In this Issue: NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR A Wealth of Resources The RTECs: A Wealth of Resources Promising and Exemplary Programs: Models You Can Use Computer-Based Study Strategies: An Update

Computer-Based Study Strategies:
An Update

by Mary Ditson

Thanks to the NETC Circuit, which provided a plug for CBSS, people throughout the NETC area found out about Computer-Based Study Strategies. As a result, over a dozen schools and districts joined the ranks of CBSS Participating Sites, each with a CBSS project leader, an implmentation plan, skill-building workshops (given by me and provided free thanks to a federal grant), technical support, and follow-up activities. All of this serves a purpose: to integrate the use of CBSS across the curriculum, allowing as many students as possible to use Computer-Based Study Strategies.

CBSS Web Site

Since that time, we've created a Web site [see box below] where you can learn all about CBSS: The Scoop (about the project, historical background, application for participation, etc.), The Club (the CBSS bulletin board, newsletter, etc.), The Calendar (schedule of CBSS trainings and presentations), The Strategies (online tutorials, instructional materials, courses, etc.), and The Links (connecting to resources of interest to CBSS--using teachers/specialists, administrators, parents, and students). Now anyone, anytime, can "learn how to learn" through CBSS and get involved in this meaningful use of technology.

In addition, we provided CBSS training at six summer institutes in 1999. The most exciting of these was the first CBSS Project Leaders' Institute. Project leaders met for four days at the Center for Electronic Studying at the University of Oregon, home of the CBSS Outreach Project. The group included special education teachers, technology coordinators, special education directors, principals, reading specialists from Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The Institute provided intense learning (and two graduate credits) balanced with large doses of camaraderie, fun, and support. This group dubbed itself "leadteam1" and demanded a listserv--which we now have--for on-going communications.

CIM-Compatible

CBS We have also been developing "CIM-compatible CBSS" and providing workshops through Oregon's 21 educational service districts, courtesy of a grant from the Oregon Department of Education. With all the talk about standards, achievement, "homework wars," and--simultaneously--the increasing availability of computers in schools and homes, it is critical that we go beyond the use of computers for programmed instruction, "info glut," word processing, and "a-muse-ment" (i.e., no-thinking stuff). We need to go right to the specific use of technology for standards, achievement, and homework--learning, reading, writing, math, studying--as they will be accomplished in the new millennium.

If your school or district is ready to put its computers to excellent use, validated through our decade of research, consider participating in the CBSS Outreach Project. Visit the Web site (see below), give us a call (541-346-2623), or e-mail us at mditson@oregon. uoregon.edu.