FW: ALA NEWS

[Lori Keenan <lkeenan@norby.latah.lib.id.us>]

Visionaries,

This may be of interest to you or to others you know.

Lori Keenan
Latah County Library District


>Free online course introduces families to the Internet
>
>FamiliesConnect, the parent/extended family component of the
>American
>Association of School Librarians' (AASL) ICONnect technology
>initiative, will offer its free online course beginning the
>week of
>March 6, 2000.  The deadline for course registration is March
>5.
>
>"FamiliesConnect: An Introduction to the Internet," is a five
>lesson
>course designed to help parents, grandparents, and other
>extended
>family members learn about the Internet and how to use it with
>children and their information needs.  Anyone with Internet access and
>a basic understanding of e-mail can register for the course.
>
>The first of five weekly lessons will be delivered to registrants via
>e-mail during the week of March 6.  Lessons will be posted
>simultaneously each week on the FamiliesConnect Web site at
>http://www.ala.org/ICONN/familiesconnect.html.
>
>The first lesson provides a brief history of the Internet, defines
>terms related to Internet use, and describes 12 ways families can use
>the Internet together including making travel plans and visiting
>virtual museums.  The second lesson is an overview of ways to find
>information on the Internet including using a variety of search tools,
>homework sites, ICONnect's KidsConnect service and subscription-based
>services such as online encyclopedias.  E-mail and the way it has
>changed the way people communicate is the topic of the third lesson.
>The fourth lesson addresses privacy concerns, child safety, the use of
>the Internet in schools and the pros and cons of home Internet
>filtering programs.  The fifth and final lesson covers criteria for
>evaluating Web sites, intellectual property rights and citing
>information found on the Internet.
>
>Each lesson features recommended sites related to its topic that will
>be accessible via a Web page created specifically for the course.
>Recommendations for books and other materials for more in-depth
>information are also included in the lessons.
>
>To register:
>-- Send an e-mail message to: listproc@ala.org
>-- As the subject of the message, type: subscribe
>-- As the first and only line of text in the body of the message,
>type:
>   subscribe FAMILIES Your Name
>
>For example:
>subscribe FAMILIES Jane Doe
>
>Contact ICONnect at ICONnect@ala.org if a confirmation message is not
>received within 24 hours.  Do not send your registration message to
>the ICONnect@ala.org address.
>
>To register, America Online (AOL) users must set their Parental
>Controls to accept e-mail from the "ala.org" domain.  If this is not
>done, AOL will automatically block delivery of the confirmation
>message and all of the lessons.  AOL will also block any attempt on
>our part to respond to a message sent by you to ICONnect@ala.org.
>Please contact AOL if you need assistance adjusting your Parental
>Controls.  Other Internet service providers may have child safety
>features similar to AOL's Parental Controls that would also need to be
>set to accept e-mail from the "ala.org" domain.
>
>"FamiliesConnect: An Introduction to the Internet" was written by
>Helen Adams, media specialist at Rosholt (Wis.) High School, and
>Catherine Beyers, media specialist at LaCrosse (Wis.) Elementary
>School.
>
>AASL established the ICONnect technology initiative to train school
>library media specialists to use the Internet as a meaningful
>curriculum tool to help students develop information literacy skills.
>ICONnect's Online Courses and annual ICPrize for Collaboration through
>Technology components teach the skills necessary to effectively
>utilize online resources and encourage integrating the Internet into
>the classroom.  ICONnect established its KidsConnect and
>FamiliesConnect components to help children and their families find
>and evaluate information on the Internet.
>ICONnect receives financial support from Follett Library Resources,
>The Gale Group, Winnebago Software Corporation, Linworth Publishing,
>Grolier Publishing, Brodart Books and Brodart Automation.  Learn more
>about the ICONnect technology initiative by visiting the ICONnect Web
>site at http://www.ala.org/ICONN.
>
>AASL is a division of the American Library Association.
>
>-30-
>
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