This volume contains articles about writing, best practice, portfolio assessment, and technology, as well as original poetry and book reviews. Articles in the volume are: "Teaching Writing: Making Connections" (Eric Schott); "Empowering Teachers: A Success Story" (Sandra L. Krivak); "Bridging the Gap between the Classroom and Employment" (Linda C.…

This paper addresses the movement to "improve" schools by means of legislating mandatory testing and then publishing students' results in local newspapers and on the Internet. Students who attend schools where the standards are not met are often the ones who would benefit most from a broad-based language arts program. These students are…

This activity packet addresses technology in the classroom, specifically using the Internet. It presents three activities that use the Internet as a resource: (1) "Whose Point of View" (the transfer of Hong Kong to Chinese control); (2) "Where to Look" (an earthquake in Afghanistan); and (3) "Research Project: The Pros and Cons of Free Trade."…

At the Lisbon European Council held on March 23 and 24, 2000, a goal was set for the European Union "to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-driven economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion." The eLearning initiative proposed by the Commission of the…

This paper proposes a set of cumulative standards for assessing the uses of nonprint media and electronic technologies in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The proposed standards, culled from existing standards created for educational technologies, information literacy, and the English language arts, are offered as a guide and…

Questions about the implications of the new technologies for literacy, literacy teaching, and literacy practices provoke diverse and contradictory responses in the media, in policy documents, in state and national assessment surveys, and among teachers themselves. On one hand, the need for literacy to be reconceptualized and redefined in the face…

Increasingly in Australia, attention is being given in English or language education to core or functional literacy conceived as print mastery, alongside literature, and critical literacy. The Queensland Years 1 to 10 English syllabus evinces an attempt to organize such qualitatively distinct "literacies" under a burgeoning conceptual…

This paper is a report on the findings of an action research project conducted during an undergraduate "Technology in Education" class for preservice teachers at Southern Utah University. The course was structured using a constructivist approach and designed to incorporate principles of brain-based and engaged learning. A five-step…

This document contains the following papers on social studies instruction and technology: (1) "Waking the Sleeping Giant: Social Studies Teacher Educators Collaborate To Integrate Technology into Methods' Courses" (Cheryl Mason, Marsha Alibrandi, Michael Berson, Kara Dawson, Rich Diem, Tony Dralle, David Hicks, Tim Keiper, and John Lee);…

This paper reviews the efforts of the Idaho Council for Technology in Learning to provide consistent and thorough standards for planning for educational technology, presents keys for meeting those standards, and offers suggestions for using these keys to successfully implement and account for planned technology use in the curriculum. The planning…

This paper reports on a three-year study of a model that uses the tenets of constructionism to integrate technology into a constructivist curriculum. The model has been used in regular face-to-face courses, in interactive instructional television courses, and in an online course. The following three significant themes emerged from analysis of the…

This policy report provides a view of the issues concerning the effectiveness of technology in its role to enhance education. This report is intended for use by educational leaders and policymakers who are concerned with making optimal use of technology in the schools. This report: (1) Focuses on issues that need to be considered as the impact of…

Regarding technology-based educational improvement, systemic reform involves two major shifts: including possibilities for "distributed learning"--using information technologies off-campus to enhance classroom activities; and reconfiguring existing budgets to free up money for innovation, instead of relying on special, external…

To avoid underuse, inaccessibility, and obsolescence when choosing, purchasing, and using technology, educators should maximize the number of students sharing machines, build technology into the curriculum, ensure continuous accessibility, network computers, and build physical plant considerations into their purchase plans. A single high-end…

Research suggests that technology is an equivocal blessing. Although it expedites our ability to access, share, manipulate, and display information, it provides little or no guidance regarding the quality, relevance, or timeliness of the information it processes. Teachers must take this responsibility and help students develop their own…