Montana Council for Computers and Technology in Education Newsletter

December 1996

Expeditions on the Web by John C. Wareck
President's Corner by Bob Gunderson
Net Day a Success Story in Huntley Project by Libby A. Henneberry
The BBS: A History and Commentary by Vince Long
Suggested Links on the Web by Vince Long

Expeditions on the Web
by John C. Wareck

Teachers looking for a dynamic, hands-on, interactive way to teach K-12 students will be excited to learn of a non-profit company called GlobaLearn. GlobaLearn is taking tens of thousands of K-12 students, beginning in January, on a 5 month, 8,500 mile journey from Venice to Hong Kong via Eastern Europe, Central Asia and China. The students will follow the expedition through GlobaLearn’s World Wide Web (Web) site and interact with a six person expedition team, and the children they meet, in the field.

GlobaLearn is a non-profit company. Its programs are free to all schools. Information about GlobaLearn and archives of its last two expeditions can be found at http://www.globalearn.org

The explorers on the Trans-Asia Expedition (TAE) will introduce U.S. students to children in the 31 towns visited along the route. The students will also learn about the history, culture, environment and geography of each place. GlobaLearn develops curriculum to support the expedition.

GlobaLearn invites all K-12 teachers to sign up for the TAE. A registration form can be filled out on the GlobaLearn web site. Or e-mail mroy@globalearn.org for more information.

The company most recently took about 5,000 students on the GlobaLearn Black Sea Nations Expedition (BSNE), an eight week journey through Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria from March 25 to May 24, 1996. Students from 15 U.S. states and 7 countries followed, via GlobaLearn’s Web site on the Internet, the team of four GlobaLearn explorers and a support crew as they traveled along the Black Sea.

GlobaLearn President and Founder Murat Armbruster led the six person team as it traveled by land in utility vehicles. The team was hosted by a local child at each of the 18 stopping points.

The team traveled with, among other gear, a Kodak digital camera, a digital video camera, six IBM laptop computers, and a California Microwave portable satellite transmitter.

Daily, the team interacted with the host child and the host child’s family, friends and schoolmates. The GlobaLearn team documented the history, geography, culture, and environment of the community and the daily life of the local people. At the end of each day the team gathered it’s data - digital color photos, explorer’s journals, a 750 word host child profile with family photos, a travel log, explorers’ investigations of the local environment, history, industry and traditions - and sent it via satellite back to New Haven, Connecticut where the material was edited five nights a week and posted on the company’s Web site.

Students in the U.S. were able to interact by posting questions to the team in the field and by sending electronic mail to participating students around the world.

It’s really exciting to go into some of our classrooms and see how the children have taken off with the GlobaLearn program, wrote Donna Brown, a computer resource teacher in Wethersfield, CT, in a letter to GlobaLearn staff. They come into school early, stay at lunch time and after school to check the progress of the explorers. Students with access to the Internet at home are sharing the program with their parents... students are actively working, sharing and enjoying learning with the program. ...(our school) is planning to continue with GlobaLearn next year...THANKS to all of you for developing such an incredible learning experience for both children and adults!

GlobaLearn developed a four part social studies curriculum to support the daily transmissions from the field during the BSNE. GlobaLearn’s curricula are developed by certified teachers.

Students also enjoyed GlobaLearn’s BSNE. John Andrews, a 6th grade student at Rochambeau School in Southbury, CT said I really liked GlobaLearn because it was something that was really happening. Normally in school you just have textbooks and ditto sheets, but in this case they were actually going around the Black Sea.

And according to Joe Wang, a 4th grader at Beecher Road School in Woodbridge, CT, "The hosts tell interesting stories - if you tried to look this stuff up in an encyclopedia, you’d never find it." (As quoted in the Amity Observer, 5/9/96.)

GlobaLearn’s web site was recently given an A+ rating by the NEA, endorsed by the White House, selected by the Smithsonian to be permanently placed in the nation’s technology archive, selected by Scholastic’s Electronic Learning magazine as one of the top 100 education web sites in the world, and selected by Yahoo! as a pick of the week.

The program, upon filling out a registration form, is free to teachers and students.

Armbruster conceived of the idea for GlobaLearn in the fall of 1992 and then, without funding for the program, left a job in Cambridge, Massachusetts to move to his hometown of New Haven and focus on the project full time. The first major support for GlobaLearn came in early Fall, 1994, in the form of a $150,000 grant from the Connecticut based Smart Family Foundation. In October 1994 Armbruster and a staff of three moved into office space. Today, GlobaLearn consists of 10 full time employees, nearly 15 part time workers and consultants, and a small army of volunteers.

GlobaLearn is supported by California Microwave, Columbia University, COMSAT, Connix, IBM, Kodak, Lippincott Foundation, New Haven Board of Education, NorthFace, Pilot Pen, Polaroid, Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities, Smart Family Foundation, South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, Sun Microsystems, William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, WTC/Ecomaster, Xerox Foundation, Yale University and more than 500 individual donors. Their cash, services and equipment donations make GlobaLearn’s programs possible.

John C. Wareck, Vice President, Communications
GlobaLearn, Inc.
205 Whitney Avenue
Suite 300
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 821-3199

Check out GlobaLearn’s Web site at:

http://www.globalearn.org
President's Corner
by Bob Gunderson

We are well into the school year now and I seem to be busier than I have ever been. It has just snowed a foot in Polson and the wind and blowing snow remind me of the days I spent teaching on the plains of eastern Montana. School was canceled for the day, giving me time to put together this article for the President’s Corner.

I wasn’t able to attend a lot of the sessions at the convention in Helena, but the ones I did go to were outstanding. The MCCE sectionals were well attended. Thanks to all of you that took the time to share your expertise with your peers, and thanks again to Computer Lines for their continuing support and participation. Their presentations are always some of the most popular at the convention.

At the Board of Director’s Meeting we decided not to award a Technology Teacher of the Year for 1996. One person asked for an application by the deadline, but did not return a completed application. We need to get the word out more and by we, I mean you, the members. You may nominate yourself or be nominated by another member. We would like to have at least three or four applicants this year. Send your nominations to me, Bob Gunderson, at 810 14th Avenue East, Polson, Montana, 59860, or email me at bgundy@marsweb.com and I will send the application form to the nominee. If you are considering someone for this award and they are not a current member of MCCE, I will include an application for membership with the OTEY form. You must be a current member of MCCE to be eligible for the award. Details concerning the award can be found in the May 1996 newsletter.

It is not too early to consider presenting at next year’s MEA/MFT conference in Billings. Some of the more popular sessions at the Helena conference dealt with lessons utilizing the Internet. If you know of anyone that is doing an outstanding job with this resource, encourage them to share with us at next year's meetings. It is amazing what creative teachers can do with a minimum of computers in their school, or in their classroom, with this huge information database. We need to share these ideas, either by presenting at the conference, or by submitting articles to be published in our newsletter.

Speaking of sharing ideas, I am concerned that not all of our students in Montana are receiving equal access to Internet resources. We are truly an information society. Now, more than ever, moving vast amounts of information quickly, across great distance, is one of our most pressing needs. For all of Montana’s students to be successful in the ’90s and beyond we must somehow keep up with rapidly changing technologies. This is not an easy task for many of the teachers and students of rural Montana. Many places are still without an inexpensive Internet provider, and because of this are being denied access to one of the hottest technologies available. This is bound to change as different ways of accessing the Net come into being. What can be done in the meantime? There are ways to use these resources off-line and keep costs down to a minimum. Software such as WebWhacker, WebArranger, and WebEx download entire Web pages onto a computer, graphics and all. These pages can then be copied to hard-drives on computers in a computer lab, and you can run a simulated Internet environment without having to have an expensive network, or having students actually on-line. Current information about these programs and the configurations necessary to run them can be found by doing a simple on-line search.

I hope that more of the membership will take an active role in our organization. It would be great to have forty or fifty people at our continental breakfast meeting next year in Billings. I would encourage you to encourage others to join MCCE. Maybe we would be able to do more to help build that "Bridge to the 21st Century" that President Clinton mentions so often.

God Bless, Merry Christmas, and have a GREAT NEW YEAR!! : )

Net Day a Success Story in Huntley Project
by Libby A. Henneberry


October 26, 1996 was NetDay Huntley Project. Over 75 volunteers came to pull miles of cable. Yes miles! We pulled coaxial cable and 2 runs of Cat 5 to nearly every classroom and office in 5 buildings for television, voice, and data transmission.

How did they do that? Volunteers and experts working side by side; that’s how it happens, and did it happen! From staff and volunteers crawling in 3" of sand in a 4-foot crawl space of the Elementary School, to the United States Air Force crew of 9, drilling and crushing through rebar and concrete in the Junior High School, it was a great show of community pride and commitment.

How did this all come to pass? Of course a concert of this magnitude does not just HAPPEN! No, it takes weeks of fund raising, getting business/organizational sponsorships, finding experts, analyzing, and learning!

That district must have a great deal money! We must also let you know that this project is worth more than $90,000 to our district. Furthermore, the project was done without any Federal funds, without any State funds, and without a dollar from our local school budget! Oh yes, and without any politicians or dignitaries being here!

So why did Huntley Project go to all this effort? Well, because this is what we needed to do to move toward being able to fully embrace technology opportunities for our students. We did it for the children and for the school staff. We did it for our community.

Where do we go from here? The next step will be to secure alternative funding so that we may purchase routers, hubs, servers, a new phone system, and related hardware. As funds are generated, and pieces and parts are purchased, we will continue to move forward. Huntley Project is dedicated to technology! Keep watching as we continue to advance.

Can your district do that too? Certainly you can. But, it's going to take a champion, someone who can dedicate their heart to the advancement of technology, a person who can focus on making it happen. It takes the support of administration. It takes EFFORT! If you want a video of our day, send us a blank tape and we'll dub our NetDay video diary for you.

If you need encouragement or any other help, please call me at 967-2839 or e-mail me at: Libby@metnet.mt.gov. I'll try to help. Just remember to be patient, the chances are that I'm engrossed in another exciting endeavor for Huntley Project Schools.

The BBS: A History and Commentary
by Vince Long


Isn’t it ironic that many of us who are anxious to see the latest technological developments come into our classroom we also still struggling to see older technologies, such as the telephone, arrive as well. With the rapid pace of technological change and the competition for limited resources, it is possible for the education community to miss out on entire generations of technology.

This brings to mind a technology that may be making its last gasp before moving on to that technological afterlife along with slide rules and vacuum tubes. I speak of the computer-based bulletin board system (BBS). For many of us, these systems were our entry point to the on-line world, streaming text across our screens at speeds up to 2400 baud. For some, steeped in the wonders of the World Wide Web, this technology is, at best, ho-hum. But, is the BBS world dead? Maybe yes, maybe no.

In the early days of personal computing, when names such as Apple, Ohio Scientific, Tandy, and Commodore ruled the landscape, the machines were of much simpler design than those we encounter today. The basic PC consisted of "the box," containing a motherboard and power supply, and on the outside we attached a keyboard and television, unless we were well-heeled and had a real monitor. Peripherals were limited to floppy drives and printers. The idea of networking was something that was still in the domain of the mainframe folks, leaving PC users to the world of Space Invaders and Visi-calc.

It wasn’t long after the introduction of the Apple ][ in 1977 that the first microcomputer-based BBS appeared. This was the Computerized Bulletin Board System(CBBS) in Chicago, set up by Randy J. Suess and Ward Christensen. This system was an e-mail only, conference-based system aimed, at facilitating dialog between serious computer users and programmers.

Before long, BBSs starting popping up all over the country, in part due to the ready availability of modems. The first modems, known as acoustic couplers, were a box with two suction cups into which the telephone handset was fitted. These devices, screaming along at 300 baud, were sensitive to external noise and were trickier to operate than later designs. But they did allow users to connect to remote computers. Soon, faster modems, with speeds up to 9600 baud, become common.

Virtually all BBSs were, and are, run by individuals solely as a hobby. The owner of the system, the system operator (sysop), devoted a computer, a modem, a telephone line, the cost of the BBS software, and lots of time maintaining the on-line access to whomever should call. The system allowed users to send and receive local e-mail, upload and download files, and play on-line games. On-line graphics were limited to the ANSI variety, though many "ANSI artists" developed some innovative animations using this limited character set.

There was little standardization between the BBSs. The sysops were free to run any type of BBS software on their system, and there were/are more than a few: Wildcat, PCBoard, Tri-BBS, Major BBS, RBBS, and Spitfire. Users would dial in with a communications package of their choice and then tweak their settings to get their PC to "talk" properly with the BBS. As the sysop was the lord of the BBS, he, and it generally is a he, designed the system to suit his own tastes. Many BBSs had a theme or motif that related to science fiction or fantasy, and the on-line games and conferences available catered to those with similar interests.

The biggest event to happen to the world of the BBS, since the development of the modem, occurred in 1984 when Tom Jennings, in San Francisco, was looking for a way to exchange data on his computer with his friend John Madil, in Boston. Jennings, author of the Fido BBS software, modified it to automatically gather up messages that were to be sent to the other computer, and then to do so in the middle of the night when the telephone rates were less expensive. Within a year, these two original "nodes" of FidoNet were joined by over 200 other BBSs from all over the country. No longer was user’s mail and conference postings restricted to the local BBS. By leap-frogging the data from one node to another, once per night, a real network was born, solely supported by the sysops who made their BBSs part of the endeavor. By 1993 there were over 24,800 nodes from all over the world making up FidoNet.

It must be remembered that during these development years, the average PC user, including those in K-12 education, did not have ready access to the Internet, which was still limited to governmental and higher education uses. Once FidoNet was rolling, many teacher/pioneers saw the possibilities that global communication offered for their classrooms, beginning all types of on-line projects using the net’s e-mail and conference areas. In fact, several conference areas were specifically reserved for K-12 users. Typical projects included pen-pals and the gathering of local scientific data that was later shared with other members of the conference.

One advantage teachers had was that it did not take much in the way of computing power to access FidoNet. While most BBSs ran on DOS-based platforms, Apple ][s connected easily since the data exchanged between the two systems was text. However, the problem many educators encountered was a lack of telephone access. This basic piece of technology, invented in the 1870s and predating the electric light bulb, has, even today, been a difficult piece of equipment for teachers to acquire for classroom use. Innovative teachers begged, borrowed, and paid for telephone access to get their kids on-line.

Education-based bulletin boards, run by school districts, state agencies, and non-profits began appearing in the late 1980s. California set up CAVIX, which was a BBS concentrating on vocational education issues and featured private e-mail, moderated conferences, a large file area containing hundreds of lesson plans, and an 800 number for access to anyone in the state. FredMail, which stands for Free Educational Mail, started as an e-mail-only system and now is part of the Global SchoolNet Foundation. FredMail was the center of many teacher-facilitated projects. Here in Montana, MET-Net established about 17 nodes around the state giving Montana teachers access to statewide e-mail, local files, and FidoNet conferences.

To say that these BBSs were easy to use would be a misstatement of the truth. The BBS concept was originally developed by and for the "techie" community who were already up on the learning curve of hardware, operating systems, and file structures. For the new user, trying to get on-line for the first time, it appeared as a field of booby traps when it came to configuring modems, installing software, and sorting out the various protocol options. Some developers attempted to remedy this by providing "client side" software. Instead of using a general communications software, such as Telix, Procomm, or Z-Term, the user installed a program that worked specifically with the BBS to which they wished to connect. First Class, currently used by MET-Net, is an example of this type of application. Aside from the ease of configuration, client software provides a graphical user interface, the ability to view graphics on-line, and "drag and drop" file management which is already familiar to Macintosh and Windows users.

This is about as far as BBS development has gone. The emphasis in telecommunications has, of course, switched to the Internet. Gradually opened for public access over the last 5 years, it was the development of the World Wide Web that has really fueled most interest in this network. For a small monthly fee to an Internet Service Provider (ISP), any individual with a sufficiently robust computer and a modem can access hundreds of thousands of sites or, perhaps more importantly, create a site of their own. Like the BBS of the past, a Web page can be tailored to suit the author’s own interests, can contain e-mail links and conferences, but unlike the BBS, the Web page can be immediately linked to other Web pages anywhere around the world.

BBS sysops have noticed a tremendous drop in calls to their systems over the last couple of years, due to competition from the World Wide Web. Some BBS software developers have ceased development and support of their products, while others have expanded their product's capabilities to include connecting to the Internet. Further competition comes from companies, such as Microsoft, who are providing free Web Server software to the education community allowing them to set up their own Web sites.

All of this burgeoning technology provides a wide range of tools for the innovative teacher, assuming they have the access. Projects such as "Net Days" are moving the educational community ahead, but with the fast pace at which the technology is advancing, many of us can’t help but wonder if, by the time we can hop on, the technology will have passed us by, as the BBS has.

Many BBS users are lamenting the passing. There is a feeling that the local BBS provided a strong sense of community that is difficult to capture in something as large as the World Wide Web. However, there are still quite a few BBSs on-line, for now. If you want to log into one, for old-times sake, try the Tech Lab BBS, which runs at Billings Senior High. The phone number is (406) 247-2154. And don’t forget about MET-Net. It is still the largest BBS running in our state.

The Fathers of the BBS

The first BBS was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1977 as the CBBS, the brainchild of Randy Seuss and Ward Christensen. Ward was the inventor of the XModem, a public domain file transfer protocol, widely used on personal computer systems. Both were honored in 1992 with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Dvorak PC Telecommunications Excellence Awards. Their BBS has evolved over the years and is now accessible via the World Wide Web: http://www.chinet.com/

Fido BBS software was developed by Tom Jennings for his Fido BBS in San Francisco, CA. In June of 1984, Jennings released FidoNet, a packet-based, store-and-forward networking technology that allowed users to send messages and participate in conferences much like users on BITNET or Usenet. A big advantage to FidoNet is that it only required a PC running DOS 2.0, putting it withing the reach of many sysops-to-be. When UUPC software was released, in 1987, it allowed for a connection between FidoNet and Usenet.

Tom Jennings was honored in 1992 with a Dvorak PC Telecommunications Excellence Award for his work on FidoNet. His current homepage is:http://www.wps.com/


For more information:

FrEdMail Homepage
http://199.106.67.200/GSN/fred/index.html

Global SchoolNet Foundation
http://www.gsh.org/

Boardwatch Magazine
Article of interest to sysops. Has many lists of BBSs.
http://www.boardwatch.com/welcome.htm

Computer Shopper Magazine
Monthly listing of BBSs grouped by state.
http://www.zdnet.com/~cshopper/

Computer Assisted Research/Poynter Institute
Web page provides good overview of the BBS world.
http://www.hvu.nl/~pverweij/nora/carbbs.htm

Suggested Links on the Web
by Vince Long


While you are out wandering through the World Wide Web, check out these sites:

U.S. Geological Survey Learning Web
http://www.usgs.gov/education/index.html
A superb source of material for earth science classes from K to 12. This site has resources for both teachers and students. Topics include global change, map reading, plate tectonics, sources of water, effects of radon, and preparing for volcanic eruptions. The content is complete and many of the lessons feature detailed activities ready to implement in the classroom. This site is highly recommended.

The Farnsworth Chronicles
http://songs.com/noma/philo/
This site contains the detailed story of Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television. Great example of using the Web for delivering educational content.

National Archives and Records Administration
http://www.nara.gov/exhall/exhibits.html
View, on-line, some of our nation's most important documents. See the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, the Louisiana Purchase, a police report on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and President Nixon's letter of resignation. Exhibits also include poster art from World War II and gifts received by various presidents. The site also has copies of the Magna Carta, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 19th Amendment.

Montana Office of Public Instruction
http://161.7.114.15/OPI/opi.html
The official word from Helena and an excellent set of educational links. Be sure to check out the Montana Artist pages.

Apple's Educational Homepage
http://hed.info.apple.com/education/
Not just a place to see what's for sale, but lots of information about educational technology.


The contents of my pages are Copyright © 1997, Vince Long
Articles included in these pages are Copyright © by their writers.
Comments are Welcome:vlong@mcn.net



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