MCCE Board Member, Bill Lee, was selected as recipient of the 1998 Outstanding Technology-Using Educator of the Year award by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Bill also received the Leadership in the Classroom Award from Tech Corps. The awards were presented at the National Educational Computing Conference in San Diego, California, last June.
Bill, last year’s winner of the MCCE Outstanding Technology-Using Educator award, is a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at the Winifred Public School and has been actively using computers and the Internet in all areas of his teaching. His students use real-time weather data from NOAA and GOES satellites, publish a local newsletter, participate in distance-learning of a foreign language, and network with students around the world via e-mail. Technology is integrated into all areas of his classroom including fine arts, drama, math, history, and science.
Bill has been instrumental in transforming his rural school district into a model, showing the ways technology can be implemented on a low budget. He has coordinated the implementation of the district’s interactive television studio and been actively involved in networking all of the classrooms in the school district.
At the national level, Bill is a member of the Microsoft Speaker’s Bureau and a Microsoft Partner in Education. He is a member of the Annenberg Teacher Help Service and works as a writer for the Network Montana Project, developing web-based science modules that provide students with real-time scientific learning.
The ISTE Outstanding Technology-Using Educator of the year award recognizes and honors educators who improve education by integrating technology in the classroom. Bill was selected from a pool of nominations made up of the 50 ISTE-affilliated organizations locaated in the U.S. and other countries. MCCE is the Montana affiliate of ISTE. ISTE, located in Eugene, Oregon, promotes uses of technology in the classroom by teachers helping other teachers.
Tech Corps is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing K-12 teaching and learning through volunteers who help integrate technology into the educational environment. Tech Corps volunteers offer technical expertise in hardware/software/wiring, mentor students and teachers, work side-by-side with teachers in the classroom, deliver teacher training, and offer advice on technology and network planning.
As a winner of the Leadership in the Classroom Award Bill will receive a HiNote laptop computer system donated by Digital Equipment Corporation, a camera and scanner from the Polaroid Corporation, a Micro Webserver from Cisco Systems, and a year of Internet access from MCI.
Congratulations, Bill!
Wow! I can’t believe it has been a whole year since I took over the reins of guiding our organization. After the October business meeting of MCCE, I will be handing the reins over to the capable hands of Sally Brewer. It has been a busy and exciting year for me serving as your president and I would like to thank all the members and especially the board members for all the support I have had over the past year.
Last October, the MCCE recognized Bill Lee as the Montana Outstanding Technology Using Educator of the Year. MCCE then nominated Bill as a candidate for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Outstanding Technology Using Educator of the Year. In May, we received word that Bill was selected to receive this award at the national meeting in June in San Diego. Congratulations to Bill for an honor he so richly deserves!
By now you should have received your copy of the program for the 1998 MEA/MFT Educators’ Conference to be held in Great Falls, 15-16 October. The MCCE portion of the program offers nearly 40 different sectionals. MCCE will once again have our booth in the exhibit area. Be sure to stop by and purchase some of our useful (but inexpensive) computer items we will have for sale. Also, be sure to check your registration packet for the coupon to sign and drop off at our booth for the drawing for a prize.
Be sure to attend the MCCE business meeting on Friday, 16 October, at 8:00 A.M. in room 231 at CMR. A continental breakfast will be served.The MCCE Outstanding Technology Using Educator for 1999 will be named at this meeting. Also, the election for President-Elect, Secretary, and three board members will be held at this time. If you or someone you know is interested in serving in one of these roles, contact one of the members of the nomination committee: Sandi Shawhan, Randa Siegle, or Sally Brewer .
Don Freshour, Director, Teacher Education and Licensure, Office of Public Instruction, has recruited Jerry Esmay to act as the "Field Facilitator" for the review of the computer science teacher preparation standards. This is the scheduled five-year review of the these standards. A "Writing Team" consisting of Jerry Esmay and several members from the MCCE board of directors will review the existing standards and prepare a draft recommendation concerning changes, if any. Once the Writing Team has produced a draft recommendation, this would be sent out to the MCCE membership (and other interested parties) for comments.
It certainly has been a rewarding experience for me serving as your president this past year. In my upcoming role as Past-President, I look forward to lending my assistance to Sally Brewer as she guides us through another year. See you in Great Falls!
Back in the March 1997 issue of MCCE NEWS, I traced the history/evolution of the Computer Science secondary-level endorsement. The development process was very involved and spanned several years. However, this process reached culmination in September 1996 with the endorsement becoming effective for anyone teaching computer science courses at the secondary level in Montana.
Well, these teacher preparation standards are up for review. Don Freshour, Director, Teacher Education and Licensure, Office of Public Instruction, recently recruited me to act as the "Field Facilitator" for the review of the computer science teaching standards. This is the scheduled five-year review, and the mathematics and science standards are being reviewed as well.
The process that Don has set up is for me to put together a "Writing Team" of four to ten members which will review the existing standards and prepare a draft recommendation concerning changes, if any. This team will try to take advantage of existing conferences/meetings for coming together for this review since no funds are available for special meetings. In fact, the first meeting of the Writing Team will be scheduled in conjunction with the Montana Education Association Convention. I’m currently working with our President, Otis Thompson, to identify and recruit members for the review team. At the time of this writing, most if not all members of this team will be MCCE Board members.
Once the Writing Team has produced a draft recommendation, it would be sent out to other "readers" for review/comment. Ideally, we would target as many readers as possible/feasible. I think the MCCE membership should be the major source for the "readers." But, I think it is important to include both middle school and high school representation along with one or more school administrators. This may require some solicitation outside of MCCE.
If you are interested in participating as a reader, please let me know. This is an opportunity to make a contribution to how our next generation of computer science teachers are trained.
Jerry D. Esmay, Chairman
Department of Computer Science
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812-1008
Phone: (406) 243-2983
FAX: (406) 243-5139
esmay@cs.umt.edu
While it has been a serious topic of discussion for a few years in technical circles, the Y2K problem is now starting to show up in the mainstream press. Sometimes called the Millennium Bug, this issue is one that may have a serious effect on all computer users, even those of us using them in the classroom.
The Year 2000 (Y2K) problem originates back in the dark ages of computers (the 1960s through the 1980s) when computer memory, mass-storage devices, and processing speed where expensive compared to what we have to work with today. Every byte of data had a price: a price to store it and a price to process it. To keep the size of programs and stored data at a minimum, programmers used many shortcuts, including one that abbreviated the year by using only the last two digits, letting the software assume that the first two digits were "19."
This approach has work well, until now. In less that one and a half years, the calendars in the computers will roll over to a year that, for the first time in the computer’s life, does not start with a "19." What date the computer "thinks" that it is depends on the computer and the application. Some will think that it is the year 1900 while others will think that it is the year 1980. Some will not be aware of the problem because they will not boot after that New Year’s arrival. Others, like the Macintosh, will know that it is the year 2000 and cruise along with no problems at all.
There is no shortage of prognosticators foretelling possible scenarios that will, or might, occur as the result of this problem. Predictions range from nothing happening to the complete collapse of Western Civilization, or the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI). The truth probably lies somewhere between these extremes. A recent search for "y2k" on the AltaVista search engine returned over 430,000 references, showing that in computer circles the topic is a popular one.
It might seem like an easy problem to fix: just rewrite the programs to account for the extended date field. This would be a viable approach if the remediation process had started 5 to 10 years ago. The total number of programs involved contain billions of lines of code, much of it written in a "dead" computer language called COBOL. Programmers proficient in this language have retired or passed on, creating a seller’s market for those who can retrace the logic of the original programmers and fix the code to account for the century change.
The problem is further exacerbated by the "embedded chip" problem. Many of the microchips that operate everything from computers to manufacturing systems are not capable of dealing with a four-digit year even if the software is fixed. These chips need to be identified and physically replaced, a formidable task.
So, there is a problem, but how bad could it possibly be when the clocks roll over on December 31, 1999? According to the doomsdayers, communication systems and electrical power distribution systems will go off-line. The food distribution system will be effected. The national defense systems will be inoperable. The citizenry will riot. Many people following this line of thinking have already bought property in remote parts of the country where they are stockpiling food supplies, water, arms, and are brushing up on basic survival skills.
Most of the rationalists on the issue seem to admit that there will be some problems, though what they are is almost as impossible to predict due to the sheer complexity of our technological systems. Even if we, as a country, make all of our systems Y2K compliant, we are so interconnected with the global economy, that we are subject to the great domino effect as less compliant systems fail.
So, where does this leave the classroom teacher? Aside from the global doom-and-gloom scenarios predicting societal disintegration, we in education are in pretty good shape. Technology integration is still in its infancy in most schools and moving back to pre-technology classroom methods will not be much of a stretch. This is also a great opportunity to discuss technology’s impacts on our society and our dependence upon it.
As for our personal computers, Macintosh users have little to worry about. The Mac has always been Y2K compliant, though some software written for the Mac might not be. DOS/Windows users have a bit more about which to be concerned. Fortunately, most computer manufacturers have Y2K information on their web sites, giving users at least a place to start. Dealing with the problem may involve replacing BIOS chips in the computer, loading special software to intercept calls to the system clock, or simply turning the clock back a few years and worrying about it later. The bottom line, for the computer-using teacher, is to look into the problem ahead of time.
There is a saying that goes something like, "there is a silver lining around every cloud," and there is certainly one to be found here. As many companies and governmental agencies move to upgrade non-compliant PCs, they will be in a good position to donate their older machines to schools. The post office in Billings did this last spring, resulting in four very nice 486 computers making a home in my classroom. Like most educators, the software that I utilize is not date dependent, so these systems were welcome additions to the rest of my aging fleet.
As might be expected, there is a wealth of information and disinformation about Y2K on the Internet. Here are some resources that are a good start. Remember, when consuming web-based information, caveat emptor.
Y2K Web Sites
www.year2000.com
Everything related to Y2K. The site has a very complete list of press clippings which is updated daily.
www.y2k.com
News and links about Y2K with an emphasis on legal issues.
www.garynorth.com
Y2K commentary and discussion tending to focus on the worse-case scenarios.
www.yahoo.com
Look under Computers/Year2000 Problem for a large list of links.
www2.csba.org/Y2K/
California School Boards Association site with information, resources, and recommendations.
www.year2000.state.ga.us
The state of Georgia’s site dealing with Y2K in governmental agencies.
www.aasa.org/FrontBurner/Y2K/y2kTC.htm
American Association of School Administrators site offers specific advise to school administrators.
www.ed.gov/offices/OCIO/year/
This is the Y2K resource page from the Chief Information Officer of the U.S. Department of Education.
www.TCNJ.org/support/workshops/y2k/y2k_rpt.htm
The Tech Corps’ New Jersey chapter puts on workshops for schools looking to learn more about Y2K and how to deal with it. This site has an excellent set of resources.
|
