quick-link buttons and icons to preferred sites and web partners such as Amazon and NBCi –

The NIC is available for purchase at www.thinknic.com, toll-free at 877-WANT-NIC and through selected partners.

CONTACT: New Internet Computer Company (NIC) | Michael Salort, 212/319-3692 or 646/245-3588 | mike@thinknic.com | Wendy Sachs, 917/270-5112 or 212/678-5410 | wendy@thinknic.com

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VII EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET

3-D virtual reality is widely available; cheap communications circuitry is woven into our clothing; microscopic robots float through our blood, wiping out disease; and deep-sea power plants generate electricity from underwater volcanoes. Michael L. Dertouzos, director of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, points out that, for all the advantages computer technology has brought us during the past 40 years, automation is still not simple, intuitive, and efficient. In an automated menu system: "Press 1 for sales; press 2 for customer service; press 3 if you'd like to wait on hold for another 10 minutes while we pipe mind-numbing Muzak into your ear." We are the beck and call of a $50 computer.

Dertouzos believes interface will be greatly aided by advanced speech recognition. Instead of typing, you'll just talk to your computer -- and it will answer back on-screen or by using synthesized speech. Already, speech recognition technology is advanced enough to make this fairly practical. It's just not yet well integrated into our computers and websites, and the lack of standards means that speech-controlled computers won't be widely available for a couple of years. (with voice input and output, all of a sudden 4 billion earthlings become literate again! Ted the Ed.)

http://www.ecompany.com/articles/mag/0,1640,8983,00.html For links on Dertouzos and his MIT lab, read the online version of this story: http://www.ecompany.com/thedefogger;

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X. MINI-BYTES OF WISDOM:

As a general rule the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.

-- Benjamin Disraeli

What, sir, would the people of the earth be without woman? They would be scarce, sir, almighty scarce.

-- Mark Twain

Great innovators and original thinkers and artists attract the wrath of mediocrities as lightning rods draw the flashes.

-- Theodor Reik

Outside of a dog, a book is your best friend, and inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

-- Groucho Marx

Brevity is the soul of lingerie.

-- Dorothy Parker

When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.

-- Albert Einstein

He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

-- Edmund Burke

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

-- Francis Bacon

There's only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.

-- P.J. O'Rourke

The anointed don't like to talk about painful trade-offs. They like to talk about happy "solutions" that get rid of the whole problem- at least in their imagination.

-- Thomas Sowell

Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think.

-- Chinese proverb

He who can take no interest in what is small will take false interest in what is great.

-- John Ruskin

A great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child.

--Mencius

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

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