Volume 2, Number 7
March, 2002

Content Guide:
Suitable for elementary school students Elementary School
Suitable for middle school students Middle School
Suitable for high school students High School
 General tips for teachers General

Technology Applied
Into the Classroom
STLP News
Through a Student's Eyes
Assistive Technology
The Web
Red-Hot Links
Literacy On Line
Tech Help
Tips from the Pros
Training Schedule at the Ambrose Lab
Staff profiles
Miscellaneous
"The network is down . . . " (humor)
The TIPS Archives

Instructional Technology Home Page
Fayette County Public Schools home page

Editor: Jeffrey L. Jones,
District TRT jjones@fayette.k12.ky.us

This website is intended for the instructional use of students and staff of Fayette County Public Schools
The 1946 "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer" (ENIAC) is considered the first large-scale general-purpose electronic computer. The Fayette County
Educational Technology
Newsletter
In this issue:
Ambrose offerings for April
Learn how Stonewall Elementary keeps its staff informed in Tips of the Pros.
A teacher's experience in Into the Classroom, and student writing in Through a Student's Eyes.
Meet DTRT Cathy Brandt and PLD LAN tech Jim Adams
New technology: mimio - a whiteboard/ computer interface, in Tips from the Pros.

Thanks to this issue's contributors: Barbara Barr, Cathy Brandt, Nathan Cornett, Mark DiMascio, Deborah Eller, Amy Ford, Janyl Humlong, Mike Johnson, Ed McCaw, Carol Moffett, Kim Overstreet, Paula Whitmer, Maggie Wilson

 

 

 In 1980, precious few folks were using the Internet - mostly flagship universities and larger non-profit organizations, a very few individuals and schools, and the Military. Of course, the rest of the world had no trouble ignoring it, since it was, well, boring! It was just text!

The World Wide Web and it's HyperText Markup Language (HTML)  brought a graphics environment to the Internet in 1991, which helped. But it still had a long way to go - music at that time was generally delivered as electronic files known as MIDI, and the early results of such experiments were pretty awful. Nevertheless, the movement towards a fully multimedia-rich Internet was on, and now, here in Fayette County Schools, we are poised at the brink.
To receive many of the multimedia offerings from the Fayette County Schools Office of Technology, you will need to install the current version of  RealPlayer.

The advantages of true multimedia are manifold:

  • Video provides faces, voices, gestures - a level of humanity absent from text and pictures only. 
  • Language is far more complex and expressive than print can possibly display - this is most evident when studying foreign languages.
  • Music, drama, film - these artistic media can only be described, not shown, with a picture/text environment.
  • Sound and video is accessible to any age group, whereas text-only is skewed towards older kids whose printed-text skills are better developed.

Although such capability never can (and never will) replace a real live human presence, it doesn't require too much thought to figure out how Internet delivery of this rich environment might be advantageous - any-time/"just-in-time" delivery, no special equipment beyond any on-line computer, and no special skills.

In this issue, as with all issues of TIPS, you can find a variety of multimedia offerings. Janyl Humlong  of Breckenridge Elementary School developed a simple morphing video for inclusion in our Tips of the Pros, and the STLP students of Stonewall Elementary developed a true multimedia presentation on reading, which was featured on Channel 13's School Review program. In a further expansion of the Ambrose multimedia offerings, a new series on technology integration best practices will be piloted next month.

Join the revolution - send the multimedia generated by your students to TIPS for display, and use the examples you see to engage your students and fellow teachers, and improve learning in your classroom!

- Jeffrey L. Jones