Online Teaching and Learning

[Vladimir Vrabec]

Vzacnou prilezitost ucastnit se experimentu "Online Teaching and Learning"
pro stredni skoly nabizi pripojena informace. Pozor nezaspete limitni
termin 2/11/94!    Vladimir Vrabec

---------- Text of forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 15:47:07 -0500
From: Judi Harris <jbharris at tenet.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list <cosndisc at yukon.cren.org>
Subject: Opportunity for Online Teaching and Learning

(This is an updated invitation...please forgive duplicate postings.)

WOULD YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS WANT TO LEARN BY
INTERACTING DIRECTLY WITH SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS?

Recent estimates indicate that there are now more than 15 million people
in the world who use the Internet.  More than half of of these account-
holders are affiliated with colleges and universities.  Approximately
350,000 classroom teachers from primary, middle, and secondary schools
also hold accounts on the Internet.  This makes a very special kind of
learning available to us: one which directly involves subject matter experts
communicating with students and teachers about their specialties, via
electronic mail.

With support from the Texas Center for Educational Technology, we (at
the University of Texas at Austin) have piloted an Internet-based service
(the "Electronic Emissary") that brings together pre-college students, their
teachers, and subject matter experts ("SMEs") electronically, helping them
to create telecomputing exchanges centered around the students' learning
in the SMEs' disciplines.  For example,

*  A class studying South America could learn about recent global
environmental research results from a scientist who studies rainforest
deforestation in Brazil.

*  A class studying geometry might "talk" electronically with Euclid, who is
actually a mathematics professor.

*  A class studying the future of education might converse with an
emerging technologies specialist from California's Silicon Valley.

*  A class studying American History might electronically interview Harry
Truman, who is really a curator with the National Archives.

*  A class exploring the rapidly-changing governmental structures that are
emerging in what was once the Soviet Union might correspond with a
group of graduate political science students at a university in the CIS.

*  Or, a class reading _Huckleberry Finn_ might correspond with an
African-American studies scholar about the repercussions resulting from
the enacting of the Emancipation Proclamation.

In this second phase of the project, 20 primary, middle school, or
secondary teachers and their classes are needed to correspond regularly
(approximately 3-4 times per week) with subject matter experts (SMEs) from
a wide variety of different disciplines.  Each electronic exchange will
begin with 1 week of project planning via electronic mail between the
teachers and the SMEs (2/14 - 2/18/94).  Communications between SMEs and
students will begin during the week of February 21st, and will continue
for at least 4 weeks.  Each team will have an "online facilitator" from
the university to assist their online learning.

To date, more than 250 applications from SME volunteers from all over the
world and in many different disciplines have been received by the
Emissary coordinators.  Some of the areas of expertise that they have
listed include:

Atomic, Nuclear, Particle & Gravitational Physics
Immunology & Virology
Women in American history
Geometry
Calculus
Statistics
Animal Learning
The Industrial Revolution
Salem Witchcraft Trials
International Relations
Criminal Justice
Philosophy and Philosophers
Astronomy
Light
Thermodynamics
Ancient Greek Literature
German Culture and Language
Meteorology and Weather Forecasting
HIV/AIDS
Environmental Science
Cell Biology
Waorld War II History
Rise of Nazi Germany
Technical Writing
The "Lifetimes" of Stars
Photographic Science and Technology
Mathamatical Ecology
Fractals
Neuroscience: How does the brain work?
India -- geography,region, culture, religion, politics
Celestial Mathematics
Life support in space
Classical Music
Architectural and Engineering Building Design
Marine Ecology
Computer Image Analysis
Water Treatment
Human Genetics
Photosynthesis
Honey Bees
Military History
Wargaming
Animal behavior, Communication or Evolution
Gravity and Satellite Motion
Heat Transfer
Atmospheric Dynamics
El Nino/Southern Oscillation
Russian Culture and Language
The Publishing Industry, Editing, Censorship, Freedom of Speech
Electronics
Microbiology
The Biology of Viruses
Optics
Chaos
Marxism
Volcanoes
World events/Geography
Social and Cultural Information of China
Atmospheric and Space Science
Vietnam War
Constitutional Law
Sociolinguistics--the ways in which social context is reflected in language
Navigation: (Celestial and Coastal)
Technical Writing
Biology of Sharks, Skates, and Rays
Organic Chemistry
Modern Iranian History, Society, Literature and Politics
Magnetism
Sediments, Rocks and Fossils
Human Anatomy and Function
Paleontology
Veterinary Medicine
Molecular Biology
Television News and Documentaries -- producing, directing and promoting
Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-century English literature
Latin American Cultures
Pharmaceutical Industry
Sound, Light and other Wave Phenomena
Islam
Issues in the Scientific Study of Animals
Structure of Atoms and their Ions (Spectroscopy)
Music (any area, including history, theory, and composition)
Entomology - the Study of Insects
Forest Ecology
What is a proof, and why do we need them?
..and many, many more.

==> If you would like to find out more about this pilot
==> project and receive an application form to participate,
==> please send electronic mail to Judi Harris,
==> jbharris at tenet.edu. Please include your name,
==> school, preferred SME area(s) of expertise, and ages
==> of students who will be participating with you.

==> PLEASE RESPOND ASAP; applications are due 2/11/94!
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