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January 3, 2002

Website Traffic Analysis Useful collection of sixteen links related to web site traffic analysis. Links include learning sites, background on how to analyse web site traffic reports, software sites and more. By Unknown, Business 2.0, 2001.[Refer]

Is Online Learning For Me? What I like about this online quiz is its simplicity. It took me less than a minute to answer the ten questions. Experienced educators will see what the questions are measuring; so will many students, but if they are honest with their answers the test will produce a reliable result. The presentation of the result could be easier to read: I think the result should be customized for your score. Still, this quick quiz does what it is supposed to do. It gives the reader a good first assessment of whether online learning is for them. P.S. I scored a 24, which indicates that online learning might be for me. Heh. By Unknown, Colorado Community College & Occupational Education System, 1999-2001.[Refer]

Finding Quality Web Sites This is a nicely written and clear article for instructors and professors looking for material on the Web to give as reading assignments for their classes. Covers some search engine basics, and more importantly, provides some good guidelines regarding the evaluation of online learning materials. Some links and resources provided. By Sarah Horton, Dartmouth College, January 3, 2001.[Refer]

Augmenting a Home-School Education This may not seem to be about online learning, but it is. The core of the story is this: a growing number of the two percent of American children who are home schooled are taking individual courses - such as physical education or chemistry labs - at the local public school. This is a positive trend and not merely because it increases these students' social interactions. It is the beginning of the transformation of schools from institutes of institutionalized learning to providers of community based learning services (or as I have depicted them in previous writings, community learning centers). Expect to see more of this: for where is it written that home schooling has to take place exclusively in the home? Or even that a student must attend one and only one school (ok, well, this one's probably written all over the place, but it's time for a rethink)? By Richard Rothstein, New York Times, January 2, 2001.[Refer]

E-mail Glitch Blocks Harvard Acceptance E-mails Personally, I think it's an ironic twist to see AOL interpret emails from Harvard as spam... By AP, USA Today, January 2, 2002.[Refer]

Interdisciplinary Learning in Your Classroom It's Disney, so I reserve a certain amount of scepticism. But it reads very nicely and looks like a valuable resource for teachers. This is an online workshop about interdisciplinary learning, and includes video excerpts, transcripts, discussion forums, and descriptive vocabulary (aka 'Buzzwords'). Many examples. By Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Thirteen Ed Online and Disney Learning Partnership, 2001.[Refer]

Girls, Science and Technology This worthy project is not useful so much for its assessments (only a few sites are assessed) as for its methodology. The authors identify eight criteria for evaluating materials with respect to gender (click on 'theory behind the research' to find them). Resources strong in these eight areas are more likely to appeal to young women than are resources weak these areas. I think these criteria should be considered not only when designing materials to teach science and technology, but also when using science and technology to teach. The entire PDF version of the report is almost impossible to find on the site, but you can access it at http://girlstech.douglass.rutgers.edu/PDF/completereport%20.pdf By Douglass Project, Douglass College, 2001.[Refer]

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