In response to the federal goal to connect all of the nation's school classrooms, libraries, hospitals, and law enforcement agencies to the information superhighway, the Department of Education commissioned a survey to obtain baseline data on the status of advanced telecommunications in public elementary and secondary schools. Data was gathered…

This paper examines two different delivery methods, video and computer-based instruction (CBI) for instructing preservice teachers in the use of an electronic mail system, FIRNMAIL. Three questions were asked about students who were taught FIRNMAIL through a video presentation and those taught through an interactive, computer-based simulation…

This guide introduces the library media specialist to the Internet, its history and features, and provides information on specific uses of the Internet in school libraries and specific areas. Section 1, "What is the Internet?" introduces the reader to the Internet; electronic mail; telnet; file transfer protocol (FTP); wide area…

A five-page electronic questionnaire was sent to 113 special librarians who responded to "Call for Participation" announcements posted on nine computer conferences in July 1991 and a similar announcement in the August 1991 issue of the monthly newsletter of the Special Libraries Association. Fifty-four librarians completed the…

Use of electronic mail (e-mail) as a resource in a Universiti Kebangsaen Malaysia (UKM) English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher education course in 1997-98 is described. The second-year undergraduate course, "The Teaching of Reading Skills in an ESL Context," enrolled 115 students with a range of experience with computers. One course…

This paper describes the characteristics of "smart schools" and offers guidelines for developing such schools. Smart schools are defined as having three features: (1) they are computer networked via local area networks in order to share information through teleconferencing, databases, and electronic mail; (2) they are connected beyond…

This testimony discusses ways in which some federal government agencies use technology to provide the public with cheaper, faster access to a wider range of information which can be searched and manipulated in ways never possible on the printed page. Technologies included in the discussion are compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM), electronic…

This paper posits that exploration of and judgment about distance learning at this point in time require the examination of three interrelated topics: (1) What new forms and images for school have been created and tried? (2) What issues arise as experiments in distance learning are developed and maintained? and (3) What is the effect of these…

Formerly reserved for use by scientists, researchers, and computer buffs, computer networks now have capabilities that make them extremely useful to science teachers and their classes. This digest is designed to provide educators with some basic background on computer communications and to provide a few examples of computer networks that are…

Alberta (Canada) is experiencing a phenomenon common to many other regions the world over: there is a movement of population away from rural areas to urban centers. Such migration has a profound impact on rural schools and school systems in these areas, including a decrease in school population, school staff, and school programs. In an attempt to…

This paper examines the process by which an immediate access-to-technology environment influences the frequency, form, and substance of collegial interaction among classroom teachers. The longitudinal study, part of the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow project, covers a 5-year period and utilizes data from 32 elementary and secondary teachers in five…

This report describes the development of a distance education, professional development program for teacher education which promotes two-way communication between tutor and student through use of the telephone, electronic mail, and facsimile transmission (FAX). It is reported that in 1986, McGill University in Montreal began by offering education…

Part of the always-changing field of microcomputers is the growing use of electronic mail/message systems (EMMS), a general term for describing the transmission of messages using computers and telecommunications facilities. As a result of these advances, it is possible for administrators, teachers, staff, and students to have immediate access to…

A writing program was developed and implemented, using available technology, to increase the quality and the quantity of written communication of three heterogeneously grouped classes of fifth graders. The students learned to use the word processor, Magic Slate II, for process writing assignments. A modem, Supra Modem 2400, and Proterm software…

Reprints of 19 articles pertaining to library microcomputing appear in this collection, the second of two volumes on this topic in a series of volumes of reprints from "ONLINE" and "DATABASE" magazines. Edited for information professionals who use electronically distributed databases, these articles address such topics as: (1)…