Note: To read this newsletter online (links active), http://www.vita-learn.org/html/vol2- 1.htm
VITA-NEWS is written to keep Vermont educators informed about programs and resources that can support their efforts to improve learning for students. Because we are all very busy with our work, VITA-NEWS is a compilation of notes, announcements and suggestions. Most articles point to links that contain more detail. Therefore, it is best to view this newsletter using an Internet browser. Point to: http://www.vita-learn.org. Click on the Announcements button and you will see not only this newsletter but past issues as well. Printing the newsletter to distribute to others is easier to read if you print it off the VITA-Learn web site.
For submissions to VITA-NEWS, please send an email message to Sandy Lathem at slathem@together.net.
CONTENTS
Greetings From Sandy Lathem -- Executive DirectorA New Look for VITA-Learn (www.vita-learn.org)Regional Group Meetings and ContactsFrank Watson To Work With Regional GroupsVermont Fest 98VITA-Learn Annual Meeting and Reception Set For Vermont Fest 98A Letter From Bill Kimball, Director of the Morristown Teacher Development CenterVITA-Learn Professional Development ProgramsVITA-Learn Signs Statewide Contract for Software Licenses with AppleNew Network Administrators Listserv EstablishedDistance Learning Grants -- Anyone interested in Vermont?Teacher Talk -- New Listserv for Vermont TeachersOctober is Computer Learning MonthSites of Interest
National Conferences in Information Technology
Greetings From Sandy Lathem -- Executive Director
Welcome to this first issue of VITA-NEWS for the 1998-1999 school year. This year promises to be an exciting and productive one for VITA-Learn. We have many programs and opportunities scheduled, and we hope that you will pass information in this newsletter on to others in your schools and communities.
In December, VITA-Learn will initiate a membership campaign to invite all Vermont school districts to become VITA-Learn members. Your support is critical to the success of this membership drive. Therefore, we need you to become active in your regional groups this Fall. Information on membership and dues will be available at Vermont Fest (Nov. 5 & 6).
This year, I encourge you to become an active member if you aren't one already. Later in this issue, you'll learn about upcoming meetings throughout Vermont. VITA-Learn strives to be an association that represents Vermont educators. We can't achieve this without your support and participation -- at professional development programs, regional meetings, committees, and listserv participation.
On behalf of the VITA-Learn Board of Directors, I wish you a successful school year. We hope to see you all our first Annual Meeting on November 5th at Vermont Fest 98.
Thanks to the efforts of our new web manager, Kim Dow, we are pleased to announce a new web site for VITA-Learn. We have simplified our address (www.vita-learn.org) and consolidated the topics for information. Please bookmark this site! Also, please send comments/suggestions to Kim Dow (webmaster@vita-learn.org).
Regional Group Meetings and Contacts
VITA-Learn support five regional groups. The regions elect three members to the VITA- Learn Board of Directors. One person per region is appointed as Chair. Regional group meetings are already underway. If you are not receiving notices of meetings in your area, contact the people listed below. Meeting dates for many regions are already scheduled for the year.
Central -- Chair: Tommy Walz
Central Group meets the 1st Monday of each month ... Time: 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. Location: Spaulding High School Library
For More Information: Tommy Walz (bcsvt@aol.com)
Northeast -- Chair: Jeffrey Everett
Northeast Group meets the last Tuesday of each month: Sept. 29, Oct. 27, Nov. 24, Jan. 26, Feb. 23, Mar. 24, Apr. 27, May 26. Time: 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. Location: Danville High School
For More Information: Royce Robertson (rrobertson@orangeeast.k12.vt.us)
Northwest - Chair: Deborah Foster Next Meeting: Monday, October 12 from 4:30-6:30 at Williston Central School (on Route 2)South Burlington Web Site for VITA-NW (http://rebel.sburl.k12.vt.us/VITA-NW) For More Information: Deborah Foster (dfoster@beeman.k12.vt.us)
Southeast -- Chair: Peter Anderson For more details, send e-mail to Larry Diamond at ldiamond@sover.net.
Southwest -- Chair: Jim Boutin
The Southwest Group meets the 3rd Thursday of each month : Sept 17, Oct. 15, Nov. 19, Jan. 21, Feb. 11, March 18
Next meeting: Thursday, October 15, 1998 at 5:00 at the Manchester Elementary and Middle School in Manchester, VT.
SouthWest Region Web Site (http://www.vetc.vsc.edu/vitasw/vitasw.html) For More Information: jboutin@sover.net
Frank Watson to Work With Regional Groups
VITA-Learn is pleased to announce that Frank Watson, formerly the Executive Director of VISMT, will work with VITA-Learn this school year as a consultant to the regional groups. Frank's role is to help the five regional groups develop a long range professional development program. Frank will be attending regional group meetings. Frank's email is fwatson@zoo.uvm.edu. Welcome back, Frank!
Vermont Fest 98 brochures should be in the mail this week! Vermont Fest 98 will occur on November 5th and 6th at the Lake Morey Inn in Fairlee, Vermont. Vermont Fest is co- sponsored by VITA-Learn and VISMT. VITA-Learn will be responsible for registration this year (not VISMT as in years past). Register early! Registration forms are included in the brochure.
VITA-Learn Annual Meeting and Reception To Be Held at Vermont Fest 98
The first annual meeting of VITA-Learn will be held at 4:00 p.m. on November 5th at the Lake Morey Inn. This will be a brief business meeting at which membership dues will be considered and ballots for "at large" board member positions will be cast. You are all invited and encouraged to attend this meeting. Immediately following the meeting, VITA- Learn will host a reception (with cash bar) for new and interested VITA-Learn members. Please plan to attend.
A Letter from Bill Kimball, Director of the Morristown Teacher Development Center
Dear VITA-Learn Member:
I would like to introduce myself; my name is Bill Kimball and I am the director of the Teacher Development Center for the Morristown School District. As you may or may not know the Teacher Development Center (TDC) was founded in 1993 as a collaboration between the New American Schools Project of the National Alliance for Restructuring Education, Apple Computer, and the Morristown School District. It was one of four such centers around the country÷the others were in San Diego, CA, Edmonds, WA, and Murray, KY. Today, TDC is now an independent professional development center, with funding and support from the Morristown School District, the Vermont Department of Education, and the Vermont Institute for Science, Math, and Technology (VISMT).
At the Teacher Development Center our main goal is for teachers and administrators to experience how technology is transforming the learning environment into a constructivist and student-centered classroom. We achieve this goal by having TDC participants work in the classrooms as co-learners with teachers and students. Once the educators have spent time in the classrooms, they then have time to work on strategies for implementing their new found ideas with the TDC staff. While practica members are expanding their knowledge, they will have chances to explore many different attributes that will effect their new instructional techniques, such as: the Vermont Standards, National Technology Standards, constructivist learning theories, authentic assessment, and many different forms of technology (Graphing Calculators, Video Editing and Computers).
This year the TDC will be offering 12, 3-day practicas throughout the year at a cost of $50 per participant. We would like to encourage the regions to send teams from different schools to the TDC to work together on how technology can effect their school's curriculum. The practicas will be held on the following dates: October 27 - 28, November 17 - 19, December 1 - 3, December 15 - 17, January 12 - 14, January 26 - 28, February 9 - 11, March 9 - 11, March 23 - 25, May 4 - 6.
Each of the five VITA-Learn regions in the state have been allotted 16 spaces for the year. The regions are to determine a method for assigning the 16 slots to different schools within their regions. If you or someone you know is interested in taking part in one of the practicas, please contact me as soon as possible so I can forward your name to the Regional Committee or you can contact them.
In a related article (above) is a list of regions and contacts. Each region will need to determine 2 or 3 regional participants by October 10. By November 10, each of the regions will have determined all of their allotted participants, so please contact me soon if you have any interest at all. If a region does not fill up all of their slots, these positions will be opened up to all the regions on a first come first serve basis.
If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please feel free to contact me at: Bill Kimball Teacher Development Center Morristown School District 548 Park Street Morrisville, VT 05661 (802) 888-6729 or 3101 bill_kimball@morristown.k12.vt.us
P.S. Cleck out our website at http://www.vetc.vsc.edu/msd/technology.html
VITA-Learn Professional Development Programs
The Southern Vermont Technology Consortium is sponsoring a conference Thursday, October 1st at Marboro College in Brattleboro. See http://www.vetc.vsc.edu/html/vlse.html for program description. Participation is limited to 60 participants, with priority given to people from the Southeast region. For more information, contact Lauren Baker (lbaker@chesterandover.k12.vt.us).
The Central Region of VITA-Learn is sponsoring a series of workshops at Harwood Technical Center that are schedule throughout the fall and spring. For a complete listing of offerings, see: http://www.vetc.vsc.edu/html/centralreg.html
Central Region is also sponsoring Using the School LAN on October 21 and 22 at Berlin Elementary School. For more information, contact Pat Nelson at mapes@nfld.tds.net.
VITA-Learn Signs Statewide Contract for Software Licenses with Apple
VITA-Learn has signed a contract with Apple Computer Corporation that enables all Vermont schools to receive substantial discounts on software licenses for products produced by Apple. These discounts cover titles such as:
AppleWorks, Mac or Win95 versions (formerly ClarisWorks) ClarisWorks for KidsApple Network Administrator Toolkit 2.5 (contains Network Assistant 3.5)Apple Network Assistant 3.5 MacOS 8.1
Licenses may be purchased through --
Computer Alternatives in Middlebury Vermont, 802-388-7545. Contact:
Frank Burkle.UNICOM, 800-556-2828, ext, 282. Contact:Royston Kane.
New Network Administrators Listserv Established
In cooperation with Craig Lyndes, of the South Burlington school district, and several other school network administrators around the state, Fair Haven Union High School is hosting an e-mail list for Vermont school network administrators. The following excerpt from the list's welcome message should explain our vision of the need this list is intended to fill.
To subscribe to the list,
To post messages to the list,
Purpose: The purpose of this list is to provide a discussion forum as well as a source of technical support, solutions and ideas for network administrators within Vermont K-12 schools, both public and private. The list is not limited to discussions of any particular network system or platform. The idea for this list grew out of discussions among participants in a VITA-Learn course on Novell Intranetware, held at South Burlington Middle School this summer.
For more information, contact: Jim Owens, Technology Coordinator, Fair Haven Union High School, Fair Haven, Vermont 05743, 802-265-4966
Distance Learning Grants -- Anyone interested in Vermont?
Telemedicine Program sponsored through the US Department of Agriculture is preparing to request proposals for a grant and loan program that supports distance learning in rural areas. If there is interest, an application prepraation workshop could be offered in Vermont within the next 30-45 days. For more information, please go to: http://www.usda.gov/rus/dlt
If you are interested in participating in a workshop to help you prepare to apply for this grant and loan program, please contact Rhonda Shippee by e-mail: rshippee@rdasun2.rurdev.usda.gov in the next week.
(This note originated from Robert McNamara, Vermont Department of Education, Voice: 802-828-2756, E-mail: bmcnamara@doe.state.vt.us)
Teacher Talk -- New Listserv for Vermont Teachers
The University of Vermont will host a listserve for Vermont teachers called, "Teacher Talk." The free internet e-mail service is available to anyone wishing to subscribe. Sen. Peter Brownell is the administrator of the list and the one who establsihed it.
To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail message to: listserv@list.uvm.edu
In body of the message,
type: subscribe teachertalk followed by your first name and last name.
October is Computer Learning Month!
Once again, the Computer Learning Foundation is offering a series of activities, prizes, and materials for the 12th Annual Computer Learning Month, always held in October. Educators may receive a free publication and submit entries in contests to receive prizes. Grand prizes include an Apple iMac and Cisco routers and Cisco Micro Webservers. Deadlines range from November 30, 1998 to April 1, 1999. Many other prizes available.
For additional information and application forms: http://www.computerlearning.org.
CyberSurfari '98Begins October 20th, 1998 at 3:00 PM Eastern Time.
This Internet treasure hunt, designed for school teams and individuals, highlights the best aspects of the Web -- adventure, information and high quality sites. CyberSurfari '98 players decipher clues leading to treasures hidden in over 100 fascinating, fun, and educational outposts including the National Zoo, the Theodore Roosevelt Museum, National Cowboy Hall of Fame, andDinasouria Online.
Schoolteams of up to five players in grades 5-12 are eligible to win prizes. No fee to play.
School teams in grades 5-12 may win prizes of up to $2000 to invest in their school's technology program. School teams are also eligible to win hundreds of other prizes including Webmaster certificates, mousepads and t-shirts. Register and Practice today at http://www.spa.org/cybersurfari.
Falling Through the Net II http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/falling.html (a report on the "digital divide")
Online Safety:http://www.americalinksup.com
ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) Project Web Site
The NETS site will be the repository of resources from the multi-year NETS standards development project aimed at providing standards describing the conditions necessary to effectively support the use of technology for learning, teaching, and instructional management. <http://cnets.iste.org>
Microsoft Briefings for K-12 Technology Coordinators
Microsoft begins a series of four free nationwide interactive technology broadcasts called "Increasing Access to Technology" Education Solutions starting October 26, 1998. These are designed to help K-12 technology decision-makers increase access to technology, integrate technology into learning, and enhance school district infrastructure. There will be fifty downlink sites nationwide. For a complete listing, instructions and registration, see http://www.microsoft.com/education/k12/edsb.htm
Internet in Action: Web in the Classroom, a six-week online survey course that will introduce teachers to the Internet and the basic technological applications and skills they need to make effective use of this revolutionary educational resource.
October 12 and runs through November 23. It will be offered again in the spring. The costs are as follows: $100 for a self-paced, self-study course that earns two continuing education credits, $200 for an instructor-led course that earns four continuing education credits, or $400 for an instructor-led course that earns one graduate credit.
Teachers may register for the course beginning by visiting Thirteen/WNET's Web site, wNetStation, (http://www.wnet.org/courses). For information, call (212) 560-6868 or e- mail: school@wnetstation.wnet.org.
-- Web Searching Tool Free To Schools Nationwide
Inforian is offering school districts throughout the country free electronic versions of its Quest 98 software product. As part of its Educational Initiative, the program is designed to help students and teachers nationwide effectively use the Internet to research information.
K-12 schools nationwide have the opportunity to receive five free electronic versions of Quest 98. This special educational donation will be available to all schools through October 31st, 1998.
For more information visit http://www.inforian.com.
Free Resources Available at the DOE Web Site:
Visit the FREE (Federal Resources for Educational Excellence) website & its "What's New" area at: http://www.ed.gov/free/
-- Technology and Media Services for Individuals With Disabilities Grants Deadline: December 18, 1998 http://ocfo.ed.gov/gophroot/4fedreg/1grantann/081398b.txt
-- Oracles Promise(Donated computers):http://www.oracle.com/promise.
Toshiba and the National Science Teachers Associationhttp://www.toshiba.com/tai/exploravision/index3.htm or call 1-800-EXPLOR-9 (1-800- 397-5679)
Technology Use in Literacy Education
Entries must describe an innovative application of technology in the field of reading development. The contest is open to all K-12 licensed or certified educators. Entries may cover any grade level or range of grade levels. Deadline: November 15, 1998.
http://www.reading.org/happening/awardtech.htm.
Visio Academic Partner Program for Technical Products
Providing educators and school computer labs with access to technical diagramming and CAD software. Visio will provide design software to qualifying schools at no cost. All K- 12 school districts, colleges, universities and technical institutes that teach drafting or technical drawing are eligible to apply to participate in the grant program.
The program supplies U.S. and Canadian schools with copies of IntelliCAD 98 by Visio or Visio Technical 5.0. These programs, which run on standard desktop PCs, provide students with an easy-to-use interface for mastering drafting and technical drawing skills.
More information, as well as an application, can be found at http://www.visio.com/vap/.
Deadline: Feb. 1, 1999.
AOL Offering Free Web Sites to Schools Sign Up Your Schoolhttp://www.aol.com -- AOL Keywords: FEN or EducationFEN's Web site (http://familyeducation.com), or by calling FEN at 1-888-881-3472.Offer Ends October 31, 1998
The 1999 Interactive Education Initiative guidelines and application form will be available in November of 1998. For more information on the AOL Foundation, including a list of funded programs, visit http://www.aolfoundation.org or on America Online, use keyword: AOL FOUNDATION.
The AT&T Learning Network Teaching and Technology GrantsDeadline: October 30, 1998 http://www.fihe.org/fihe/whatsnew/rfpatt98.htm.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) Educational Foundation Grants of $2,000-$7,000 for one-year projects and $5,000-$10,000 for two-year projects provide seed money for innovative programs or nondegree research projects that promote education and equity for women and girls.
Deadline: Feb. 1, 1999.http://www.aauw.org
Managing Information with Rural America http://www.wkkf.org/ and follow the links to Grants, MIRA, or Requests for Proposals
3Com will provide equipment grants and free training for 50 NetPrep pilot sites throughout the US and Canada. To find out more information about NetPrep or how to become a pilot site visit: http://letters.3com.com/X?/1225-6160731/NETPREP.
National Conferences in Information Technology
October 29-31The National School Boards Association - Technology + Learning Conference Nashville, TNFor more information: http://www.nsba.org.
October 29 - 31Tel-ED 98 -- International Society for Technology in EducationFor more information: http://www.iste.org/Conferences/TelEd/1998/
Nov. 7-12WebNet 98--World Conference of the WWW, Internet, & Intranet Orlando, Florida Registration form: http://www.aace.org/conf/webnet/regform.htm Seminar overview: http://www.aace.org/conf/webnet/seminar.htm WebNet 99 website: http://www.aace.org/conf/webnet
Nov 21-Nov 23, 1998 Kids, Technology, and the New Millenium -- ThinkQuest AwardsUniversal City Hilton in Los AngelesRegistration and information: http://www.thinkquest.org.
February 24-26, 1999Washington, D.C.Learning for All in the Digital Age -- 1999 CoSN ConferenceFor more information: http://www.cosn.org/