Amy Aidman’s undergraduate work was in journalism and mass communications at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, and included a year of study abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She earned an M.A. in telecommunication arts from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in communications from the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois (1993). Amy Aidman is a researcher and educator in the field of mass communications. Her areas of expertise include mass media and children, media literacy, and the social impacts of communication technologies. She has lectured and taught courses on these topics in the United States and in Israel. Her professional background includes coordinating information services, conducting research, and coordinating special projects for the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, as well as writing and producing video programming. The idea that communication technologies, if thoughtfully used, can have positive educational and social potential underlies her professional activities.
Ron Banks is the user services coordinator at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. His primary duties involve responding to education-related reference questions received from the AskERIC system, 800-number phone line, and via U.S. mail; developing training and reference materials used in support of this service; performing administrative duties related to the user services department (e.g., compiling statistics); and training and managing user services staff. Ron has a master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in library and information science. After working for 3 years in health sciences library settings, Ron began work at ERIC/EECE in the summer of 1996. Prior to coming to ERIC, Ron worked for 15 years in the special education field in a variety of settings, primarily working with children and adults with moderate to severe disabilities. He has a master’s degree in special education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Jerold P. Bauch is professor of early childhood education at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He is also director of the Betty Phillips Center for Parenthood Education, a research and development center at Vanderbilt. Professor Bauch has graduate degrees from the University of Florida and has taught at the University of Georgia and Peabody College. He has served as evaluator and consultant for Project Head Start since 1966 with a particular interest in parent and community involvement. Dr. Bauch was a continuing consultant to Indian Head Start programs from 1971 through 1993. At Peabody, he served as director of training for the DARCEE project and teacher education specialist with the Cognitive Curriculum for Young Children project. In the 1980s, he worked for the United Nations in the Republic of Panama, designing a model for the education of children in poverty. His recent international work was with programs for immigrant families in the Netherlands. Bauch is the editor of Early Childhood Education in the Schools published by the National Education Association and is a frequent speaker at state, regional, and national conferences. Most of his professional speaking, writing, and research has been on parent involvement. Dr. Bauch is the developer of the Transparent School Model, the award-winning plan for using electronic voice communications to link teachers and parents. His Center publishes the Parent Involvement Report, a newsletter for schools using the Transparent School Model. He conducts workshops and staff development programs on parent and community involvement for schools and other agencies and is the director of the Bridge Project.
Sandra L. Berger is the information specialist for gifted education at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). In addition to ERIC responsibilities, she has coordinated several federally funded projects related to gifted education, technology, and disabilities. Major publications include College Planning for Gifted Students, a step-by-step guide for discovering the right fit between a gifted student and colleges. In addition, she has authored numerous articles and textbook chapters in the field of gifted education and technology, and she participates on several editorial boards. For the past several years, she has published a regular column, Surfing the Internet, in Understanding Our Gifted, a periodical for teachers and parents of gifted students. Ms. Berger holds an M.Ed. in special education and has received training in both counseling and technology. She is a frequent presenter at national and regional conferences on a wide variety of topics, including the integration of technology and curriculum.
Jay S. Blanchard (Ph.D. reading education, University of Georgia) is an associate professor in the Division of Psychology in Education, College of Education, at Arizona State University. He teaches graduate teacher education courses in technology, psychology, and statistics. A former Teacher Corps teacher, Dr. Blanchard is the author of Computer Applications in Reading (IRA), The Computer in Reading and Language Arts (Haworth Press), and Modern Fiction about Schoolteaching (Allyn & Bacon). He is a member (and former chair) of the International Reading Association’s Technology, Communication, and Literacy Committee.
Jeanne C. Bleuer is the associate director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Student Services (ERIC/CASS) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After receiving her B.S. in science education from the University of Illinois, she worked for 5 years as a research assistant in plant physiology in the University of Illinois Department of Agronomy. During that time, she earned an M.Ed. in guidance and counseling from the University of Illinois and went on to become a junior high school counselor in Dubuque, Iowa. She has held several counseling-related positions at both elementary and secondary levels and in a variety of settings, including serving as a vocational rehabilitation counselor at the Iowa State Juvenile Home for dependent and neglected youth. Dr. Bleuer completed her Ph.D. in educational psychology at the University of Michigan, where she was employed as the assistant director of the UM School of Education Consortium for Evaluation, Research and Training Services. Dr. Bleuer and Dr. Garry Walz have played a significant role in introducing counselors to computers and encouraging them to use computers creatively. Dr. Bleuer is the author of Counseling Underachievers and the co-author/editor of numerous other ERIC/CAPS publications. She and Dr. Walz were the co-recipients of the 1995 ACES Award for Publication in Counselor Education and Supervision and the 1996 AAC Award for Exemplary Practice.
Mark, Betsy, Stacy, Kelly, & Donald Blondin have had a variety of experiences in addition to their travel adventures. Mark earned his bachelor’s degree in political science, worked for many years in the soft drink business, and is currently employed in the computer backup/mass storage industry. Betsy worked for many years as a legal secretary/assistant. She is completing her bachelor’s degree, has been a reporter/photographer/copy editor for two northern Michigan newspapers, and is currently an editorial manager at a book publishing company. The children attend public school and are successful students. Stacy (13) and Kelly (13) swim competitively, and Donald (16) is on the varsity tennis team. The Blondin family lives in Carlsbad, California, near San Diego, and has published articles about their trip. They are working on a book and recently appeared on Parent Soup, an online parenting magazine.
Barbara Bowman is one of three faculty members who founded the Erikson Institute in 1966. She is an authority on early education and a nationally recognized advocate for improved and expanded training for practitioners who work with children and families. Mrs. Bowman, a past president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), combines advocacy at the national level with a strong commitment to leadership and teaching. At Erikson, she teaches courses in early education and administration. She has also taught at universities in China and Iran. In addition, she has directed training projects for Head Start teachers, caregivers of infants at risk for morbidity or mortality, and preschool primary teachers and administrators. Her research has most recently focused on the public schools, specifically to introduce developmentally appropriate practices and authentic assessment in the early grades. She is a frequent consultant on parent support programs. Mrs. Bowman has served on numerous national boards and has also served on a variety of professional committees, including the Panels on Day Care Policy and on Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children for the National Research Council, the leadership initiatives of the National Black Child Development Institute, the Community Initiatives Program of the Chicago Community Trust, the Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education of the Illinois State Board of Education, and the Early Childhood Series Advisory Board for Teachers College Press. Mrs. Bowman earned her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and her M.A. from the University of Chicago. Honors include a D.H.L. from Bank Street College of Education.
Patty Burness served as the executive director of The George Lucas Educational Foundation, based in Nicasio, California, at the time of the FTE Conference. The Foundation was established in 1991 based on the filmmaker’s belief that education is the most important investment we can make for our future. The Foundation disseminates information in several media to promote changes to the educational system; shares strategies for improving schools, especially those that integrate technology; and connects people interested in helping schools. The Foundation recently released Learn & Live, a documentary film hosted by Robin Williams, and a companion resource book that shares the good news about innovative schools and programs around the country. Patty was with President Clinton and Vice President Gore as they introduced Learn & Live to a broad audience at the Vice President’s Family Reunion conference in June 1997. She has presented Learn & Live at the Jobs for the Future 1997 National Leadership Forum, the Democratic Leadership Council, Leadership America, and the National Education Computing Conference. Patty is a member of the Advisory Board for the Institute on Education and Training and has held positions on various boards, including the Urban Education Advisory Board of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Prior to joining the Foundation, she was chief of staff to Bill Honig, California’s former state superintendent. She received a B.A. from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, and her M.A. from George Washington University.
Lillian Coltin, a project associate for the MOST Initiative, works with project staff on developing and disseminating materials through both print and electronic media. For the past 2 years, she has presented sessions at the National School-Age Care Alliance (NSACA) Conference and the Advanced School-Age Care Leadership Institute at Wheelock College on how professionals can use technology. Lillian has an M.Ed. in human development and family studies and an M.B.A. with a concentration in marketing. She has worked in both classroom and research settings with toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children. She has also written on the importance of the physical environment in enhancing preschool children’s experiences in child care centers. For 2 summers, Lillian has participated in the Child Care Design Institute sponsored by Tufts and Harvard Universities. In May 1993, she participated with a U.S. team on a study tour of child care programs and SAC training facilities in Denmark and Sweden. Lillian also works on the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) training team to coordinate and develop materials for national training sessions for program directors, staff, and others interested in children’s out-of-school time. She has co-authored several articles on school-age issues including articles in the Yearbook in Early Childhood Education, Vol. 5, Issues in Child Care, edited by Spodek and Saracho, published by Teachers College Press; Conference Proceedings: International Perspectives on Children’s Out-of-School Time (1994); and the 1991 ERIC Digest Approaches to School-Age Child Care (with Michelle Seligson).
Edward J. Degnan is a senior research associate at the University of Central Florida (UCF) Institute for Simulation and Training. Mr. Degnan holds an advanced degree in industrial management from Lynchburg College and is currently enrolled in the Ed.D. program for educational leadership at UCF. Mr. Degnan recently retired from the military, where he spent 9 years working on design, analysis, and applications of interactive computer models and simulations for both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force. Currently, he is involved in research and analysis for the development of an Interactive Simulation (IS) "Synthetic Environment," supporting military and nonmilitary applications in the areas of education, training, operations, research, development, acquisition, testing, and evaluation. He has worked as a consultant on technology integration and "Dual Use" in schools and communities in three Florida school districts (Lake County—Tech 2000 Program, Seminole County—Tech Prep Program, and Orange County—Healthy Community Initiative).
Walid Elkhoury holds a B.S. in physics from the American University of Beirut and both an M.S. and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. He has taught at both the high school and college level, and he has served as chairman of the mathematics department and academic dean at Ransom Everglades School, Coconut Grove, Florida. In 1994, Elkhoury joined the Latin School of Chicago where he continues to serve as director of mathematics, science, and technology programs. He has worked extensively with parents, students, and faculty in creating an environment conducive to and supportive of change, especially in the area of technology.
Kendra Eller is working on her master’s degree in early childhood education in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of Tennessee. As part of this program, she is currently spending a full year interning in the public schools working in kindergarten through third grade. She also has had many experiences with children from infancy through primary grades in a variety of settings.
Joyce L. Epstein, Ph.D. in sociology from Johns Hopkins University, is director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and the National Network of Partnership Schools; principal research scientist in the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR); and professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University. She has over 100 publications on the organization and effects of school, classroom, family, and peer environments, with many focused on school, family, and community connections. In 1995, Dr. Epstein established the National Network of Partnership Schools to demonstrate the important intersections of research, policy, and practice for school improvement. She serves on numerous editorial boards and advisory panels on parent involvement, middle grades education, and school reform. Dr. Epstein is a recipient of the Academy for Educational Development’s 1991 Alvin C. Eurich Education Award for her work on family–school partnerships.
Anne Goldstein has been the director of the National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC), the Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse for Child Care, since its inception in 1994. The Information Center, an activity of the Child Care Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, is a central point of contact for child care information. In her capacity as director of the National Child Care Information Center, Anne has led workshops across the country on using technology as a communication tool and as a valuable resource for sharing information resources. Anne has been a child care professional for over 20 years. Her varied experiences include work at the community, state, and national levels. Anne’s experience includes 5 years as a program director for a Community Service Agency that operates a comprehensive child care program, and emergency food, homeless shelter, and transitional housing programs in Reston, Virginia. For 15 years, she worked for a multi-site campus child care program in Montgomery County, Maryland, as a teacher, center director, and as the child care services manager. In addition to her Center-based work, Anne was an adjunct faculty member and taught early childhood courses for 8 years. Anne has been a child care consultant to parents, providers, employers, corporations, and state and local governments. Anne established the Montgomery County (MD) Child Care Technical Assistance Office and served as its project director for 2 years. Additionally, she was a founding member and president of the countywide child care directors organization. She has held several board positions with the Northern Virginia Association for the Education of Young Children (NVAEYC), including 4 years as chairperson of the Scholarship Committee. Currently, Anne serves on the Board of Directors of Reston Interfaith, Inc., and is a member of the Metropolitan Washington Child Care Mental Health Consultation Project.
Melissa Groves is an assistant professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of Tennessee. She has been teaching child development at the college level for more than 10 years but before that had several years’ experience in preschool teaching. Her research interests lie in the professional development of early childhood educators and the impact of computer technology on learning.
Heidi Haugen is currently Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Information and Technology Coordinator for the Reducing Risk and Increasing Capacity program. She holds a master’s degree in communication from Cornell University. Heidi teaches community development professionals to use Internet technologies to support their programs. She also writes and edits two electronic newsletters, the RRIC Connectivity newsletter Hot Lines from Heidi and the RRIC Grant Opportunities Update, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in agricultural, extension, and adult education at Cornell.
Nancy B. Hertzog is an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focus is in the areas of gifted education, differentiation of instruction, and project-based curricular approaches. She is the director of University Primary School, an early childhood gifted education program affiliated with the University of Illinois.
Susan Imel is director and adult education specialist, ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, the Center on Education and Training for Employment, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. She has considerable experience in program planning, teaching, administration, evaluation, information systems development and maintenance, and publications development in the areas of adult and continuing education, workplace literacy, and information systems. In addition to directing the ERIC Clearinghouse, she has managed a number of special projects funded by the Ohio Department of Education: Ohio ABLE (Adult Basic and Literacy Education) Evaluation Design Project, "Building Linkages for At-risk Youth and Adults in Ohio/For the Common Good"; Program Quality Enhancement Grant on Women and Literacy; and Program Quality Enhancement Grant on Small Group Learning. She is editor-in-chief of the Jossey-Bass sourcebook New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, and she has published widely. Dr. Imel has made numerous conference presentations and given workshops on using ERIC resources and technology for adult education, adult literacy program planning, and professional development. She earned a Ph.D. in adult and continuing education and an A.M.L.S. in library science from the University of Michigan.
John W. Jacobs is a research associate for the Institute for Simulation and Training in the Distributed Interactive Simulation Education Group. Dr. Jacobs has 8 years of experience in developing and evaluating training and assessment systems used in the military, industry, and education. Dr. Jacobs also has over 5 years’ consulting experience that includes overseeing training and assessment projects with Fortune 500 organizations. Dr. Jacobs received a B.A. and a Ph.D. in psychology from the Florida State University. He has worked as a consultant on technology integration and "Dual Use" in schools and communities in three Florida school districts (Lake County—Tech 2000 Program; Seminole County—Tech Prep Program; and Orange County—Healthy Community Initiative).
J. Michael Jaffe earned a B.S. in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan (1983), an M.S. in electrical engineering at the State University of New York at Binghamton (1986), and a Ph.D. in communication research at the University of Michigan (1995). Dr. Jaffe is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Haifa in Haifa, Israel. J. Michael Jaffe conducts research, lectures, and writes on issues regarding computer-mediated communication (CMC) and health communication. His works have included studies on gender differences in computer network pseudonym usage and on computer use of interactive media to promote health education.
Michele Jarnigan has a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education in the Department of Child and Family Studies from the University of Tennessee. Michele has worked 12 years in the University’s Child Development Labs with infants and preschoolers. She has enjoyed the challenge of incorporating and integrating computer technology into her classroom teaching.
Marjorie Klein became a head teacher in a K/1 classroom at the University of Illinois Primary School in Champaign, Illinois, after having taught kindergarten for 27 years in a public school. She has a master’s degree in elementary education and has had extensive training in implementing project-based curriculum.
Ken Komoski is the president of the Educational Products Information Exchange (EPIE) Institute and the founder and director of the LINCT Coalition (Learning and Information Networking for Community via Telecomputing). Since 1985, Mr. Komoski has been involved with community networking among the school, library, and home. Much of what he learned from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s is recorded in a study funded by the MacArthur Foundation, "Creating Learning Communities: Practical, Universal Networking for Learning in Schools and Homes," published by the EPIE Institute in 1996. In 1985-86, Mr. Komoski became involved as an educational consultant with the planning of a community-networking project (the Battle Creek Plan) in Battle Creek, Michigan. In the early 1990s, he consulted on the development of the IRENE, a highly successful countywide network in Indian River County, Florida, that was awarded one of the first Department of Commerce TIIAP grants. In 1994, he became instrumental in developing LINCT-East, a five-town community network in rural eastern Long Island, New York. That effort led to his founding the LINCT Coalition in 1995. LINCT is a nationwide coalition of socially concerned, nonprofit organizations working together to help communities to achieve universal access to electronic information and learning via community networks and the Internet. Mr. Komoski lives in eastern Long Island, New York, with his wife Joanna Komoski, a family therapist. In his home town, he is known as a community activist, a tennis player, and a singer-songwriter of "new jazz standards."
Sharon Kristovich is a research analyst in the Office of Institutional Research at Parkland College. She has a Ph.D. in cognitive/academic psychology. She has had over 20 years of experience with computer technology and is currently a parent of two children enrolled at the University of Illinois Primary School in Champaign, Illinois.
Margaret Laney is a graduate student in sociology at California State University, Fullerton, with an emphasis in social research. She is also an ophthalmological assistant holding a COA license with a specialty as a refractionist. As a single mother of a 15-year-old son, she has been active in math and reading tutorial programs at the elementary school level. Her son, a computer maven, and his friends served as informants for this study. Her son has made significant progress in teaching her about computers.
Kate McGuire recently became the project coordinator for the MOST Initiative. She has a B.A. in psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an M.A. in women’s studies from Rutgers University.
June P. Mead is a program evaluation specialist, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Cornell University. Dr. Mead has a Ph.D. in program evaluation and planning in the human services from Cornell University. Currently, she is the program evaluator for the Reducing Risks and Increasing Capacity (RRIC) project in New York and is facilitator for the Parent/Family National Outcome Work Group, part of the Children, Youth, and Families at Risk Initiative. Her current research focus is on evaluative research in the areas of substance abuse prevention and family resiliency programs for at-risk populations.
Jay F. Mulberry has a B.A. and an M.A.T. from the University of Chicago and an M.Ed. from Loyola University of Chicago. His career has been with the Chicago Public Schools as teacher, assistant principal, and principal. For the past 7 years, he has been principal of Jacqueline Vaughn Occupational High School. He is currently a Chicago Public School principal on loan to the University of Chicago, and he is also working as a consultant in educational technology on Internet and school improvement projects.
Dana McDermott Murphy obtained her doctorate in developmental psychology from Loyola University of Chicago in 1977. She also holds a national certification as a Family Life Educator. She is currently coordinator of the Parent Education Initiative (PEI) at the Latin School of Chicago, an independent K–12 school. The PEI is a unique school-based center for parent growth and development. Dr. Murphy is an adjunct professor at Loyola of Chicago and has developed and continues to teach in their M.Ed. program in family studies. She teaches courses in the areas of parenting over the life span, parenting in cultural context, and family communication and decision making. She also directs the Caring Project out of Loyola’s Center for Children, Families, and Communities. Currently, she is helping a number of city and suburban public and private schools to create caring climates for learning and development.
Myron Orleans is a professor of sociology at California State University, Fullerton. He teaches, among other courses, classes on family, children, communications, and social futures. His recent research has focused on social aspects of computer use, particularly examining the impact of high levels of computer use on personal well-being and social interaction. He has presented papers at professional conferences and published in the Social Science Computer Review and in the collection of readings, Sociological Studies of Telecommunications, Computerization, and Cyberspace. He is married and has two children, a 14-year-old son who is a laptop enthusiast and an 11-year-old daughter who has bookmarked every Beanie Baby site on the Web.
David Osher is a senior fellow at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the director of the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice, which focuses on children and youth with emotional and behavioral problems, and of AIR’s Technical Support Contract with the Office of Special Education Program’s Research to Practice Division, which focuses on technology for students with disabilities. Dr. Osher has written, published, and presented extensively in this area as well as in the areas of race relations, knowledge use, and organizational change. At AIR, Osher has worked with the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, and the Office of Research and Improvement. In this capacity, he has also worked with the Office of Adult and Vocational Education of the U.S. Department of Education, the Center for Mental Health Services, and the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Before joining AIR, Osher served as dean of a liberal arts college and of two schools of human services, and he consulted with state and community agencies.
Mihkel Pilv was born in Estonia. His educational career has followed a quite accidental path. He graduated from the university as a veterinary doctor, but in the early 1990s, a time of changes in the Estonian school system, he worked in the education field occasionally, starting a project with Tartu Katoliku Kool. Unable to withdraw from that project, he discovered that working in education was as interesting for him as was healing animals. So he took another "train," elementary education, and has had no regrets since. Mihkel’s main job is director of the educational organization which in English is called MIKSIKE. The main function of this organization is to develop the interdisciplinary study program MIKSIKE for elementary schools.
Linda G. Roberts is a special adviser to the U.S. Department of Education on education technology. Her appointment, the first of its kind at the Department, was announced on September 2, 1993. In her position, Roberts will offer guidance on innovative ways that technology can be used to improve American education. Her leadership role for the Department builds on expertise in technology policy and broad experience in the field as teacher, researcher, university professor, and academic dean. Prior to joining the Department, Roberts was project director and senior associate with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). In 1991, she was named by Electronic Learning magazine as one of 10 "Educators of the Decade" for her direction of OTA’s assessments, "Power On! New Tools for Teaching and Learning," and "Linking for Learning: A New Course for Education." Most recently, she directed a third comprehensive assessment on "Adult Literacy and New Technologies: Tools for a Lifetime." From 1981 to 1984, prior to joining OTA, Roberts tracked the growing use of computers in schools across the country and helped design programs to develop innovative uses of television, computer, and interactive video in the Office of Libraries and Learning Technologies and the Office of Educational Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Roberts is widely recognized by the professional community as a leading expert in the application of technology to improve and reform education. She has served as an adviser to citizen groups, corporations, foundations, and state and local policy members. She speaks extensively on new technologies and learning in the United States and abroad and has testified before Congress on numerous occasions. Roberts' career started in 1962 when she was an elementary classroom teacher and reading specialist in Ithaca, New York, and Brookline, Massachusetts. She later taught elementary, secondary, and adult reading programs in east Tennessee. Roberts holds a B.S. from Cornell University (1962), an Ed.M. from Harvard University (1963), and an Ed.D. from the University of Tennessee (1973). She is married to Michael Roberts. They have a son and a daughter.
Anne S. Robertson works as the parenting educator on the National Parent Information Network (NPIN) project. Over the past 2 decades, Anne has worked as a parent volunteer, teacher, home visitor, parent educator, and researcher. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in international educational development from Boston University. She has had the opportunity to look at family and community development at the international level and in both rural and urban cultures. A key focus of Anne’s interests is the development of successful educational systems that serve parents and families considered most at risk within the community.
Dianne Rothenberg is associate director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/EECE) and its special projects, PARENTS AskERIC and the National Parent Information Network. She is also owner of a dozen national electronic discussion lists on topics in early, elementary, and middle level education. She has authored a number of journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers on topics related to full-text information online, information technology, and early childhood education, and is the former editor of two nationally marketed newsletters. Rothenberg has been involved in online educational networking since the early 1980s.
Donald F. Rubovits has a B.A. from Carleton College, a B.S. from MIT, and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He has held a variety of positions with AT&T, A.T. Kearney (management consultants), and Brunswick Corporation. For the past 13 years, he has managed WorkFlow Incorporated.
Karen Clark Salinas, M.S.W. in social work from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is senior research assistant at the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) at Johns Hopkins University. She is co-author of the inventory "Starting Points" that helps schools identify their present practices of partnerships; the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork (TIPS) manuals and prototype interactive homework materials; surveys of teacher, parent, and student views on partnerships; and the book Promising Practices in the Middle Grades. Ms. Salinas is communications director of the National Network of Partnership Schools, edits the newsletter Type 2, and coordinates training workshops for members of the Network.
Mavis G. Sanders, Ph.D. in education from Stanford University, is associate research scientist at the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) and assistant director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of articles on the effects of school, family, and community support on African American adolescents’ school success and case studies of schools in Baltimore that are working to develop their partnership programs. She also co-authored a review of international studies of school, family, and community connections and other publications on partnerships. She is interested in how schools involve families that are traditionally hard to reach, how Action Teams meet challenges for implementing excellent programs and practices, and how schools define "community" and develop meaningful school–family–community connections.
Beth S. Simon, M.A. in sociology from Johns Hopkins University, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. She is dissemination director of the National Network of Partnership Schools, overseeing the distribution and collection of membership forms and data for the Network, and she is designer and manager of the Network’s Web site. Ms. Simon is co-author of a report on the effects of interactive homework on student learning in the middle grades and is conducting research on patterns of participation of states, districts, and schools in the Center’s National Network of Partnership Schools. Her other interests include school effects on family involvement and student success.
Mary Ellen Simon is editor/information specialist in the Urban Child Research Center of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University (CSU) in Cleveland, Ohio. She received her M.Ed. in higher education at Cleveland State University (1986) and is a graduate student in the master’s program for English at Cleveland State. After 8 years as assistant to the dean in the CSU College of Education, Ms. Simon joined the Urban Child Research Center where she is responsible for publishing the educational and social science research of the Center. In this capacity, she is involved not only in traditional publishing, but also in electronic publication and information retrieval from the Internet. For 4 years, she has been a member of NeighborhoodLink, a group of professionals working to provide inner-city neighborhoods with access to computers and computer education, and concerned about the quality and educational content of the Internet.
Stephanie Snow is a research assistant at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Ms. Snow received her B.A. from Haverford College. Most of her work at AIR is with the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice, which focuses on children and youth with emotional and behavioral problems. Ms. Snow provides research and analytical support on studies and evaluations by developing and maintaining its extensive World Wide Web site, collecting data, reviewing research reports, completing literature reviews and library searches, and communicating with members of the research community.
Scott W. Somerville has worked as a computer technical specialist and is currently a legal representative for 19 states for the Home School Legal Defense Association. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Dartmouth College, he provides legal counsel for members, intervenes through negotiation or litigation on behalf of members who are challenged by their local school district, and works with home school leaders on legislation for 22 states and U.S. Territories. Scott and his wife, Marcia, have six children and have home schooled since 1985.
Josephine A. Swanson is a state program leader for Cornell Cooperative Extension. She holds a Ph.D. in adult, extension, and continuing education from Cornell and has over 25 years of experience in designing, delivering, and evaluating Extension community education programs. She is author of curricula and other educational materials in consumer education and has provided leadership for the development of satellite conferences, use of computer applications in family and consumer science programs, and a number of statewide grant-funded Extension programs in human development and family economics areas.
Sandra Ubelacker is a professor of secondary education at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5. She has been involved in teacher education and international education (Kenya). Her main research interest for the past 20 years has been in the area of computers, keyboarding, and word processing. She has written seven textbooks used by students from elementary school to adult education. In 1988, her research interest shifted to computers and young children when she developed a keyboarding program for the Apple Centre of Innovation in Malmo School (Edmonton, Alberta). In this classroom, students had a computer on their desks and integrated the computer in the writing process. Because the responsibility for teaching of keyboarding has shifted from the high school to the elementary school, parents and teachers need to insure that touch typing and workstation procedures are given utmost attention. Without good keyboarding techniques, students are primary candidates for repetitive strain injuries as they approach the workplace.
Judith O. Wagner is the associate director for dissemination, ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education (ERIC/ACVE) at the Center on Education and Training for Employment at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. After graduating from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, she taught high school English for one year before entering the School of Library Science at the University of Michigan where she received her master’s degree in library science. She worked in public, special, and university libraries before coming to ERIC/ACVE in 1979. Since then, she has coordinated all user service activity and has conducted many ERIC workshops for professional librarians and other ERIC users. She has presented many sessions at professional conferences such as the American Vocational Association, the National Business Education Association, and the National Center for Family Literacy. Judy is the Webmaster for ERIC/ACVE and has written several ERIC Digests including one on the use of the Internet in vocational education. She also contributed to the 1996 Practitioner File on "Demystifying the Internet... and Untangling the Web."
Garry R. Walz received his B.S. (cum laude), M.A., and Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota in counseling psychology with minors in human resources development and educational psychology. Currently Dr. Walz is director of the ERIC Counseling and Student Services Clearinghouse (ERIC/CASS) and senior research scientist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He also is professor emeritus of the University of Michigan. He has taught and conducted research and development programs at the University of Minnesota, North Dakota State University, and Illinois State University. Dr. Walz is a past president of the American Counseling Association, Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, and a former chair of North Central ACES. He has served as chair of the Counseling and Guidance Foundation (CGCF), ACA Media and Technology Committee, NCDA Research Awards Committee, and is a member of the ACA Strategic Planning Committee. His many honors include the award of the coveted Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Humanitarian Award, ACES Innovation in Counseling, ACES Leadership in Counselor Education, the Chi Sigma Iota Distinguished Scholar Award, and the AAC Exemplary Practices Award (1996). Dr. Walz has authored or co-authored over 50 major publications including hardcover texts, monographs, journal articles, and instructional modules. Dr. Walz’s major interests/activities are broad, including futurism, career development, counseling education, counselor efficacy, dissemination and utilization of knowledge, and counselors and the information superhighway.
Anthony George Wilhelm is director of information technology research at the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, an organization whose mission is to inform policy makers about issues of concern to the Hispanic community. He received his Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate University’s Center for Politics and Economics. His dissertation examined the role of emerging telecommunications technologies in empowering underserved communities in the United States. He received his B.A. and M.A. in government from the University of Virginia. His published works include Explaining Access to Computer-mediated Political Life (1997); Out of Reach: Latinos, Education and Technology in California (1997); and Latinos and Information Technology. His research interest focuses on the impact of emerging communications technologies on political, economic, social, and educational life in U.S. society. Two areas in which he has paid particular attention are: (1) questions around inequalities in access to advanced telecommunications technologies, particularly in minority and low-income communities; and (2) questions around how emerging technologies can facilitate full participation in society on the part of minority, low-income, and rural users, including spurring greater economic development, social integration, enhanced educational opportunities, and political participation. Dr. Wilhelm has been keynote speaker, panel moderator, or participant at numerous conferences across the country related to technology and its role in society.
Nancy Willard is director of the newly established Center for Responsible Use of Information Technologies at the University of Oregon College of Education. The Center will engage in research and outreach services around issues of responsible use of information technologies. Ms. Willard has degrees in law and special education and has engaged in technology planning activities with school districts for over 7 years.
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