ASPIN has been the leader and participant in many leading-edge projects. In the future, we will continue to lend our expertise to new and innovative connectivity projects as well as developing applications that will provide us with real world testing environments in which data may be collected and analyzed in order to formulate successful strategies for integrating emerging technologies into classroom curriculum.

 

The Microcomputers in Education Conference is in its 23rd year of providing K-12 and university-level educational professionals with an annual forum to learn, exchange, and survey the changes being made in the field of education technology. Through hands-on workshops, lecture-format and interactive "short" sessions, discussions with key industry speakers, and a vendor exhibition hall, participants have the unique opportunity to discover and share what they need to develop the appropriate use of technology in education. Conference dates are March 17-19, 2003. The Conexiones project teaches lifelong academic skills to migrant students by infusing technology, science and mathematics into a highly individualized curriculum. The proposed project will establish a research network whose design is driven by applications requiring highspeed/high bandwidth connectivity. ASPIN has assisted community and non-profit organizations gain a world-wide presence through the development of Internet websites. Both server space and assistance with programming of the Web site are available.

The Arizona Behavioral Initiative (ABI) is a non-profit project, whose primary purpose is to establish a comprehensive and focused statewide effort to improve the capacity of educators, administrators and education professionals to address their specific school discipline needs and enable the development of positive teaching and learning environments. ASPIN is collaborating with a nationwide consortium of partners to develop and maintain an internet-based 21st Century Distributed Learning Environment, incorporating both current and leading-edge technologies, to benefit both the public and private sector acquisition communities. A digital infrastructure will be developed to distribute training, education, and mentoring programs, as well as online performance support tools. ASPIN is providing technological expertise to KidsVoting organizations around the country. ASPIN efforts have led to the creation and sponsorship of online chat sessions which will allow students to interact with various government officials and political candidates.

 

Eruditio, also known as the Arizona USWest Teacher Network, establishes a statewide network of teachers and administrators skilled in the use of telecommunications to improve student achievement. This project establishes a Network Information Center at two campuses of the Navajo Community College, and will work toward developing a virtual campus linking all seven campus sites in the Navajo Nation. This project, funded by the NSF as "Wireless Connectivity in Western Arizona," provides support for wireless connections to an existing microwave wide area network at ten sites in three rural communities. It also establishes a NIC position at Arizona Western College. ASPIN is partnering with the ASU Instruction Support Lab, the ASU Department of Communications, Marimba Inc., and the Arizona State Legislature, to develop a push-technology application that will facilitate the retrieval of information from the state legislative database. The project proposes the formation of a community partnership consisting of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, ASU Information Technology, the Community Forum, and City of Phoenix to develop an Internet based search engine for use by neighborhood groups and residents to search for local online information relevant to neighborhood issues. ASPIN is sponsoring an on-line chat forum, open to the public, with various Western artists, held in conjunction with the 10th Annual Western ArtWalk

This grant, funded by the NSF as "Wireless Connectivity in Mohave County", provides partial support for one year to establish wireless connections to four K-12 schools in a rural community in northwest Arizona. In addition, it provides for the establishment of a NIC staff position at Mohave Community College. Funded under NCRI's "Connections to the Internet" announcement, this one-year project will develop a replicable model for connecting K-12 schools to the Internet utilizing cable television's fiber-optic structure. In addition it will provide a ready environment for testing multimedia educational applications requiring a high-bandwidth infrastructure. This research project, initially funded by the National Science Foundation, will investigate technologies and develop documentation detailing procedures for designing and implementing cost-effective wireless internetworking solutions within K-12 school or library settings. ASPIN is providing technological expertise to KidsVoting organizations around the country. ASPIN efforts have led to the creation and sponsorship of online chat sessions which will allow students to interact with various government officials and political candidates. The Earthvision project explores environmental issues, infusing computational science and visualization of data with high school curriculum.