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For the past four years, I have taught
Chapter I students (students falling within the lowest 25 percentile on
the California Test for Basic Skills). One of the goals of the Chapter I
program is to help students achieve at least 13 months academic growth in
language and math within the average 9 1/2 month school year.
Most of these students have reading and writing skills that are at least
four years below grade level. In the past traditional approaches to encourage
these students to write were not very successful. At about that same time,
we helped organize an educational electronic bulletin board that had the
unique capability of sharing messages with other schools running the same
software. One of the purposes of the educational network was to use the
medium of telecommunications directly with the students.
We began slowly, having the students exchange "computer pal" letters.
From the very first exchange of letters, it became quite clear that students
were highly motivated to write when they knew other students would be reading
their letters. The students wrote letters that were on the average 1 1/2
to 2 times longer than previously when the assignment had been just to write
a friendly letter for the teacher.
*Students are more careful about their spelling,
punctuation, grammar and vocabulary.
In addition to being more motivated
and writing longer letters, students took greater care to make sure their
spelling, punctuation and grammar were correct. Students were more willing
to go back and proofread and edit their writing. An
interesting and unexpected outcome occurred as a result of our experimentation
with students and telecomputing. Along with exchanging files of students'
writings, on occasion we allowed students to have live "real time"
on-line chatting sessions. Students from Jefferson Junior High in Oceanside
had electronic conversations with students from Lincoln Junior High in Oceanside.
Even though both of these two junior high schools are in the same school
district, the socioeconomic makeup of the student populations is quite different.
Students at the two schools felt they had little in common, and considered
themselves rivals. However, an amazing thing began to happen as the students
"chatted" back and forth. Suddenly, the students discovered that
they shared many interests, thoughts and feelings. As the students and the
teachers shared ideas, and as the communications continued through chatting
sessions and the exchange of writings, the two schools began to develop
a very close relationship. After only a few months of telecomputing between
the two schools, the students referred to the other school as their "sister"
school!
*Students are provided an opportunity to understand
different cultures.
As news of our successful writing projects spread, the
educational network grew from 6 schools located in San Diego County, to
include more than 85 schools from all over the United States, as well as
schools in Puerto Rico and Argentina. Although in most cases, it was too
costly to set up real time chatting sessions for the students between these
distant locations, we saw the same camaraderie develop through joint writing
projects.
Students, some of whom had never left their own neighborhoods,were
suddenly asking for maps so that they would know where their new "computer
pals" were writing from. Students learned that there are different,
regional ways of expressing the same ideas. So, they took greater efforts
to explain exactly what they were trying to say. Bilingual messages were
exchanged and translated into both languages. Students were communicating
with one another in a way that most adults were not even aware existed.
*Students enjoy communicating with schools from
different geographical locations.
In addition to FrEdMail, students collaborate with classrooms
around the globe on the AT&T Long Distance Learning Network. Three hundred
schools from around the world participate in various educational projects
from creative writing, to computer chronicles, to science activities. Six
to eight schools from different nations were grouped into individual Learning
Circles. Teachers discovered that integrating technology into lessons they
were already teaching offered an entirely new dimension to learning. Students
from the Southern Californian town of Oceanside learned about vegamite from
the Australian children, and ice hockey from the Canadians, and what a typical
day was like for students in the Netherlands. They couldn't learn these
things from books that someone else had written. They learned about the
cultural differences and similarities from their distant peers!
*Teachers can exchange ideas and resources quickly
and efficiently.
It is readily agreed upon that there is an overload of
information available today, and that it would be an impossibility for any
one person to possess it all. Through the medium of telecommunications,
teachers have the combined resources of all the other educators they are
electronically linked to. If they have a question, they can post it on an
educational bulletin board, and usually within hours they receive replies
from other educators across the nation. Just as they easily obtain information,
they eagerly dispense it to others. Educators who are involved in telecommunications
frequently share their ideas and lesson plans with others on the network.
The electronic medium becomes an enormous universal mind.
In addition, different models of computers can be used to
exchange information. Computers have the potential of becoming the universal
language. Different brands of computers can exchange and share information
via telecommunications. Someday, with built in language translators, people
from all nations will be able to communicate swiftly and efficiently.
*TeleComputing will prepare students for
a future world that is sure to include electronic communications.
In the future, many people may
work at home. They will do their work on their computer and will send the
work to their office by using a modem. When people work with their computers
at home they will be said to work in electronic cottages. This type of situation
will have many advantages. People will not have to drive to work. They will
not have to work traditional hours. As their schedules can be more flexible,
work habits will change. People have different peak working periods in their
day. Individuals will be able to identify their own peak working times and
design a more
efficient schedule based on those times.
People will not have to live close to their jobs. During the industrial
age people moved closer to the cities to be near the factories. In the future,
people may choose to live away from the cities, with all their noise, pollution
and traffic.
Telecommunications may also have a positive effect on the family unit. If
parents are able to work from their homes, they will be able to spend more
time with their children. Children will benefit from watching their parents
work at home, in the same way that farm children learn many skills from
observing their parents perform their daily duties.
Reprinted with permission from Yvonne M. Andres
Andres is the President and Director of Curriculum
for the Global SchoolNet Foundation.
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