Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h6HF8e711095; Thu, 17 Jul 2003 11:08:40 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 11:08:40 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <B24038C0D3E160419E320030D92C22DED66C0E@hobbes.cal.org> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Lynda Terrill" <lterrill@cal.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9204] B update on ERIC X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 4586 Lines: 93 Below is a a crossposting from the AAACE-NLA list: Lynda Terrill lterrill@cal.org This article is taken from The Chronicle of Higher Education, Thursday, July 17, 2003 http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/07/2003071701t.htm Daphne Center for the Study for Adult Literacy Georgia State University Syracuse U. Team Hopes to Keep Alive AskERIC, an Online Source for Education Data By BROCK READ A team of professors and consultants at Syracuse University is hoping to keep alive a popular online research tool for education data that the U.S. Department of Education has decided to stop financing. The search tool, a Web site known as AskERIC, provides researchers with access to education resources online and also allows them to request information from experts in a number of educational fields. The information that appears on the site was collected by the Educational Resources Information Center, known as ERIC, which consists of 16 subject-specific clearinghouses that have been supported by the Education Department. One of the clearinghouses, the Clearinghouse on Information Technology, has operated the AskERIC site. But in June, the department began a search for a contractor to collapse the clearinghouses into one database, arguing that a centralized system would be more efficient and affordable (The Chronicle, April 23). The proposed revamping does not include financial support for AskERIC, which the Education Department deemed inessential, according to Luna Levinson, an educational-program specialist at the department's Institute of Education Sciences. "The new system will include an online database that is exceedingly fast," she said. "Therefore, a search service like AskERIC should not be necessary." But professors at the Information Institute of Syracuse, the location of ERIC's Clearinghouse on Information Technology, think the AskERIC site is worth continuing, and are preparing to manage it as a branch of the university. Since the Syracuse staff already oversees the site's day-to-day operation, the change will involve only seeking money from the university and from outside sources, rather than depending on the Education Department for funds. R. David Lankes, AskERIC's director, said that the transition would not impede the services of the Web site, which aims to help teachers, students, and parents find online educational resources and sift through them -- if necessary, by putting the site's users in contact with experts who can sort the wheat from the chaff. The site's team of experts was drawn largely from administrators of the ERIC clearinghouses, but Mr. Lankes says the restructuring of ERIC will not affect the experts' availability. Cataloging useful and credible online sources has been the online project's goal since 1992, when AskERIC -- which was then run on a lone computer in the closet of a former morgue -- offered nothing more than an e-mail address through which teachers could contact a consultant on education issues. Questions and comments flooded in, according to Mr. Lankes, and AskERIC has gradually expanded ever since, adding information about postsecondary education to its collection of K-12 links and broadening its base of participating experts. The site, managed by Mr. Lankes and a team of assistants, now employs seven consultants at Syracuse and receives input from almost 200 education analysts nationwide, including college professors, library and museum administrators, and officers in state education departments. Visitors to the site can contact its staff of experts through e-mail. From 1 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, they can engage in real-time conversations online. They can also canvass ERIC's database of resources, which includes links to about 3,500 Web sites and studies, more than 250 lesson plans, and archives of mailing lists maintained by the information center. With the database, and through the online consultations, Mr. Lankes hopes to offer teachers unbiased information that helps them determine if education trends like technology integration and high-risk testing will work in their classrooms. "It's sort of like an academic library," he said of the database. "It's about delivering multiple perspectives on each issue. Our job is to say, 'Here are 12 articles expressing different viewpoints from credible sources.'" _______________________________________________ AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA@lists.literacytent.org http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy http://literacytent.org
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