January 2000 Issue

------------------------------------------------------------
An Online Educational Community

A newsletter that educates parents, teachers, and
students.

January 2000 Issue #6
Zigmond Snook, Editor, mailto:editor@innovamultimedia.com
------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to the sixth issue of "An Online Educational
Community". To read past issues of our newsletter, visit
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/archive.html
or to learn more about us, check out our website at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com

If you think a friend might be interested in reading this
newsletter, pass it along in whole or in part.

You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a
subscription.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, fill out the
form at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/newsletr.html

Each month we will focus on a different educational theme
and base our feature article and learning tips around that
particular theme.

Welcome to the new millenium! This is the first issue of
the year 2000.... the next century.... the new millenium!
Myself and the rest of the staff at INNOVA would like to
wish everyone the best in the New Year.

We are in the process of placing all of our lessons on the
World Wide Web so that you, our customer, will have easier
and faster access to them. When you purchase a lesson you
can also receive LessonBuilder for free. LessonBuilder
allows the end user to manipulate individual CD-ROMs in any
way they choose to create customized lesson plans.

------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

=> What's New at INNOVA
=> Feature
=> This Month's Free Lesson Plans
=> More Great Education Web Sites
=> Whale Links for Whale Lovers
=> What's Hot - Our Latest Software Reviews

------------------------------------------------------------
What's New at INNOVA
------------------------------------------------------------

INNOVA is in the process of redesigning LessonBuilder. The
new LessonBuilder will feature a new graphic intensive
design. Keep visiting our site for further updates. If you
haven't witnessed the power of LessonBuilder please visit
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/lbuilder.htm
and download it today with 2 FREE lessons.

Tom and Bob are the latest additions to INNOVA's dynamic
marketing team. Their skills will most certainly enhance
the personal, reliable, and attentive service provided to
our customers and clients. Welcome aboard guys.

INNOVA will be implementing our Affiliate Program in the
coming weeks. If you are interested in joining our Affiliate
Program please e-mail: affiliate1@innovamultimedia.com
for further information.

Visit our website at www.innovamultimedia.com to find
out more about some of these projects or to learn more
about what is happening at INNOVA.

------------------------------------------------------------
FEATURE
------------------------------------------------------------

What should I look for in educational software?

Most technological change is ushered into the world with
unabashed claims of progress. Each and every innovation is
said to bring, for the good of all those concerned, greater
utility, efficiency, and let us never forget,
cost-effectiveness.

Of course, in the educational field there are a number of
quite justifiable criticisms of such claims. The first that
springs to mind is the question of what (or whose) values
are being espoused by all this talk of "productivity"? In
other words, is it a sign of educational values or of market
values to declare that a technology allows more material to
be covered in less time with less teacher supervision and
thus decreases overall cost?

The fear underlying such an objection is that technology, as
it has in so many other areas of human endeavor, will turn
both teaching and learning into a systematized, factory-like
process whose primary mandates are efficiency and profit.
Teachers will lose their jobs or find their role in the
classroom diminished. Students will be served an homogenous
menu of facts by hardly responsive machines, at the
sacrifice of meaningful and creative engagement with
knowledge.

Indeed, just as "functional" literacy does not mean that a
person is a competent reader, functional teaching does not
guarantee a good education. It might even be ventured that
inefficiency, the bane of the marketplace, is necessary to
the learning process - that only amidst digression and
meandering from the topic at hand is an individual able to
connect abstract concepts with experience.

Which is not to say that technology has no rightful place
in the educational system. It is rather to reaffirm the
importance of judging an educational technology not on its
professed efficiencies, but on how that technology
contributes to, extends, or bolsters the traditional
learning experience. It is to acknowledge that dialogue
between teachers, students, and parents is the principal
mechanism for conveying knowledge, with technology as a
potentially powerful, albeit supplemental, tool to learning.

This is an important distinction to understand, for in
recent years new technologies like educational software have
become increasingly prevalent in the classroom and at home.
These products, which run on desktop computers and bring an
array of animation, sound, video, etc. to one's screen,
often make great claims about the advantages that are
brought to a student via the multimedia experience.

However, the consumer needs be aware that not all educational
software is of equal worth. If you are considering the
purchase of educational software and would like to ensure
that a quality product is obtained, the following criteria
should provide a useful standard by which such technologies
should be evaluated.

A good educational software product ...

... contains sound educational content and fulfills specified
learning objectives. These should be based on existing school
curricula or some other reputable source. The educational
specs should be made available to the user, either in
literature that is distributed with the product, in the
product itself, or on the web site of the company who has
developed the product.

... is designed so that navigation through the course is
intuitive and does not draw attention to itself. A clearly
laid out and simple presentation, with large icons and
lettering and a balance of colors, is especially important
for younger users - who should be able to immediately
interact with the course material without having to first
become accustomed to the interface.

... reinforces the content through interactivity. Studies
have shown that by engaging directly with the content
through exercises or games - which involves problem
solving, non-linear presentation of material, movement of
the mouse, etc. - students will dramatically increase
their absorption and retention of information.

... is interesting, but does not rely solely on
"entertainment value" to hold a learner's attention. Beware
of games masquerading as educational software; often, a
product will hide an absence of good content with flashy
graphics and sounds, which may appeal to a child but will
do little to advance his or her learning.

... has a structure that is not absolutely static or
unchangeable. The worst kind of educational software looks,
sounds, and feels exactly the same with every use; its
drawing power becomes dramatically reduced with subsequent
encounters. The best educational software gives the teacher,
student, or parent some degree of choice or control over
the sequence in which the course material is presented.
Games and exercises are randomized to avoid seeing the same
series of events and questions. It is not necessarily for
one to start at Point A and finish at Point Z every single
time the product is used.

... is upgradable with new content, can be integrated with
the content of other products, or is customizable by the
user. This ensures that the consumer's purchase does not
become quickly dated in the event that the curriculum
changes. Another valuable extension of an educational
software product is the inclusion of supplementary content
on the company's web site. Some examples of this are lesson
plans, stories, or games that continue with the themes
presented in the software but introduce new material.

... has some mechanism for evaluating student progress
through the course material. Quizzes, tests, and games
should be used to provide a measurable indication of where
the student is succeeding and where he or she is having
problems. Scores should be databased and tracked over
time. A parent or teacher should be able to print these
results.

Did you enjoy this article and find it informative? If so,
then check out Part 2 of this series on educational
software, where we discuss more of the advantages and
disadvantages of technology in the classroom. It will be
available in the next issue of INNOVA Multimedia's
newsletter.

------------------------------------------------------------
This Month's Free Lesson Plans
------------------------------------------------------------

Teachers, check out free "A Whale of a Tale" lesson plans on
our website at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/lesson1.html

Swim into Social Studies 1 - "Community Map" at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/socst3b.html
encourages children to construct a simple model of their local
community, using small objects to represent larger ones
which introduces them to an understanding of scale.

Swim into Social Studies 2 - "Locations and Regions" at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/socst2b.html
encourages students to identify physical regions on a map of a
country and investigate why people settled in certain locations.

------------------------------------------------------------
More Great Education Web Sites
------------------------------------------------------------

Check out some of these INNOVA recommended resource sites:

http://ericec.org/
The ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education

REVIEW: Anyone involved in the education or care of
exceptional students will want to bookmark this highly
informative site. Like all the ERIC clearinghouses, ERIC EC
is well researched and includes a searchable database of
resources and a collection of ERIC Digests written to assist
parents and professionals in educating children and youths
who need special attention. The site features a section on
"Gifted Education" with links to information and specific
resources.

http://www.information-resources.com/Library/library.html
The Free Library of Classics

REVIEW: Here is a trove of literary treasures to use in
your classroom. The Free Library of Classics contains a wide
variety of texts, from children's stories to historical
documents, making it a useful site for all grade levels.
Drama teachers will especially like the collection of
plays available. The electronic format of the texts makes
it easy to create excerpts for classroom exercises and
reading assignments. Elementary teachers may want to print
out the fairy tale and children's stories in half-page
formats to make "books" that students can illustrate.
Subscribe to the site's free newsletter to learn more about
the stories behind the classics, including biographical
information about the authors.

http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/Lessons/
Math Lessons That Are Fun! Fun! Fun!

REVIEW: Here is a great site to get ideas to jazz up your
math lessons. The activities cover a wide range of
mathematical concepts and are usable with a variety of
grade levels. Many of the activities are made to be done
in the classroom and include downloadable support
materials such as graphing paper. Many are group
activities that involve an entire classroom to find
the answers. Others are more suited to individual or online
explorations. Kids will enjoy the unusual perspective this
site takes on math, bringing practical and sometimes silly
applications to important mathematical concepts and helping
students gain insight into a subject that can be
challenging for many.

------------------------------------------------------------
Whale Links for Whale Lovers
------------------------------------------------------------

Check out these INNOVA recommended whale sites!

"Keiko, the star of Free Willy." See how he is doing at:
http://www.discovery.com/indep/newsfeatures/keiko/keiko.html
Keiko's odyssey began six years ago, when he jumped from the
screen as star of the film Free Willy and into the hearts of
whale lovers around the world. A year after Keiko's triumphal
return to his home waters of Iceland, the famous killer whale
has yet to complete his journey to the wild.

Visit the "Watery World of Whales" at:
http://whales.magna.com.au/home.html
Dive down to the greatest depths and discover the Blue whale,
the Right whale, Sperm, Humpback, Sei, Gray, Bowhead, Fin,
Minke, Orca and more.

------------------------------------------------------------
Whale Trivia:
------------------------------------------------------------

The blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, is the largest mammal
ever to have lived on Earth.

Over the course of a humpback's life, it is conceivable
that they could swim up to 200,000 miles!

Killer whales are also known as orcas and blackfish.

Killer whales reside in all seven oceans on the planet Earth.

------------------------------------------------------------
What's Hot - Our Latest Software Reviews
------------------------------------------------------------

A Whale of a Tale: Leap into Language - Grade 1

I LOVED IT!

I found the A Whale of a Tale Series: Leap Into Language for
Grade 1 software to be very engaging! The colors, graphics
and icons were simple and easy to identify. Navigation was
elegant and the theme of the learning activity was embedded
effectively. The level of difficulty was challenging and the
skills were clearly defined. Feedback to the learner was very
good. Interactivity was appropriate with a variety of choices
for the learner through direct manipulation with quick and
clear responses. The vocal talent and sound were excellent.

I feel this software presents a stimulating activity that is
engaging and truly promotes learning.

Kimberlye P. Joyce, M.Ed.
Instructional Design and Development
Specialist
University of Richmond, VA

------------------------------------------------------------
Feedback
------------------------------------------------------------

If you have comments or suggestions concerning our online
newsletter or website, please direct them to
mailto:editor@innovamultimedia.com

Your comments and suggestions will be published in the
feedback section of future issues.

Online issues can be found at
http://www.innovamultimedia.com/archive1.html

------------------------------------------------------------
"An Online Educational Community" may only be redistributed
in whole or in part in its unedited form. Written
permission from the editor must be obtained to reprint or
cite the information contained within this newsletter.

Where Learning Comes First!