UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, January 31, 1994
5
Computer system links teachers, ideas
By Roberta Johnson Kansan staff writer
A high school student in Pennsylvania tutors a fourth-grade pupil in physics from across the state. An elementary school child regularly writes Poland via electronic mail. A junior high student conducts research with classes from two other states.
b) This is not some education in the future. In 1994, schools in three states are testing the pilot program of Explorer, a system based at the University of Kansas and designed to connect science and math teachers in kindergarten through ninth grades throughout the United States.
Martin Altstaedten / KANSAN
Joe Evans, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, works with the Explorer system. The system helps school teachers from across the United States plan and organize their lessons by providing background information and suggesting classroom materials such as labs, videos and field trips.
1 Explorer, which operates out of Nichols Hall, is being tested by 52 schools in New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan under a grant by the A.S. Department of Education.
Jean Fetzko's fourth grade class at Maclayne Elementary School in Sunbury, Pa., uses it to contact the weather services each day. Then it uses the system to share the data with high school students in a science class on the other side of Pennsylvania.
17 "We're working on kinetic and potential energy right now," Fetzko said. "My students send the results, then they send my advice on how to work the problem."
The Explorer system offers labs, field trips, assignments, video catalogs, texts and lesson plans.
Ronald Aust, associate professor of curriculum and instruction and a developer of the project, said the curriculum within the program was based on the standards of the National Science Teacher Society and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Teachers call an 800 number in Ann Arbor, Mich., which connects them to Internet, the global computer communications network. Then they can use Internet's resources or connect to Explorer, said Joe Evans, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.
Mary Van Wert, eighth-grade earth and physical science teacher at Broadway Junior High in Elmira, N.Y., said that the classes used Explorer to conduct research for their individual research projects.
"It really is innovative," Van Wert said. "It's what we should be doing: turning it all upside down."
Beverly Benfer, facilitator for the program in Pennsylvania, said that one teacher in Harrisburg had told her of two students who constantly skipped school last year but were fascinated with the Explorer system.
"They're group leaders, and they're here every day," she said.
Benfer said that each state would get an additional 10 sites later this year.
"We moved up a level in width and breadth of distribution." Aust said.
Aust said he wanted to expand the project to include on-time video delivery and different content and educational levels.
Gary Minden, associate professor of
electrical engineering, said using Explorer was not difficult.
"It's generally automated," he said.
"It puts a new document in and pulls out information you want and put it in a data base."
Minden said there was no charge for use of the system, which can be contacted through computers in 1050 Learned or at the Computer Center.
Forum predicts outcome of health care reform
By Ashley Schultz
Kansan staff writer
Health care reform looms large over the prospects of present and future health care administrators, said Susan Bergstrom, co-chair for the professional development seminar with the KU Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
The chapter sponsored an all-day conference titled "Critical Issues in Health Services Administration" Fridav at the Adams Alumni Center.
Health care reform prospects bring excitement and trepidation into the lives of health care administration students, Bergstrom said. She said reform would create or eliminate administrative jobs.
"There are a lot of institutions that are going
through what they are calling 're-engineering phases', which is a technical term for laying people off." Bergstrom said. "And a lot of those people happen to be managers and administrators."
The general consensus is that the Clinton plan will not result in a sweeping federal health care program, but will act as the impetus for state level programs. Bergstrom said.
"That opinion is pretty prevalent throughout health care," she said. "The thinking is that the Clinton plan is just kind of a map of what needs to be done in general, and most people think that the action is going to occur at the state level."
Reform has caused the health care industry to give itself a head-to-toe examination. Health care professionals are taking another look at the provider-driven model of health care.
"We forgot to ask the customer what they wanted," said Cheryl Dillard, public affairs manager at Kaiser Permanente, a health maintenance organization in Overland Park. "We are doing that much more now, and there are some very dramatic changes going on within our organization."
Among the topics of discussion was the need for unification and cooperation between hospitals and each entity that has a role in health care.
"I think those sacrifices are things that people can live with if they understand the greater good," said Barbara Langer, a member of the Kansas Commission on the Future of Healthcare Inc.
Bergstrom said the forum had been composed with diversity in mind. This year's conference was open to alumni, area health care professionals and students.
No problem son, I only wanted to make sure you knew about the indoor "sidewalk" sale at the Kansas Union.
Sidewalk Sale!
A huge selection of merchandise at up to 75% off, Jan.31st & Feb.1st.
KU Bookstore Kansas Union, Level Two
Sale prices not valid with coupons or discount cards
Wednesday, February 2, 1994
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WHY: To provide a forum for campuses to dialogue about common concerns regarding racial disharmony on campus. To explore new and creative approaches to working for peace, To empower and equip our constituents to be agents for change, instruments of peace, collectively and individually. To encourage and support those ministries already meaningfully involved, to enhance the theological understanding or our work in this regard.
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