Hilee Draehn
April 17, 2001
COMM 5350a
Lesson 12:

Develop a who's who listing of people and places forming telecommunications networks for delivering instruction in which you are personally and professionally interested in gaining more in-depth learning and familiarity.

Make an on-line visit to at least three of the websites and these people and places and develop a one-page handout listing the URL addresses and interesting information you learned to share with other students in class and instructor.

1. The Texas Distance Learning Association:      http://www.txdla.org/
The Texas Distance Learning Association (TxDLA) is a private, non-profit affiliate of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA). TxDLA membership is open to all individuals, statewide, nationwide, and around the world, who are interested in promoting the implementation of effective distance learning. TxDLA promotes the implementation of effective distance learning for the benefit of all Texans. TxDLA is the leading Texas membership association for distance learning professionals. Members represent public and private education institutions at all levels as well as corporate training professionals and distance learning equipment and content providers. Also, members have a strong interest in keeping abreast of the ideas, technologies, and content that will help them develop and maintain leading-edge distance learning programs and products. This site also notes such links as: email and bulletin board listings, career resources, and noteworthy news.

2. EduHound:      http://www.eduhound.com/
This is a family of websites that includes specific links to free clip art, a prescreened directory of more than 20,000 links in over 50 categories (too many to mention-professional articles, helpful suggestions from peers, tutorials, lesson plan ideas, and grant/funding information), and a directory of K-12 US schools, districts, and classrooms on the web categorized by state and type. Moreover, most sites are also available in Spanish.

3. The Journal of Technology Studies:      http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTS
This professional journal features full text articles highlighting current trends, frameworks, and research in technology education. Of particular interest in the Winter-Spring 2000 issue, is an article discussing the use of technology and "at risk" students.