Research Resource: ERIC
The ERIC system which archives much of the educational research of the last several decades has undergone major changes in the last year as a result of restructuring in the U.S. Education Department. The ERIC centers which provided analysis of research and direct assistance to educators are now discontinued. However, the archives are still available, and may be searched from the new ERIC central site (http://www.eric.ed.gov). The USED is developing a new ERIC strategy, which it plans to have in place by September 2004. Part of the new system will be an online database including all the previous archives, new submissions from 2004, and an improved search capability.
Some of the previous ERIC topical centers have continued to maintain documents online, or have changed into similar topical centers under other funding. Two examples of particular interest for educational technology planning include:
- Center for Educational Policy and Management (http://www.eric.uoregon.edu) - This site continues to update their previous database with local sponsorship.
- Educator's Reference Desk (http://www.eduref.org) - Formerly operated by the Educational Technology Center, this site is now run by another organization in Syracuse. It provides access to the previous database, and has an educational technology section providing many good linkages. (http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/res.cgi/Educational_Technology).