Children in the third-grade class at Shadowlawn Elementary School in Naples, Florida, engage in many of the same activities as children throughout the country–they write letters, read stories, conduct science experiments and play games. This class is unusual, however, in that these youngsters do some of their experiments with children in England, read and write stories via a modem with other children in New Zealand, and learn about Alaska from a tour guide in Fairbanks.[1] Through telecommunications, classrooms in Florida are no longer bound by four walls, but are open to include students, experts and learning experiences from around the world. Thanks to the Florida Department of Education, the only ongoing expense for these international “interchanges” is the standard cost of a local telephone connection. * Florida Information Resource Network (FIRN) The Florida Information Resource Network (FIRN) was established by the state legislature and the Florida Department of Education a dozen years ago, in 1982. It was based on the existing state university systems’ network and other resources. Initial FIRN goals included providing equal access to computing resources for all public educational entities in the state and reducing the data burden on teachers and administrators.[2] In 1991, FIRNMAIL, an electronic mail component, was added to the system. Access to FIRNMAIL is provided completely free of charge to all public educators in Florida. There is no charge for connect time, and local dial-up numbers are available statewide. In its under-three-year lifespan, FIRNMAIL has grown to over 8,000 registered users. Almost 900 new users register for accounts each month.[3] FIRN is having a major impact on teachers and instruction. Over 50% of FIRNMAIL users are in K-12 schools, with the single largest component in the elementary schools.[3] Further, when K-12 FIRNMAIL accounts are analyzed by subject area, it becomes clear that classroom teachers are the primary users of the system. As illustrated in Figure 2, school administrators only account for 4% of the total K-12 FIRNMAIL use.[3] * Using FIRN in Classrooms There are numerous ways in which the educators and students of Florida use the FIRN system. Major categories of use include electronic mail exchanges, participation in online conferences, remote research and access to classroom resource lists. Electronic Mail Exchanges Via FIRNMAIL, educators in Florida have easy access to each other, without playing telephone tag or incurring long-distance telephone charges. Available e-mail activities include scheduling a meeting with other educators, participating in professional development exchanges and conducting student-centered projects. For example, students in several classrooms in various parts of the state conducted research and wrote papers about Indians from their regions. The papers were then uploaded into FIRNMAIL and shared with students at other participating schools.[4] The FIRNMAIL system also offers e-mail access to the Internet; students and teachers can send and receive international messages directly from their FIRNMAIL accounts. Through the Internet connections, numerous projects are now underway that provide interactive exchanges with students in Russia, Antarctica, Australia, the United Kingdom and other places around the world. Online Conferences The FIRN system offers over 50 different online conferences for Florida’s educators. These conferences provide a forum for messages, announcements, questions and answers. Conferences differ from electronic mail in that the messages are not addressed to specific individuals; instead, they are posted for anyone who is a member of the conference to read. Conferences in FIRN include a General Announcements bulletin board, a Media Exchange forum, and special topics in subject areas such as Elementary Education, Science or Archeology.
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