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University of Washington

The following article appeared in the January 15, 1995 issue of the Seattle Times. )1995 Seattle Times

Classroom CONNECTION

by Miguel Llanos, Seattle Times copy editor

If you live in the Puget Sound area, and have grade-school children or teach them, there's a good chance your school or school district is using the Internet. And even if it's not, there's a world of educational resources for teachers, parents and children to use on their own. Come see for yourself. Don't have your own Internet wheels? No problem, we'll show you how to get there via local public libraries and provide other help here and inside this section.

Having spent most of his professional life teaching music, Currie Morrison now spends his work time with computer networks that lets Nathan Hale High students reach out across the world via the Internet.

Mark Ahlness, whose background is in special education and art, takes his Arbor Heights Elementary students on visual tours of the Louvre and Smithsonian via the worldwide computer network.

Tollie Porter taught physical education for 23 years but now is helping Martin Luther King Elementary become part of an "electronic village."

Andy Smallman, a former radio DJ, now takes his students to a "virtual dorm" for lessons on how to use the Internet.

Five years ago these folks, like most of the world, had little or no experience with the Internet. Now they're on the cutting edge, using the worldwide computer network for teaching. They're using electronic mail, sure, but they're also moving further out by creating databases, publishing online and hanging out in virtual dorms.

None is a rocket scientist. Yet their experience shows that if you've got the drive, some help from peers and support from school administrators, the Internet can be a viable teaching tool.

Granted, the Internet is not the only online source for education. Subscriber-based online services have valuable resources, but in most cases you also pay for them by the hour.

The beauty of the Internet, for schools as well as individuals, is that access is low-cost, particularly for school districts that can spread use across dozens of schools. That's why schools nationwide are wiring themselves for direct access. And it may help explain why, in the Puget Sound area at least, public schools are ahead of private schools in building onramps.

Come along on a field trips to see what local schools are doing that goes beyond e-mail and into electronic publishing. We tried to be comprehensive, but let us know if we've left anyone out.

As we tour, you'll see pointers, with each item: (G) shows a gopher address, (W) a World Wide Web address and (E) and (P) show the e-mail address and good old phone number for more information.

For those without their own Internet wheels, the accompanying article "Online via public libraries" explains how to follow along using terminals at any local public library.

For those with wheels but still learning how to drive, some tips:

Gopher. Of the big three subscriber services, only America Online connects to "gophers" (thousands of information sites worldwide linked seamlessly by special software). But its access is indirect; you cannot type in an address to go someplace. AOL does, however, have an education folder within its gopher menu that will take you to many sites.

World Wide Web. No doubt about it, this is the Internet's future--information sites that come to life with graphics and audio files reached with the ease of a computer mouse. It's still a challenge to gear up for that access, but it's getting easier.

One way is to check out the downtown Seattle Public Library, where two PCs provide full multimedia access. Prodigy says it will offer a gateway to the Web starting this week, making it the first major commercial online service to provide full multimedia Web access. Small, local companies provide full Web access and the better ones will guide you on. And software products such as "Internet In A Box," IBM's OS2/Warp operating system, and Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 95 are helping ease entry.

But what to do if all you've got is a plain vanilla access that can't provide sound and video? As long as you have gopher access you also have access to lynx, a program that lets you read the text contained in files found in Web databases. If you have your own account, type lynx at the command line -- that should get you started. If it doesn't or if you're using the public libraries to access the Web, see the accompanying article about access via public libraries for instructions.

Finally, a warning. Because many of the Web sites listed below are under construction they may be down when you try to access them. Just check back a few hours later.

Seattle Schools

Districtwide

While several schools have so far worked individually to create gopher and Web sites, the Seattle public school district is wiring up to provide basic Internet accounts to teachers districtwide. A longer term plan hopes to connect schools to each other and to provide full multimedia Web access. The schools bond issue next month would provide money to wire 20 schools if approved by voters, leaving 60 still to be wired at an estimated cost of $16 million.
(P) 281-6876 Paul Robaidek

Nathan Hale High

Backed by 1991 technology levy funds and nine student technicians, technology coordinator Currie Morrison has wired the school from top to bottom so that each classroom has a Macintosh with full Internet a access, including the Web. Vice Principal Kathy Purcell says the school is also looking at using the network to create electronic student assessment portfolios.

The school has its own gopher and Web site with a section for the student newspaper. Plans include posting homework assignments, giving each teacher his or her own place on the Web, and maybe even putting the yearbook online.

Already, a few students have their own Web pages; 250 of the school's 1,000 students have e-mail accounts; and about that may have taken gopher classes. History students have gone out in search of background and special-education classes have used the access to reach beyond their rooms.
(G) phenry.ssd.k12.wa.us
(W) http://hale.ssd.k12.wa.us/friends/about.htm

Arbor Heights Elementary

Mark Ahlness had dug into his own pocket to put his school on the Web map. Each of his third graders gets half an hour a week to explore sites such as the Louvre and the Smithsonian Institution. School information online includes the PTSA and student newsletters. The school itself also has a classroom where 5th graders work mainly on laptop computers.

Ahlness hopes to use the Seattle School District's Internet gateway once full Web access is ready, but for now relies on a private account he pays for himself. The newsletter editor, teacher Gretchen Thompson, also is paying for her own full-access account. Both are seeking hardware-software donations to beef up their system.
(W) http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/arborhts.html

Martin Luther King Elementary

Computer teacher Tillie Porter is helping implement a City of Seattle grant to create and "electronic village" for teachers, students and community members. McCaw Cellular has donated 14 IBM ThinkPad computers with cellular modules for wireless data connections.
(P) 281-6510

Hawthorne Elementary

Later this month, it hopes to add e-mail and gopher access to its computer lab, which is open to the entire community Monday through Thursday from 3 to 8 p.m. A Web site is planned for this spring and volunteer helpers are always welcome.
(P) 281-6895 Jay Franco

Garfield High

Funded by a grant from McCaw Cellular, this gopher is still under construction.
(G) ghs.ssd.k12.wa.us

Lakeside School

Technology coordinator Andy Barker and six student technicians have helped wire the school to the point that it now has a gopher and Web page. Barker has also looked into using a Multiuser Simulated Environment (MUSE) to allow kids to learn by role playing in a live chat area.
(G) 192.147.161.77
(W) http://192.147.161.77/index.html
(P) 440-2798 Andy Barker

The Bush School

The school has provided Internet accounts to some teachers and students at neighboring M.L. King. It is also creating a Web site where initially seven students plan to put up information. The school has issued some 300 Internet accounts to teachers and students.
(w) http://www.bush.edu

St. Philomena Elementary

Still under construction, but this Des Moines Catholic school is preparing student artwork to display online.
(W) http://www.halcyon.com/dale/Dales.html
(E) dbeasley@halcyon.com
(P) 824-4051, Dale Beasley

Kent schools

The district itself is taking the lead, and has an impressive Web site that it plans to make available to all of its 37 schools. Kent Meridian is the furthest along, with students creating their own Web pages. Right now the focus is on training teachers to use Internet tools and create Web pages.

Technology manager Rick Feutz says the district uses a "teacher toolbox" metaphor to pitch the network as a way to assist teachers. Plans are to place student assessments online for teachers to use and lesson plans that can be tailored to individuals.
(E) rfeutz@kent.wednet.edu
(W) http://www.kent.wednet.edu
(P) 813-7591. Rick Feutz

Bellevue schools

Belnet

The district, one of the first to offer e-mail accounts and have its own gopher, plans to have its own Web site within nine months, and will add more Northwest history resources to its gopher within the next six weeks.
(G) belnet.bellevue.k12.wa.us
(P) 455-6200, John Newsom

New Horizons for Learning

This group works closely with the Bellevue School District. What makes it unique is that it sells Internet accounts for $100 a year and caters to teachers, parents, students and educational groups that want to get online. In the future, it hopes to offer full Web access as well as build its own Web site.

Subscribers have access to conference areas and information organized by "floors." The group also has great print material for newcomers and those still learning.
(E) nhl0001@belnet.bellevue.k12.wa.us
(P) 547-7936, Teri Howatt

Edmonds

The district plans e-mail and Web and gopher sites for student publications by late winter.
(E) goodwins@edmonds.wednet.edu
(P) 670-7104, Steve Goodwin

Highline

Mount Rainier High

The district plans to put a gopher at Mount Rainier High School, which now uses a private account to house a Web site that includes the student newspaper. A November article explains how a PTA member pushed the school to get online.
(W) http://www.halcyon.com/ramsHorn/rh0.html
(P) 433-2201, Jay Davis

Shoreline

Student have put together Web pages for the district. By the end of the school year, the district hopes to have a gopher and a dial-in bulletin board with Internet access.
(P) 361-4225, Dick Stucky

Kellogg Middle

Still under construction, includes links to sites about animals.
(W) http://www.halcyon.com/kellogg/

Shorecrest High

Under construction, but has lots on extracurricular activities.
(W) http://www.eskimo.com/~jeremyps/shorecrest

Northshore

Backed by a network advisory team of teachers, administrators, community members and GTE, the district expects to offer Internet connections within the next nine months.
(P) 489-6435, Mike Massengill

Other schools

Puget Sound Community School

Andy Smallman is using the Internet as a tool for an innovative idea: a school that has no set location but meets at places like parks, libraries and bookstores. It's an attempt to mix the best of home schooling with the advantages of traditional schools.

Each of his 11 students has an Internet account via the Bellevue School District. And each Tuesday at 8:15 p.m., students get Internet training via a "virtual dorm" in Ohio. You need what's called telnet access to get there; the address is bigbird.stark.k12.oh.us 7777. If you get lost, type the word prof and hit the return key to get in touch with Smallman.

Smallman is looking for volunteers to help him create a Web site.
(E) nhsmallm@belnet.bellevue.k12.wa.us
(P) 455-7617

Lummi Island Beach School

Still under construction, but the start is promising for this school off Bellingham's coast.
(W) http://www.nas.com/~beachsc
(P) (360) 647-8181, Robert Keller

Other northwest online K-12 resources

Statewide

The state Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Washington Information Procession Cooperative have teamed up to create several gophers and Web sites. The INSPIRE gopher contains grant information, training guides and links to some of the schools listed here as well as many outside Washington. The links include one to an archive of K-12 newsgroups on Usenet, a worldwide bulletin board.

The team also provides Internet accounts for teachers via nine statewide Educational Service Districts and sponsors online discussion lists for classrooms on topics such as Native Americans, media impact, poetry, dinosaurs, Washington history, state Legislature, and weather.

If you work for or have children at a local public school but can't find out what online resources are available to you, contact these folks. All in all, this site is probably the best place to start your field trip.
(E) dsmall@inspire.ospi.wednet.edu
(G) inspire.ospi.wednet.edu
(G) gopher.wednet.edu
(W) http://www.ospi.wednet.edu
(W) http://www.wednet.edu
(P) (360) 664-3111

Learning Link

KCTS-TV, Channel 90, offers Puget sound-area educators free access to Internet e-mail, topic forums, CNN lesson plans and much more. The site is open to educators whose school districts are part of the Learning Services Cooperative. Check with your school or call KCTS to see if your district is authorized.
(P) 443-6780

University of Washington

The UW's Project DO-IT runs what it likes to call a "gopher garden," where folks can sow and reap information on disabilities. It's particularly good for special-education programs and has great links to Internet guides and lesson plans.
(G) hawking.u.washington.edu

Seattle Pacific University

Funded by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, a catalog database for K-12 science, math and technology teachers will be going online soon. The site will include links to statewide and national resources.
(P) 281-2504 Shirley Riley

NWREL

Offers educational research and development aimed more at Northwest teachers than students or parents. Areas include drug-free schools, Indian education, race/sex equity and rural education.
(G) gopher.nwrel.org
(P) (503) 275-0665

Athena project

NASA is funding a three-year, $900,000 project to provide high bandwidth connections to Seattle, Lake Washington, Bellevue and Northshore school districts. By next year, four pilot classrooms are expected to have fast Web access to detailed NASA images. The Web site already looks pretty nice.
(W) http://164.116.16.2
(P) (360) 664-3111

Sidebar:

Area schools take kids and teachers on electronic field trips

Online via public libraries
Each King County and Seattle Public Library branch has at least once public terminal with gopher access to the Internet. These gateways do not allow you to type in a gopher address, but you can search for sites you know about. The library gateways list several places you can start. The Library of Congress (LC) is one that opens doors to the rest of the Internet in four important ways:

Both library systems also provide other Internet services:

Other free or local resources: