Describes a teacher education program using the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) standards as a framework to organize staff development classes and integrate technology into teaching methods and content areas. A sidebar lists NCATE standards and desired skill levels. (JKP)

School library media specialists recommend quality Web sites to children based on evaluations and Web awards. This article examines three types of Web awards and who grants them, suggests ways to determine their reliability, and discusses specific award sites. Includes a bibliography of Web sites. (PEN)

Describes a three-day technology academy that focused on topics and technologies for immediate use by teachers. Topics include location, budget (with a chart breaking down all costs), enrollment, and sessions held. A sidebar offers tips for running a technology academy. (JKP)

Successful technology training for teachers begins with careful design of a staff development program, and must involve teachers in decision making. Time, access, and on-site support are critical for success, as are clear and relevant objectives for lesson plans, materials, and curriculum guides. (JKP)

Presents a planning checklist for staff technology training. Includes forming a committee and developing proposals, contacting pertinent people, handling publicity, sending invitations, distributing schedules/registration information, arranging for equipment, purchasing prizes, conducting preliminary checks on equipment and software, ordering…

The biggest barrier to fully implementing a program like the Big Six has been traditional attitudes toward student assessment. This article defines assessment terminology and provides an annotated bibliography of World Wide Web resources for alternative assessment, authentic assessment and portfolios, rubrics, specific course content and ages and…

To help ninth-grade students become critical users of the Internet, an English teacher and a library media specialist developed an open-ended debate assignment to be assessed with a rubric. This article describes the implementation of the project and includes the assessment rubric, evaluating performance, logical arguments, support statements,…

School systems that plan to give their students open access to the Internet need to set up policies which explain and affirm the principles of freedom of speech, freedom to read, and free access to information. A set of Internet rights and responsibilities should be outlined, and the issues of privacy and ethics should be considered. (Author/AEF)

Electronic portfolios offer an alternative to grades and standardized tests because they store work compactly, accommodate a variety of media, and are easily accessible. This article examines storage methods: diskettes, Zip, Syquest, and Jaz drives; compact disk recordable (CD-R); local area networks (LAN); audio and videotapes and discusses…

Discusses the need to create a learning environment in the computer lab that encourages students to "dabble." Benefits include increased student motivation, help for special needs students, and a decrease in truancy. Presents answers to possible objections to this form of student-directed learning and provides tips for running a lab efficiently.…

Parents, students, and administrators want computer literate teachers with specific skills: basic computer operation; file management; word processing; spreadsheet, database, graphics, hypermedia, and network use; and student assessment. This article presents the graduated performance indicators (rubrics) developed for teachers in the Mankato Area…