An Ongoing Relationship Today the students in my reading class wrote messages to the students at Sunnyside about the first snow storm of the winter to hit Seattle. We don't get snow often, so when it comes it's a big event. My students wrote their messages in their journals, then they came to me and read their messages while I typed them on the computer. I asked the children to read the screen to make sure I typed the message correctly.
This is kind of an ongoing relationship between the two schools that evolves as we talk about what we are doing throughout the school year. So I don't know exactly when the "project" will end. But we hope to have several products at the end of the school year to show what is possible between first-grade classrooms.
-- Jane McLane, first grade teacher,
Kimball Elementary, Seattle
Among professional educators, this type of personal interaction can relieve isolation by establishing regular correspondence with distant colleagues and peers. It can provide continuity between professional meetings and conferences, extending the informal "hallway time" that is so valuable in face-to-face meetings and schools, and opening new opportunities for collaborative work. The computer with modem, in this way, becomes a sort of "virtual water cooler" that transcends geography and time zones.
Such projects can work even with very young students, as in an on-line partnership between two first-grade classes studying water. The teachers "met" in an on-line conference devoted to teacher- and student-initiated projects on the International Education and Resource Network (I*EARN). One class had been observing a local pond; the other, a saltwater estuary, and each class (with the teacher as typist) sent messages to the other about its observations. The project expanded to include exchanges of stories about parents and elders.
On Cleveland Free-Net's Academy One, "Spotlight on People" connects students with leaders, inventors, authors, and other professionals. The "Electronic Emissary," based at the University of Texas at Austin, matches subject-matter volunteers with classes. Scholastic Network says on-line appearances by authors and experts are among its most popular offerings.
(See "Networked Projects and Resources" in Section V for contact information on programs mentioned here.)
In early 1994, teachers and students were able to interact with the JASON Project's expedition to Belize via computer networks, communicating with scientists exploring rain forest canopy and reef ecology, as well as the local culture and history. The project included an extensive written curriculum and video broadcasts.
Another on-line "expedition" made use of a fictional journal of a trip through Belize to guide study and discussion among classrooms on the International Education and Resource Network (I*EARN) and PBS Learning Link networks. These two networks, together with the FrEdMail/SchoolNet networks, Big Sky Telegraph in Montana, and the Texas Education Network joined in a collaborative cross-network effort to share information on action-oriented rainforest projects. Their People Linking Across Networks (PLANET) project was intended to demonstrate the collective potential for educational networks to "make a difference" in the planet's future.
The idea of scientists and teachers co-designing real environmental field study is one of the most popular themes in EE networking. Vice President Al Gore even proposed, in his book, Earth In The Balance, (1992), students and teachers around the globe join with scientists to collect environmental data. The concept has taken root in his GLOBE program (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment), with a goal of creating an international science and education partnership in which K-12 students will collect environmental data and share it with each other and the international community of environmental scientists. Details on the GLOBE program are available by sending electronic mail to <info@globe.gov>.
Problem solving projects can be competitive or collaborative, but most examples in EE stress collaboration.
There are variations on the theme. The National Geographic Kids Network involves hundreds of classrooms in acid rain monitoring, sharing the data between schools across a computer network, and collectively analyzing it with the help of scientist mentors.
The TERC Global Laboratory Project aims to put real science in the classroom by devising monitoring and assessment methods that allow students to produce scientifically valid results with low-cost technology.
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro included citizens and non-governmental organizations in the preparatory process and in developing the Agenda 21 document with extensive use of global electronic mail and conferencing via the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) networks, including EcoNet in the United States. Continuing on-line efforts as follow-up to UNCED are being made by the Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (phone (319) 324-4941) and the President's Council on Sustainable Development.
The League of Conservation Voters, together with EcoNet, has electronically published the environmental voting records of members of Congress on the Internet. This information is available by Gopher or WWW (to <gopher.igc.apc.org> or <www.igc.apc.org>). The WWW version includes photos of key legislators and a point-and-click map for accessing information on state delegations.
Schools have used e-mail and on-line conferencing to coordinate a fund-raising effort to put sanitary rope-pump well systems in rural villages throughout Nicaragua. Students communicated with one another on-line about their efforts, and made personal connections with peers in Nicaragua. The students also learned about rural water quality and waterborne disease, and about how their small, individual actions can collectively make a meaningful difference in the quality of others' lives and environment. Contact I*EARN via e-mail at <iearn@igc.apc.org>.
The Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN) links community-based watershed education networks internationally. While each of the participating programs is locally organized and directed, the network facilitates exchange of the results from standardized water quality monitoring. GREEN takes the process a step further to include not only assessment of the causes of pollution, but also design of action steps that can be taken locally to reduce or eliminate it. Contact GREEN via e-mail at <green@green.org>.
The lack of face-to-face interaction can be a drawback to on-line courses, but this is increasingly overcome by using video -- either broadcast or taped -- as the delivery mechanism for a lecture or presentation, complemented by the use of e-mail or computer conferencing for questions and discussion, even for turning in student assignments and for testing. The Public Broadcasting Service is launching a new on-line communication and information service, PBS On-line, that merges public television programming and computing. The service will take advantage of new satellite technology to build a two-way interactive data network through local public television stations. Cornell University is developing CU-SeeMe software which allows for real-time, multi-party video conferencing over the Internet at minimal cost.
The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improve- ment (OERI) has developed an "infobase" of distance learning projects at the elementary and secondary levels, including a listing of schools using a variety of technological delivery systems (audiographics, satellite, fiber optics, micro-computer-based systems), student courses produced, teacher training provided, number of sites participating, and a description of how information is delivered to the classroom.
When initiating a project, the more specific you can be, the more likely you are to succeed. Describe the types of data to be collected or activities to be conducted, provide formats and specific measures for information sharing, describe how the project fits school curriculum (if appropriate), be clear about what you expect from others, and include a timeline for when you want it.
Usually it's best to post a short summary of the project solicitation in only the most relevant on-line mailing lists or conferences, and ask those interested to reply to you via e-mail. Some on-line networks provide forms and special conferences for such postings. If you already have prepared a more thorough project plan, you can send an immediate reply to any inquiries. Be sure to include a few personal, lively questions with each message. As in a conversation, getting the other person to talk about himself or herself is a pretty good strategy.
Once the barriers of access to the technology and understanding the language of telecommunications are passed, computer networks can provide new avenues for tapping valuable information, and more importantly, for building new relationships with other people via on-line projects that can take a variety of forms. But to keep the likelihood of success high in any on-line effort, essential elements must be incorporated: incentives to use the medium; clear goals, objectives, and rules; and adequate support for on-line users.
The last of these, support, bridges the realms of teacher training and ongoing facilitation for computer networking. While adequate, hands-on training in using on-line networks is important at the outset, the trainer's role is most effective when continued as an interactive, co-learning participant in a networked community that supports environmental education.