------------------------------------------------------------ An Online Educational Community A newsletter that educates parents, teachers, and students. March 2000 Issue #8 Zigmond Snook, Editor, mailto:editor@innovamultimedia.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Welcome to the eighth 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. ------------------------------------------------------------ IN THIS ISSUE ------------------------------------------------------------ => What's New at INNOVA => Feature => This Month's Free Lesson Plans => More Great Education Web Sites => Products to Watch For => Whale Links for Whale Lovers => What's Hot - Our Latest Software Reviews ------------------------------------------------------------ What's New at INNOVA ------------------------------------------------------------ Education-Software.com out! INNOVAmultimedia.com in! We have changed our url. The site is the same just a different url. Also, all email addresses have been changed from @education-software.com to @innovamultimedia.com. Remember to change those bookmarks! A Whale of a Tale: Dive into Math 2 has been sent to the replicators. Product should be ready for sale in 2-3 weeks. LessonBuilder has been revised! INNOVA Multimedia Ltd. is giving away TEN of our "A Whale of a Tale" educational software lessons and the latest version of LessonBuilder, a custom course creation utility, as a FREE DOWNLOAD on our website! Visit http://www.innovamultimedia.com/lbuilder.htm to download your free copy today! Our Affiliate program is ready to go! If you would like to become an INNOVA Affiliate please contact mailto:affiliate1@innovamultimedia.com ------------------------------------------------------------ FEATURE ------------------------------------------------------------ Taking Advantage of the Computers in your School If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times before. A school is fully wired - a computer in every classroom, each connected to the world wide web. The administration boasts that the students are now primed to meet the demands of the new electronic world. But the reality is that many teachers in the school are not technophiles. They can turn a computer on and do simple tasks; however, they are worried that students will take advantage of their inexperience and put the machines to inappropriate use. So nobody is permitted access and the computers gather dust in the corner of the classroom. To say that this scenario is the rule and not the exception may be somewhat of an exaggeration. But it is true that in many classrooms thousands of dollars of unrealized potential sit idle or are underused because the technology is poorly understood. As with any new technology there is a large fear factor involved - fear of the unknown, fear of looking ignorant, fear that control will be lost, fear that it will never make sense to you. Especially in the jargon ridden world of computers, where clearly expressed and inexpensive information is hard to come by, becoming fluent can seem like a formidable obstacle. The fact is, however, computers do not have to be the monster that they may appear to be. Creatively and judiciously used, computers can be excellent tools for both teachers, students, and parents without the enormous learning curve that one might expect. If you have computers lying around unattended at your school, here are some suggestions for integrating them into everyday classroom routines. - draw up a small committee comprised of teachers, parents, and students to address how computers can be used to further the educational needs of schools (Note that it's important to include students in this group. Not only will they feel empowered by the responsibility given to them to shape the future of the school, but they are likely to have ideas that no adult would conceive of). Meet once a week to discuss the implementation of new programs for computer education, etc., in the school. Have the meetings open to the public, and invite people from the community to volunteer their time and expertise. - design a computer training program to ease teachers and students into the technology. This does not have to be an expensive process. It can be constructed as a mentorship program, staffed primarily by students and guided by a teacher knowledgeable of computers. Students will build confidence and gain leadership skills that will help them find work or get accepted into post-secondary education. - assign a number of student volunteers to maintain all the computers in the school by installing and updating software and hardware, fixing technical problems, communicating with computer suppliers. You may be surprised at how responsible and capable most students can be when performing tasks that they find interesting. - consider inviting computer-based businesses in the community to get involved with your school, either by donating equipment, services, advice, or by setting up an internship program whereby students can gain work experience. - suggest that students and teachers form a computer club to discuss things like games, programming, various applications, etc. An interesting twist on this may be to have the club meetings conducted on-line, over a chat service like ICQ ( http://www.miribilis.com ). - consider novel applications of computer technology to accomplish tasks that otherwise would be very difficult. Here's an example: Parents have been complaining that they never know what homework is assigned to their children or when they need to study for tests. One solution might be to have a web site that, on a daily basis, lists all homework and tests assigned for each class. This doesn't have to be cumbersome job to create. With a simple web form (designed fairly easily by a knowledgeable teacher, student, or outside volunteer), teachers can in a couple of minutes enter the homework for each class. If set up properly, the information will be automatically posted to the web site, with no technological expertise necessary on the part of the teacher. Parents can then type in the URL of the site and find out every day what homework is assigned to their child. There are many possibilities such as this, limited only by the technology available at each school and the desire and imagination to use this technology effectively. I'd encourage you to talk to people in your school or locality about bringing in programs to increase computer literacy. It may be just the thing needed to bring people together who feel isolated by the technology that has been changing the world so quickly these days, and ensure that computers fulfil their promise as tools for education, community-building, and inventive application. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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.htmlbr> Surf into Science 1 - "Moving Along" at http://www.innovamultimedia.com/sci1d.html encourages children to investigate, identify, and describe the different ways in which animals move. Swim into Social Studies 1 - "Scales and Maps" at http://www.innovamultimedia.com/socst3d.html encourages children to use non-standard units to measure distance, e.g., paces, blocks, tiles, and to offer reasons for using small objects to represent larger objects on a map. ------------------------------------------------------------ More Great Education Web Sites ------------------------------------------------------------ Check out some of these INNOVA recommended resource sites: Mrs. Hall's 1ST Grade Site http://mrshall.cjb.net Mrs. Hall's 1st Grade site contains useful information for students, parents and teachers. There are pictures of the class in action and a month by month review of the school year. For teachers there are many lesson plans and ideas. Parents will find curriculum information, calendars, and tips for their children. BERNIE POOLE'S EDINDEX OF RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS http://www.pitt.edu/~poole/edmenum.html A Web Resource for Teachers and Students is an indexed set of links to websites that support teaching and learning K-12. The indexes are age and subject specific. They are updated almost daily. Thousands of links lead to hundreds of thousands more, all of which have been prepared or selected by professionals interested in providing cross-curricular multimedia learning resources for teachers and students. K-12 Computer Education http://www.k12computereducation.com/ This excellent resource contains activities, links, and lesson plans for K-12 educators looking for technology resources. Check out "60 Ready Made Computer Lessons for Tired Teachers" -- you'll love it. ------------------------------------------------------------ Products to Watch For ------------------------------------------------------------ A Whale of a Tale: Dive into Math 2 has been sent to the replicators. This second installment in our Math division of our critically acclaimed "A Whale of a Tale" series should be available by the end of April 2000. ------------------------------------------------------------ Whale Links for Whale Lovers ------------------------------------------------------------ Check out these INNOVA recommended whale sites! Swim with the Whales at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/spermwhales/html/whaleintro.html NATURE Online presents an interactive introduction to sperm whales (170K). Travel deep underwater to the sperm whale's aquatic home and learn more about its habits, biology, social structure, and more. Visit WhaleNet at: http://whale.wheelock.edu/ WhaleNet's interactive educational web site which focuses on whales and marine research. WhaleNet is sponsored by Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts with support from the National Science Foundation. Visit "Humphry the Lost Whale buddy project" at: http://members.aol.com/MrsGoudie/thelostwhale.html Humphrey the Lost Whale buddy project is an interactive muilt-community buddy project linking nine schools across the Northern American continent. Hope you enjoy! ------------------------------------------------------------ Whale Trivia: ------------------------------------------------------------ "Basilosaurus cetoides" was an Archaeoceti whale, a primitive, extinct, toothed whale with a pointed snout from the Eocene epoch, 50 million years ago. It was about 45-70 feet (14-21 m) long. BELUGA WHALEs or "Delphinapterus leucas" is a white toothed whale that grows to be about 15 feet (4.6 m) long and weighs about 3,300 pounds (1500 kg). They live in frigid arctic and subarctic waters, but many migrate to warmer water in the summer. They are also known as "sea canaries" because of their songs. ------------------------------------------------------------ What's Hot - Our Latest Software Reviews ------------------------------------------------------------ Title: Dive into Math 1 Publisher: Innova, 1999 Grade level: 5-7yrs Content: The content offers some engaging ways for children to visualize and manipulate addition and subtraction processes. Underlying mathematics concepts such as matching the number of items shown are also covered. The extra games included act as a fun way for children to drill and practice a variety of math facts. Presentation: INNOVA does a nice job of keeping the presentation simple yet enjoyable to youngsters through the use of several characters. The option of "read to me" makes the software user-friendly to younger children who are not quite yet readers. Reviewer Dr. Kimberly Arp Professor Teacher Education Center Sam Houston State University Huntsville, TX ------------------------------------------------------------ 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/archive.htmlbr> ------------------------------------------------------------ When does one year last for 15 Months? When ELOSOFT is Hosting your site. Be sure to check our site at http://Elosoft.com to avail yourself of our Industry Leading Services, our Excellent Pricing, and our 15 month year. Thank you in advance for considering Elosoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ "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.

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