Russia and Czech republic

Our Citizen Ambassador Program delegation traveled to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Prague.

Journal of the Citizen Ambassador Program Reading Education Delegation to Russia and the Czech Republic. Spokane, WA: People to People International.

 

People’s Republic of China

Citizen Ambassador Program Reading Education Delegation to the People’s Republic of China (Spokane, WA: People to People International).

Epilogue: Learning from China

 

Dialogues in Methods of Education

Joined the Dialogues in Methods of Education (DIME) group. DIME members have studied together how to improve their own teaching practices through research, the sharing of ideas, and mutual support. They have also engaged in critical analysis of the disciplinary and institutional forces shaping their work. The history of DIME shows the importance of accommodating difference in providing support for sustained community.

 

Curriculum & Instruction

I worked in the Curriculum & Instruction department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1990 to 2000. I taught courses such as

• Computer Assisted Instruction,
• Classroom Science,
• Inquiry Teaching and Learning,
• Evaluation of Information Technologies,
• Ethical & Policy Issues in Information Technology,
• Discourses of Science,
• Technologies for Learning,
• Reader Response Criticism,
• Children’s Composition,
• Social Contexts and Functions of Writing,
• Epistemology and Education,
• Teacher Communities, and
• Discourse Across the Disciplines.

 

Quill

A suite of software tools designed to foster an environment for literacy in classrooms. The software, teacher’s guide, and workshops were used widely, including in village schools in Alaska, which I visited three times during the project in 1983-84. Andee Rubin and I wrote a book, Electronic Quills: A situated evaluation of using computers for writing in classrooms, which looks in detail at the stories of early users. 1982-84.

 

Center for the Study of Reading

While at BBN, I helped write the proposal for the Center for the Study of Reading. It was established at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by the National Institute of Education in response to the growing concern about the quality of reading instruction in American schools. The proposal became the basis for the book Theoretical issues in reading comprehension: Perspectives from cognitive psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and education.

 

Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc.

I worked at Bolt Beranek and Newman for 16 years on Speech Understanding, Quill, the Center for the Study of Reading, and other projects in the fields of artificial intelligence and education.

 

The Explorer Post Book List

 

Explorer Post 21/52

When I was a teenager, I joined a very unusual Explorer Post (Boy Scout Troop for older boys). A couple of good friends who belonged assured me that it was fun, but they couldn’t have known how profoundly I would be affected by my experiences there, among them, the Explorer Post book list.