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| August 1998 |
EDO-IR-98-06 |
An Introduction to Internet Resources for K-12 Educators
Part II:
Question Answering, Listservs, Discussion Groups, Update 1998
by:
Nancy A. Morgan, updated by Steven Batovsky
The Internet is an international computer network composed of thousands of
smaller networks. As K-12 schools connect to the Internet, a new method of
communication opens up to educators and their students. This Digest
describes some sample services and resources that are available to the K-12
community by electronic mail over the Internet.
Question Answering:
The number of services that use electronic mail to deliver information is
increasing. Services that teachers will find on the Internet include:
- AskERIC: AskERIC is the Internet-based education information service of
the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) system, headquartered
at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology at Syracuse
University. Teachers, library media specialists, administrators, and others
involved in education can send a message requesting education information
to AskERIC. AskERIC information specialists will respond within 48 hours
with ERIC database searches, ERIC Digests, and Internet resources. The
benefit of the personalized service is that it allows AskERIC staff to
interact with the user, and provide relevant education resources tailored
to the user's needs.
- AskERIC Virtual Library: Resources developed from questions received at
AskERIC are archived at the AskERIC Virtual Library:
- KidsConnect: KidsConnect is a question-answering, help and referral
service for K-12 students on the Internet. The goal of KidsConnect is to
help students access and use the information available on the Internet
effectively and efficiently. KidsConnect is a component of ICONnect, a
technology initiative of AASL (American Association of School Librarians, a
division of the American Library Association). Students use e-mail to
contact KidsConnect and receive a response from a volunteer library media
specialist within two school days.
- Ask a Young Scientist: A question answering service for students in
grades 1-6 on scientific topics. Questions are researched and answered by
advanced chemistry students at Christiansburg High School. Students are
asked to limit their questions to five per message, but are encouraged to
post as many times as they wish.
- Ask Dr. Math: "Ask Dr. Math," a service for elementary, middle, and high
school students, is administered by students and professors at Swarthmore
College in Swarthmore, PA.
- The MAD Scientist Network: The MAD Scientist Network is an
"Ask-A-Scientist" service run entirely on the WWW. They field questions
in 25 areas covering chemistry, physics, astronomy, earth sciences, and the
biological sciences. More than 500 scientists at institutions around the
world have joined their efforts to provide answers to science questions.
- Ask A+ Locator: The AskA+ Locator is a database of high-quality "AskA"
services designed to link students, teachers, parents and other K-12
community members with experts on the Internet. Profiles of each AskA
service include identification information (e.g., publisher, e-mail
address, contact person, links to services' home pages), scope, target
audience, and a general description of the service. Searchable by subject,
keyword, grade level, or alphabetical list. Ask A+ Locator is a part of
the Virtual Reference Desk.
Listservs:
Listservs are automated programs that serve as distribution centers for
mail messages. Listservs focus on a single topic that may be very broad or
extremely narrow. People join a listserv by subscribing, then participate
by reading messages, or actively contribute by sending messages to the
listserv. Below are listservs of special interest to K-12 educators:
ECENET-L: Early childhood education, to age 8.
EDNET: Internet use in education.
Edres-L: Educational Resources on the Internet.
- To subscribe, send message to: listserv@listserv.unb.ca
-Leave the subject line blank.
-In the body of the message, write: subscribe Edres-L your firstname lastname
EdTech: Educational Technology.
K12ADMIN: K-12 educational administration.
KIDLINK: Kidlink Society runs several listservs in support of a global
dialog for 10-15 year old students. Subscribe to KIDLINK listserv to
receive information about the other lists.
LM_NET: School library/media services.
MIDDLE-L: Education of children 10 to 14 years of age.
NET-HAPPENINGS: Internet related news and announcements.
SPECED-L: Special education issues discussion.
- To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: listserv@uga.cc.uga.edu
-Leave the subject line blank.
-In the body of the message, write: subscribe SPECED-L your firstname lastname
TAG-L: General discussion about all topics related to gifted children.
- To subscribe, send e-mail message to: listserv@listserv.NODAK.EDU
-Leave the subject line blank.
-In the body of the message, write: subscribe Tag-L your firstname lastname
Usenet Newsgroups:
Usenet Newsgroups are an electronic bulletin board system, accessible via
the Internet, that consists of discussion forums on literally thousands of
topics. Users should contact their system operator for instructions. Some
of the Usenet Newsgroups are:
- k12.chat.teacher-General discussion between K-12 Teachers
- k12.ed.art-Arts and Crafts Education
- k12.ed.business-Business Education
- k12.ed.life-skills-Life Skills Education
- k12.ed.math-Mathematics Education
- k12.ed.music-Music and Performing Arts
- k12.ed.science-Science Education
- k12.ed.soc-studies-Social Studies Education
- k12.ed.special-Educating students with special needs
- k12.ed.tech-Technology Education
References and Readings:
Abilock, D. (1996). Integrating e-mail into the curriculum. Technology
Connection, 3(5), 23-25. (EJ 531 026)
Hill, J. A. & Misic, M. M. (1996). Why you should establish a connection to
the Internet. TechTrends, 41(2), 10-16. (EJ 520 228)
The Internet roadmap for educators. (1996). Arlington, VA: Educational
Research Service. (ED 397 520)
Junion-Metz, G. (1996). K-12 Resources on the Internet: An instructional
guide. Internet workshop series, Number 5. San Carlos, CA: Library
Solutions Press. (ISBN-1-882208-14-5). (ED 389 316)
K-12 computer networking.(1995). The ERIC Review, 4(1) (ED 392 413)
Lankes, R. D. (1996). Bread and butter of the Internet. ERIC Digest.
Syracuse, NY: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology. (ED 402 925)
Laughon, S. & Kurshan, B. (1996). A monster of a job! MultiMedia Schools,
3(1), 12-18. (EJ 516 636)
Miller, E. B. (1996). The Internet resource directory for K-12 teachers and
librarians, 95/96 edition. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
(ISBN-1-56308-366-3). (ED 389 330)
Tennant, R. (1996). Internet basics: Update 1996. ERIC Digest. Syracuse,
NY: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology. (ED 392 466).
Walter Shelby Group Ltd. Tile.net/Lists: The reference to Internet
discussion groups. Internet WWW page, at URL:http://tile.net/ (copyright
1997).
This ERIC Digest was prepared by Nancy A. Morgan nmorgan@ericir.syr.edu,
GEM Coordinator for the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology at
Syracuse University and updated by Steven Batovsky, steve@ericir.syr.edu,
AskERIC Network Information Specialist.
ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced and
disseminated.
ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology, 4-194 Center for Science &
Technology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY. 13244-4100; (315) 443-3640;
FAX (315) 443-5448; e-mail: eric@ericir.syr.edu
This publication was prepared with funding from the Office of Educational
Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education under contract
no.RR93002009. The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily
reflect the positions of OERI or ED.
Return to the ERIC Digests page.