Education
on the Internet
is published by Spartacus
Educational every week. The newsletter includes news, reviews
of websites and articles on using ICT in the classroom. Members of
the mailing list are invited to submit information for inclusion in
future newsletters. In this way we hope to create a community of people
involved in using the Internet in education. Currently there are 23,920
subscribers to the newsletter.
Digital
Learning Alliance: Several
media and software companies are demanding a judicial review of the
BBC's plans to spend £150m of licence money on expanding its
online education service over the next five years. Digital
Learning Alliance, an industry body representing media firms involved
in online learning, is to petition the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell,
amid claims they could lose millions of pounds in revenues. "Our
industry could be decimated," said Dominic Savage, co-chair of
the Digital Learning Alliance. "We have deep concerns about our
members' ability to compete with a similar service that was offered
for free. There is a serious risk of substantial job losses."
In its submission to the culture department, the BBC argues that its
proposed free service "is the latest development of the high
quality educational resources which the BBC has provided since the
1920s". It goes
on to promise students access to "a broad range of learning resources".
The programmes and content would be "distinctive", of "high
quality" and in strong demand from teachers and pupils.
Internet
Safety: How can
we tackle the problems of Internet use like dangerous texts, people
or images? At a conference at the Palazzo Gerini in Florence on 27-28
May 2002, speakers covered key topics such as network security, awareness
and filtering for children, and legislation for internet safety. The
conference was opened by Giovanni Biondi (INDIRE) who described some
of the problems of Internet safety - especially that of supervising
children with an increasing level of access. Tor Eigel Hodne from
the European Commission argued that awareness and training are fundamental
priorities to tackle Internet safety. He pointed out that 19 countries
in Europe had established hotlines for reporting unsafe content all
over Europe. Nerina Milletti (INDIRE) gave the results of a survey
that found that most teachers and parents do not use filters, and
most do not want to. Ola Kristian-Hoff, who previously worked at the
Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) said: "I am yet to
see an image filter that can tell the difference between the face
of an American President and a naked female torso".
Ask
an Expert: Each month the Ask an Expert section features a different
theme. This month, you will have the opportunity to ask questions
on the ICT resources that are suitable for the Foundation Stage. This
stage is about developing the key skills of speaking, listening, collaborating,
concentrating, persisting and about developing the literacy and numeracy
skills that will prepare children for Key Stage One. From programmable
robots to interactive whiteboards, from the Internet to CD-ROMs, this
month's Ask an Expert feature aims to inform practitioners of the
ICT resources that are suitable for the Foundation Stage. It also
suggests ways in which these resources can best be used to meet the
needs of the children and the requirements of the Early Learning Goals.
History
Teaching
History: A free weekly email journal for anyone interested in
using the Internet to teach or study history. The journal includes
online news, reviews of websites and articles on using ICT in the
history classroom. Subscribers can also submit information for inclusion
in the newsletter. With over 19,400 subscribers this is an ideal way
to bring people together who are involved in using the Internet to
teach history. All reviews and articles are archived and can be accessed
through the History Web Directory.
Around
the World in 72 Days: At the age of nineteen, Nellie Bly talked
her way into an improbable job on a newspaper, then went on to become
known as "the best reporter in America." The daring Bly
continually risked her life to grab headlines. To expose abuse of
the mentally ill, she had herself committed. When she traveled around
the world in just 72 days, beating Jules Verne's fictional escapade,
she turned herself into a world celebrity. This PBS website allows
you to follow Nellie Bly's record-breaking journey.
Oral
History Archive: The East Midlands Oral History Archive is a lottery
funded project dedicated to encouraging the use of oral history by
community groups and schools. The East Midlands group has recently
opened an online exhibition on the hosiery industry in Leicestershire.
There are sections on Yarn Preparation, Knitting, Making Up, Finishing,
Homeworking and Industrial Relations.
Geography
n2geo
is a nonprofit educational organization inspiring people to learn
about the world. The website focuses on geography and world culture
and has an extensive 1,000+ page world resource section called n2countries.
The organization is producing a first-ever expedition to every country
in the world, and will be providing lots of video, audio, and rich
media that will be useful as a learning tool. Visit the site to see
how you can get involved with this historic expedition.
My
Environment Newsletter: This new weekly newsletter provides
information pertinent to environmental protection from the perspective
of technology. The newsletter contains information on the most recent
changes, achievements, problems, etc. in the environmental protection
field. The website also gives access to a forum where environmental
subjects and technology are discussed.
Maths
Probabilistic Learning Activities
Network: Have you ever wondered how to enhance your teaching of
probability? David Harris tries to answer this question with this
site. The material is based on interactive probability experiments
in the form of applets and spreadsheets. The Question, Hypothesis,
Experiment methodology is designed to introduce students to the fascinating
world of random behaviour. Students are asked to provide an initial
response to a probability experiment, collect data from the experiment
and finally use mathematics to determine the probability measure of
the experiment. Many of the experiments are counter-intuitive and
are designed to foster discussion and interest in the mathematics
classroom. The site is written primarily for students of the International
Baccalaureate but can be used throughout any high school programme.
Fine
Structure Constant: The question of how to calculate the numerical
value of the fine structure constant from theory was one of the most
outstandingly difficult problems in mathematical physics for the greater
part of the 20th century. There were many unsuccessful attempts by
researchers, including famous ones such as P. A. M. Dirac to find
a formula for the fine structure constant. Substantial progress with
this fundamental problem is outlined on this web page produced by
James G. Gilson.
Design
& Technology
Ettore
Sottsass was one of the leading members of the Memphis Group founded
in 1981. This Austrian-born designer has been described as "a
forward-looking designer who is also mischievous!" Throughout
his remarkable career Sottsass drew inspiration from a variety of
sources such as popular culture, other cultures and of course his
own travelling experiences. His work was colourful and humorous in
contrast to the black, modern products of the 1980's. It could never
be accused of being bland and dull. In the 1970's he was a leading
figure of the 'Radical Movement' and played a very important role
in 'Post Modernism' in the 1980s.
Food
Link is organized
by the Food and Drink Federation in association with the Food Standards
Agency, the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland, the
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Local Authorities
Co-ordinating Body on Food and Trading Standards, the Departments
of Health, Food and Education, the National Farmers Union, the British
Retail Consortium and the British Hospitality Association. The programme
provides a focus for communicating messages aimed at helping everyone
understand and carry out the basic precautions which they can take
to reduce the risk of suffering from food poisoning.
Science
Scientists
and the Second World War: Biographies of 52 scientists
involved in military technology during the Second World War. Subjects
include David Bohm, Nils Bohr, Wernher von Braun, Sydney Camm, Christopher
Cockerell, Walter Dornberger, Enrico Fermi, James Franck, Walter Gerlach,
Hans Geiger, Otto Hahn, Ernst Heinkel, Werner Heisenberg, Frederick
Lindemann, Salvador Luria, Lise Meitner, Reginald J. Mitchell, Robert
Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, Barnes Wallis, Robert Watson-Watt
and Frank Whittle. The
website also has a hyperlinked Second World War Technology timeline.
Invent
Now is a non-profit organization that celebrates and foster the
spirit and practice of invention. The National Inventors Hall of Fame
honors the women and men responsible for the great technological advances
that make human, social and economic progress possible. Each year,
the Selection Committee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation
selects inventors for induction. On this website you can brouse Invent
Now's database of inventors and inventions.
Search
Engines
Search
Engine Ratings: NetRatings has began releasing figures showing
the total number of people performing searches at popular search engines
and portals, along with the average time spent by these searchers
at these sites. Figures are for users in the United States. At the
top of the list in search hours is Google, where users spent nearly
13 million hours searching during March 2002. In second-place was
Yahoo with 5.4 million search hours, followed by MSN Search with 4.9
million search hours logged. According to StatMarket, Google accounts
for more search referrals than any other search engine. According
to this research, based on worldwide traffic measurements in April
2002, Google was responsible for 47 per cent of search referrals worldwide,
followed by Yahoo at 21 per cent, then MSN Search at 8 per cent and
AltaVista at 6 per cent.
Ask
Jeeves attempts to understand the precise nature of the question
by using a question-processing engine. Using natural language processing
technology, Ask Jeeves determines both the meaning of the words in
the question (semantic processing) as well as the meaning in the grammar
of the question (syntactic processing). Ask Jeeves's answer-processing
engine provides the question template response (that's the list of
questions that users see after they ask Jeeves a question). When the
user clicks on a response, the answer-processing engine retrieves
the answer template that contains links to the answer locations. The
Ask Jeeves knowledge base contains links to more than 7 million answers,
which contain information about the most frequently asked questions
on the Internet.
Book
Section
Guide
to GCSE Websites: The Hutchinson Guide to GCSE Websites is arranged
by subject and includes over 1,000 sites selected specifically for
GCSE study. The book makes learning on the web faster and easier,
and will give students extra insight into subjects to improve their
marks. Users of this book get free access to a special website, which
provides links to each of the sites listed in the book.
Do you
want to have your website listed in our web directory? If so, send
a brief description (about 150 words) and the URL to spartacus@pavilion.co.uk.
