[WikiEN-l] (no subject)

Fri Mar 4 14:50:40 UTC 2005

I was forwarded this by a colleague at work. While the Google bit isn't accurate, it is nice to see how our information is being used. 

APPLES, WIKIPEDIA, AND THE WEB

In January, IRC Afterschool at the International High School at Prospect Heights coordinator John Kowalski began teaching an elective computer class for 25 students from over 15 different countries.  

"It didn't take long for the students to start applying their newfound search skills - in no time, they were finding music from each of their home countries.  And it didn't take long after that for them to learn to play it at a very soft volume, so as not to drive their teacher crazy," laughed Mr. Kowalski. Between now and June, these students will use laptops to do everything from search the web to create spreadsheets to use html language.

"So far, the classroom activities have involved learning specialized ways of retrieving information from the web - like Google's Wikipedia feature," Mr. Kowalski said.  "We will soon study tools for presenting that information, using visual display tools like Powerpoint, Excel, and the web."  

The International School @ Prospect Heights opened in September 2004 to serve recent immigrants who are both new to the U.S. and to learning English.  IRC New York's afterschool program is currently the only afterschool program offered at the high school.