Better Learning through Technology

CFOA

Computer
One of the new computer learning centers at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Monday, August 28
It wasn't that long ago that a major part of going to college meant showing up in a classroom and taking copious notes by hand, while professors spelled out the finer points of a course by writing on a chalkboard. These days, the lowly chalkboard has been replaced by a big screen computer monitor in some college classrooms and students around the world participate online, in real time. NPR's Guy Raz reports on how college professors are adapting their audio button teaching methods to an Internet world. With course notes online and some professors even replacing themselves with CD-ROMs, the changes have been tougher on the teachers than the students.

Links & Resources

Tuesday, August 29
California State University, Dominguez Hills, is a nondescript little commuter college, about an hour's drive southeast of Los Angeles. It sits in a region that was once the hotbed of the defense industry. But with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the decline of the defense industry and the rise of Internet use, audio buttoncollege officials looked elsewhere for students and turned its quality assurance degree program into its first online offering. The school now has five degree programs online. NPR's Ina Jaffee reports on how two busy older students are benefitting from Internet classrooms.

Links & Resources

Wednesday, August 30
Use of the Internet for education has been a boon for many, but it has revolutionized learning for one group handicapped by frequent moves. The children of migrant workers in Eagle Pass, Texas, pack up and head with their families to points across America, to wherever the work is. audio buttonNPR's Claudio Sanchez talks to some migrant families about their lives, and how The Laptop Project has intervened for some south Texas teenagers.

Links & Resources


Links & Resources, August 28:

University of Illinois
www.uillinois.edu

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
www.uiuc.edu

University of Illinois Online
www.online.uillinois.edu

Web site of Burkes Oakley, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois
www.online.uillinois.edu/oakley

Web site of Hassan Aref, Professor and Head of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
www.tam.uiuc.edu/Faculty/Aref.html

Web site of Barry Lewis, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
www.staff.uiuc.edu/~blewis

Web site of Nicholas C. Burbules, Professor, Department of Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
www.ed.uiuc.edu/facstaff/burbules/NickB.html

The Daily Illini Online, the student newspaper of the University of Illinois.
www.dailyillini.com

Links & Resources, August 29:

California State University, Dominguez Hills
www.csudh.edu

California State University, Dominguez Hills, Online Division
www.csudh.edu/dominguezonline

California State University, Dominguez Hills - Online Masters program in Behavioral Science, Negotiation and Conflict Managerment
http://www.csudh.edu/dominguezonline/beh.htm

California State University, Dominguez Hills - Online Bachelor of Science program, Nursing
http://www.csudh.edu/dominguezonline/bsn.htmm

Links & Resources, August 30:

NovaNET is a computer-based education and communications network that offers thousands of hours of self-paced, interactive curriculum for secondary and adult learners.
www.novanet.com

Eagle Pass Independent School District
www.eagle-pass.k12.tx.us

The Illinois Migrant Council, (IMC), is a private, non-profit statewide community-based organization whose purpose is to provide opportunities for migrant and seasonal farm workers and other low-income families to achieve economic self-sufficiency.
www.crystallakenet.org

Estrella is designed to address the educational needs of migrant farmworker youth, including middle and high school students, youth currently out of school, and those in transition between school and higher education or the workplace.
www.estrella.org/sites/imc.htm

Texas Education Agency
www.tea.state.tx.us

The Texas Education Agency's Division of Migrant Education
www.tea.state.tx.us/migrants

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Migrant Education
www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/MEP/


The Changing Face of America is an 18-month long NPR project that tells the stories of regular, everyday Americans and the issues they face at a time of rapid and dramatic change in the U.S. This special series can be heard on NPR's Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

The Changing Face of America series is sponsored by
The Pew Charitable Trusts.