This article describes how centralized presentation control systems enable IT support staff to monitor equipment and assist end users more efficiently. At Temple University, 70 percent of the classrooms are equipped with an AMX touch panel, linked via a Netlink controller to an in-classroom computer, projector, DVD/VCR player, and speakers. The…

Discusses three types of synchronous writing environments, each offering teachers and students a vehicle for using electronic text to promote literacy-based learning communities: classroom collaboration, networked notetaking, and virtual communities. (SR)

Discusses the differences between computer-mediated communication (CMC) and print or oral communication. Describes advantages and problems of using electronic mail in a business context. Recommends research and teaching of CMC in the business writing classroom. (MM)

Describes a variety of Internet threats to computers and networks used in schools. Discusses electronic trashing; clearing hard drives; cyber spying on Web sites visited; protection against cyber spying, including disposable email accounts; password sniffers; privacy policies; email snooping; email attachments that carry viruses; and hoaxes. (LRW)

Describes the availability, installation, and use of the ZhonWen Disk Operating System (ZWDOS) to display, print, and transmit Chinese characters on conventional International Business Machines (IBM) personal computers and IBM-compatible machines. Also discussed is the use of ZWDOS to compose electronic mail messages, read newsgroups, and access…

Blended e-learning approaches combine the power of the Internet with existing class events or assignments. Inexpensive tools include electronic mail, keyboarding instruction, online research, streamed video or audio clips, message boards, chat rooms, scanned class reading assignments, and online assessments. IT buzzwords are decoded. (MLH)

Describes and defines the Internet from a classroom perspective as a place to talk, a place to get organized information, and as a place to organize and put information. Two World Wide Web projects in Syracuse, New York, that support school curricula are described in a sidebar. (JKP)

"Active readers" are silent members of telecommunications networks who read but do not contribute. Often derided as lurkers, active readers benefit from their network participation and in turn professionally benefit others. A study, still in progress, is interviewing 20 silent participants of the LabNet community who have posted fewer…

Describes a vision of a distance learning environment, and emphasizes the use of computers for active communication, participation, and collaboration of instructors and students. Identifies educational activities and matches them with corresponding systems capabilities. (14 references) (Author/DGM)

Provides details of a study that examined interactions and questioning patterns in the electronic communication exchanges of students (N=21) enrolled in a course designed to provide direction in using an electronic network as an instructional medium. Contains 16 references. (DDR)

Describes how BreadNet (a national computer network of English teachers) has come to dominate the routine of a high school class. Notes that BreadNet gives students new motivation to write, inquire, and learn. Describes classroom electronic writing exchanges and an electronic writers' workshop which posted essays on BreadNet. (RS)

Describes The Web, a Toronto-based electronic-mail information network linking environmental, peace, and social issues activists across Canada, and connected by cross-links to EcoNet in the United States and Internet worldwide. Discusses the uses of "ecolinking" in environmental education. Presents examples of student environmental projects…

This document provides information on computer mailing lists available on the Internet that may be of interest to those in the fields of language teaching and linguistics. There are more than 24,000 lists on the Internet, all are free, and each list has a specific topic and scope. Users can access each list and enter into ongoing discussions or…

Describes several collaborative writing projects using electronic mail (e-mail). Notes that although most of these projects can be tried without computers, two of the barriers in the classroom--time and distance--are removed as a result of electronic communication links. (MM)

Describes the Local Area Network (LAN), a project in which students used LAN-based word processing and electronic mail software as the center of a writing process approach. Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of networking. (MM)