The Internet's multimedia environment requires students to work as designers and artists. In this multimedia world, art is a basic literacy, and students need education in art literacy. This paper recommends that schools: rename and demystify art; hire more art teachers; increase fourth-literacy requirements in teacher education; and schedule one…

Describes methods to access current earthquake information from the National Earthquake Information Center. Enables students to build genuine learning experiences using real data from earthquakes that have recently occurred. (JRH)

Examines pedagogical advantages and limitations of the Internet for teaching French grammar, and shows how these factors were taken into consideration in creating a Web site at the University of Alberta (Canada), with special emphasis on the integration of exchanges between learners, and exchanges between learners and the virtual francophone…

With the demand for higher education increasing rapidly worldwide, the advent of new technologies and international collaboration offers new solutions and challenges. Presents facts about multinational and distance education, examining problems and challenges this raises, and stressing the importance of analyzing the new realities, both positive…

Investigated British teachers' use of an online discussion group over 2 years. Results indicate that, although the online forum was widely used as both an information and empathetic exchange resource, many claims of establishing collectively- focused virtual communities of teachers remain exaggerated, as the forum was limited by various caveats…

In the fall of 2000, half the freshman class arrived at college with their own computers, proficient at using Windows, word-processing software, the Internet and electronic mail. The author offers a look at the computing lifestyles of freshmen on five college campuses. (JM)

Notes that understanding what "free software" means and its implications for access and use of new technologies is an important component of the new literacies. Concludes that if free speech and free press are essential to the development of a general literacy, then free software can promote the development of computer literacy. (SG)

Describes why the University of Pennsylvania got out of the modem pool business and is now exploring what the emerging funding model might mean. (EV)

Offers a strong rationale for the idea that the journey of writing good poetry begins on a path that infuses technology into the first stage of the writing process. Presents several ideas of ways to incorporate technology into the prewriting poetry experience. Concludes that by making technology an ingredient, the true potential for synergy…

Suggests that a successful publications staff can thrive, digitally speaking, using Bill Gates' 12 key steps to reinvent the way the staff functions. Lists each rule and the parallel rule for scholastic journalism staffs. Notes two of the rules are use email and the Internet; and all staff members need a working knowledge of all areas of a…

Discusses whether schools should somehow filter the information available to students via the Internet. Highlights include censorship versus an individual's right to information; fear for children's safety as motivation; filtering legislation; deciding what to block; rating Internet sites; filtering options for schools; and recommendations. (LRW)

States that children need proper guidance and boundaries to reap the benefits of the Internet. Focuses on two issues: how parents can protect their children from the Internet's potential dangers and how they can help their children use the Internet to get work done. Includes suggestions for teachers to help parents meet these challenges. (VWC)

Presents a student mathematics project aimed at developing students' skills with computer spreadsheets and using the Internet to give students an appreciation of the many ways that mathematics can describe common everyday items--in this case the bicycle--and make them aware of their own role in learning. (ASK)

Technology plays a pivotal role in modifying curriculum for students with learning disabilities, especially in five areas: (1) criteria for software selection; (2) computer games; (3) use of the Internet across the curriculum; (4) multimedia use; and (5) hypermedia use. Specific activities for modifying the curriculum for this population are…

Presents three Internet-based activities for teaching elementary students about the Underground Railroad. The activities include creating a freight-train of facts about the Underground Railroad, mapping the routes of the Underground Railroad, and participating in an electronic simulation of life as a fugitive slave. (SM)