This special report, the final installment of a three-part series on e-learning, examines how schools are working to create high-quality digital curricula and online courses. It covers the influence the common-core standards are likely to have on building the online curricula of the future, the growing emphasis on teaching social skills to virtual…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible impact portable classrooms have on the teaching and learning process by exploring current related literature. Design/methodology/approach: This paper takes a synthesis approach, analyzing current studies to assess the impact of portable classrooms on teaching and learning. Findings: No…

Describes the testing by Berkeley lab scientists of an experimental ventilation system to improve indoor air quality in portable classrooms and use a third of the energy of current systems. (EV)

Offers suggestions on choosing modular space for schools. Advice is provided based on school needs: (1) How soon is the space needed? Is there a crisis situation or time to plan? (2) How much flexibility is needed for relocation? and (3) What are the financing issues? Is it better to buy or lease? (EV)

Outlines a mobile educational system with classrooms in railroad cars developed by Mexican railways to educate the children of migrant railroad workers in Mexico.(MD)

Because it was financially impossible to put a microcomputer center at each of nine Chapter I-funded elementary schools in the Modesto (California) City Schools, a remodeled school bus was converted into a mobile computing center. Objectives of the "Compubus" program and evaluation of the first year are discussed. (JN)

Traveling classrooms for carnival kids didn't really come on the scene until the 1990s when Linda Brewer, a teacher of the Conklin International Academy, helped the idea get off the ground. The trade publication "Amusement Business" lists 325 carnivals in its annual booking guide, but fewer than a dozen shows have schools because it is expensive…

Summarizes research from the Florida Solar Energy Center at the University of Central Florida which demonstrated that improvements in portable classrooms involving illumination and ventilation saved Florida 40 percent in electric use and $6 million in energy costs. (EV)

Some pioneering school systems are making travel time more productive by playing videotapes or audiotapes on board school buses. A California district uses a traveling computer laboratory to visit 10 elementary schools. Safety and bureaucratic regulations are considered. (MLF)

Only limited data exist describing potential exposures to chemical and biological agents when using portable classrooms or outlining how to assess and reduce associated health risks. Evaluating indoor air quality involves examining ventilating rates, volatile organic compounds, and microbiologicals. Open communication among key stakeholders is…

The Education Express, a state-of-the-art mobile classroom, brings computer training to rural training sites in Schuyler, Chemung, and Tioga Counties--the Southern Tier of New York. Clients include nurses, other workers, senior citizens, and GED students, who lack access to such trainings because of financial, time, or distance constraints.…

Discusses why it is not wise to address the need for short-term space with the least expensive portable classrooms available. Explains that the problem is not that minimum specification trailers deteriorate rapidly with poor maintenance, but that perceived short-term requirements often turn out to be long-term. Asserts that portable classrooms…

Background: Early intervention programmes can minimize the negative impacts of poverty on children's development and learning. The success of these programmes relies on considering several interrelated components, including, but not limited to, working with parents as partners, using a holistic approach in educating children and supporting…

Calfiornia State University (Long Beach) purchased a motor home and converted it into a mobile marine science display unit, outfitting it with built-in display racks inside and an awning to provide shelter displays suited to outdoor use. School activities and programs using the mobile museum are described. (JN)

A New York State rural school district converted a school bus into a self-contained Publishing Activities Center (PAC) that helps develop students' reading and writing skills. (MD)