INFOBITS 024 (June 1995) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/infobits/infobits-024 IAT INFOBITS June 1995 No. 24 ISSN 1071-5223 About INFOBITS INFOBITS is an electronic service of the Institute for Academic Technology's Information Resources Group. Each month we monitor and select from a number of information technology and instruction technology sources that come to our attention and provide brief notes for electronic dissemination to educators. ========================================================== UNDERGRADUATE PHYSICS INSTRUCTION AND INTERACTIVE LEARNING In "Studio Physics: An Interactive Learning Model for Research Universities," [EDUCATORS' TECH EXCHANGE, vol. 3, no. 1, Spring/Summer 1995, pp. 6-11] Wayne Roberge, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, describes a new approach to teaching introductory physics classes that increases the students' interactive participation without increasing the number of faculty and teaching assistants required. Studio Physics classes cover core material in classical mechanics, classical electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, relativity, and wave physics. The classes combine mini-lectures, group activities, and assignment reviews and use microcomputers running Comprehensive Unified Physics Learning Environment (CUPLE), a Windows-based physics instructional software. While student response to the classes has been very favorable, the faculty are working to assess the educational effectiveness of Studio Physics versus traditional methods. The results of these assessments will be available in the future. Wayne Roberge is Associate Professor in the Dept. of Physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Email: roberw@rpi.edu For more information about CUPLE, connect to URL: http://www.ciue.rpi.edu/cuple/cuple.htm Educators' Tech Exchange [ISSN 1065-9447] is published quarterly by Edutech, Inc., P.O. Box 51760, Pacific Grove, CA 93950 USA; tel: 408-372-8100; fax: 408-372-2041. Subscriptions are $30/year (US), $40/year (Canada and Mexico). Faculty and administrators in higher education in the US may qualify for free subscriptions. Also of interest to physics educators is Physics Education News (PEN), an electronic newsletter published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP). AIP offers PEN as a service to the science and education communities, and subscriptions are free of charge. For a subscription send email to: listserv@aip.org with the message: add pen Leave the subject line blank. PEN is also available on the World Wide Web at URL: http://aip.org/pinet/listserver/PEN.info.html The American Institute of Physics, a not-for-profit corporation that promotes the "advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics and its application to human welfare," has a World Wide Web site at URL: http://aip.org/aiphome.html ========================================================== AUSTRALIAN WORLD WIDE WEB CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS AusWeb95, the first Australian World Wide Web conference, was held in Ballina, New South Wales, Australia from April 30 to May 2, 1995. More than fifty papers were presented and are available at URL: http://www.scu.edu.au:80/ausweb95/ Papers of special interest to educators include: "New Directions in courseware delivery - Multimedia, CDROM and the Internet" by Arshad Omari and Mark Brogan, of Edith Cowan University; "Issues for Teacher Education" by Jon Mason of the University of Melbourne; "The WWW - Opportunities for an Integrated Approach to Teaching and Research in Science" by Matthew D. Riddle, Jon M. Pearce, and Michael W. Nott of the University of Melbourne; and "Copyright and the World Wide Web" by Michael M. Lean of the Queensland University of Technology. In addition to the World Wide Web edition, the papers are available in a printed version: Debreceny, R. S., and A. E. Ellis, editors. (1995). INNOVATION AND DIVERSITY: THE WORLD WIDE WEB IN AUSTRALIA. AUSWEB95. PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN WORLD WIDE WEB CONFERENCE. Lismore, NSW: Norsearch Publishing, 1995. ISBN 0 646-23946 5. Cost is A$80 including postage. A CD-ROM version, in both Macintosh and MS-DOS formats, includes all the papers and the sound, movies, images and text of the conference proceedings. Cost is A$40 including postage. Either the book or CD-ROM can be ordered by mail from Julie Burton, Norsearch Publishing, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480 Australia; by fax: +61 66 221954; or by contacting the AusWeb95 team by email: ausweb95@scu.edu.au An order form is available at URL: http://www.scu.edu.au:80/ausweb95/order_form.html ========================================================== CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION AND PROJECTS At the 1995 Special Libraries Association conference the SLA Environment & Resources Management Division, with moderation by a representative of the World Wildlife Fund, hosted a panel of Central and Eastern European librarians working in environmental information centers. The panelists discussed and demonstrated some of the environmental information resources that are being developed on the Internet in their countries. The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is an independent, non-profit foundation established in 1990 by Hungary, the United States, and the Commission of the European Communities. REC's mission is to promote cooperation among diverse environmental groups and interests in Central and Eastern Europe and to act as a catalyst for developing solutions to environmental problems in this region. Participating countries include Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. REC provides its constituents with environmental information not readily available from other sources in the region. REC's Information Exchange Team (comprised of a librarian and a computer database expert) answers requests for all kinds of environmental information from individuals and groups around the world. REC's World Wide Web site includes information on grant and fellowship programs, directories, and electronic publications. For more information connect to URL: http://www.rec.hu/ or gopher://gopher.rec.hu or ftp://ftp.rec.hu The Central European Environmental Data Request Facility (CEDAR) is located in Austria and cooperates with REC to support an international clearinghouse for the Central and Eastern European environmental community. CEDAR also works with the United Nations Environmental Programme's INFOTERRA Network. For more information on CEDAR, connect to URL: http://www.cedar.univie.ac.at/ or gopher://pan.cedar.univie.ac.at/ or ftp://ftp.cedar.univie.ac.at/ CEDAR's World Wide Web site also features a list of other environmentally-relevant sites at URL: http://www.cedar.univie.ac.at/www_ref/main.html For information on INFOTERRA, connect to URL: http://www.cedar.univie.ac.at/gopher/UNEP/unep.html Some other collaborative efforts on collecting and reporting on environmental protection information include: Information Center for the Environment (ICE), a cooperative effort of environmental scientists at the University of California, Davis and collaborators at over 30 private, state, federal, and international organizations. For more information, see URL: http://ice.ucdavis.edu/ Friends of the Environment Foundation is a non-profit organization established by Canada Trust to support local environmental projects in communities across Canada. For more information see URL: http://www.fef.ca/ The World Wildlife Fund leads international efforts to conserve the diversity of life on Earth in more than 100 countries throughout the world. For more information, see their World Wide Web page at URL: http://www.envirolink.org:80/orgs/wqed/wwf/wwf_home.html Sites that are good sources of environmental information to involve students at K-12-levels include: The EnviroWeb at URL: http://envirolink.org/ Alan Cairns' Environmental Science Education Resources at URL: http://www-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/scied/enviro.html ========================================================== 1995 SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE This year's SLA conference was held in Montreal, and your Infobits editor was there as a "first-time" attendee. Here is information on some of the conference speakers. HOWARD RHEINGOLD One of the keynote speakers for the 1995 Special Libraries Association conference was Howard Rheingold, author of THE VIRTUAL COMMUNITY [see Infobits, No. 20, February 1995]. Rheingold spoke of how, as a professional writer, he was able to reduce his sense of isolation by connecting with the online community. Check out Rheingold's World Wide Web home page at URL: http://www.well.com/user/hlr/ NUALA BECK Another keynote address was given by Nuala Beck, author of SHIFTING GEARS: THRIVING IN THE NEW ECONOMY [Toronto: HarperCollins, 1992. 179 pp.], a book on technological forecasting for corporate planners. Beck contends that currently-used indicators of economic health don't take into account changing trends in the industries that are now driving world economies. For more information on business cycle indicators see URL: http://www.cris.com/~netlink/bci/whatBCI.html For an extensive collection of educational resources in finance that can be used in the classroom check out the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University World Wide Web site at URL: http://www.cob.ohio-state.edu:80/dept/fin/educ.htm BETTE BAO LORD The Freedom Forum sponsored a talk by Bette Bao Lord, an author, authority on international activities, and a Freedom Forum trustee. She spoke on the importance of a free press, citing her experiences covering the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations for CBS News. (For a daily summary of top news stories from CBS News Up to the Minute, see URL: http://adware.com/uttm/welcome.html ) Lord's writings include a book for children (In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson), a novel about China (Spring Moon), and a book on the Tiananmen Square demonstrations (Legacies: A Chinese Mosaic). (Images from Tiananmen Square are available on the Internet at URL: http://www.christusrex.org/www1/sdc/tiananmen.html ) The Freedom Forum is devoted to promoting "free press, free speech and free spirit for all people." It is the USA's largest foundation focused on fostering First Amendment freedoms, a major supporter of journalism education, and a leader in assisting the professional development of journalists. For more information on the Freedom Forum, see their home page at URL: http://www.nando.net/prof/freedom/1994/info/brochure.html For more information on the Special Libraries Association, see either URL: http://ils.unc.edu/SLA/home/sla95.html or gopher://gopher.sla.org:2000/ ========================================================== NEW IAT LISTSERVS BRIEFINGS, the newsletter covering IAT activities and articles, concluded its paper version with the Summer 1995 issue. IAT articles and announcements will be handled by our new listserv, IATNEWS. To subscribe, send email to listserv@unc.edu with the message: "subscribe iatnews firstname lastname", substituting your own first and last names in the message. To contact the IATNEWS moderator, send email to: Jon_Pishney@unc.edu Please note: Infobits and Briefings are separate IAT publications and do not duplicate content or editorial focus. IATFORUM is a new listserv that will allow open discussion of issues involving technology and education, including IAT workshops and satellite broadcasts. To subscribe, send email to listserv@unc.edu with the message: "subscribe iatforum firstname lastname", substituting your own first and last names in the message. To contact the IATFORUM moderator, send email to: Barbara_Bickell@unc.edu We also have three new listservs to provide technical support for users of IAT-developed software packages. The WEBAPP listserv is for users of WebApp, an IAT software utility that simplifies installing and running software distributed via the World Wide Web. The IATXA listserv is for users of Express Author, an IAT software package for quick and easy multimedia development with Asymetrix ToolBook. The MATHKIT listserv is for users of MathKit, IAT software for the creation of interactive electronic math workbooks. To subscribe to any of these listservs, send email to listserv@unc.edu with the message "subscribe firstname lastname", substituting the name of the listserv you want for and your own first and last names. No subject line is required for any of the subscription messages. To contact the moderator of these three listservs, send email to: iattech.iat@mhs.unc.edu. ========================================================== To Subscribe INFOBITS is published by the Institute for Academic Technology. The IAT is a national institute working to place higher education at the forefront of academic technology development and implementation. A partnership between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and IBM Corporation, the IAT strives to facilitate widespread use of effective and affordable technologies in higher education. To subscribe to INFOBITS, send email to listserv@unc.edu with the following message: SUBSCRIBE INFOBITS your_firstname your_lastname substituting your own first and last names. Example: SUBSCRIBE INFOBITS Reynolds Price INFOBITS is also available online on the University of Washington's Gopher server. The URL is gopher://ike.engr.washington.edu:70/11/academic/iat/infobits If you have problems subscribing or want to send suggestions for future issues, contact the editor, Carolyn Kotlas, at carolyn_kotlas@unc.edu ======================================================= Copyright 1995, Institute for Academic Technology. All rights reserved. May be reproduced in any medium for non-commercial purposes.