ken@aiai.uucp (Ken Johnson) (03/09/91)
I'm out looking for people who are willing to become E-mail pen-friends for a group of Scottish teachers for two nights next month (April). If you took part last year, please volunteer again: a year is a long time on the Net, so I assume that no-one who took part last year will be available this year unless they volunteer again. This notice is going to all the groups that interesting people read so I hope to get 30 or 40 responses (except soc.motss and soc.singles won't fit on the Newsgroups line). I'm introducing a group of 10 teachers of English language (not of computing) to simple E-mail and text processing on the evenings of 9 and 10 April 1991, between 1900h and 2100h British Summer Time (1800-2000 GMT). It will probably continue after that if there is a lot of traffic. I'd like them to have real people to e-mail to. After the course the teachers will not have further access to e-mail except, for a few days, by coming to my office by appointment. Last year I just collected e-mail names and addresses and as a result some of the people who volunteered got nothing to do. This year, mail me if you want to take part and as the picture becomes clearer I will tell you the e-mail addresses of one or two people on the course (1). You can send those people information about yourself as you please. And of course you can tell them how E-mail has changed your life, how using a WP has improved your written English, what you think of school, etc. etc. You'll have LOADS to talk about :-) Please volunteer by E-mail (i.e. hit `r' not `f' unless you REALLY want to follow up) to me before the end of March so I can get things organised. -- Ken (1) There is no risk to confidentiality since the user-id's are all of the form courseXX and are not derived from the users' actual names. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What follows is the entry describing the event in the Science Festival programme. (This is the original. The version in the programme was edited.) Interactive Writing Cheap, robust, lightweight computers small enough to fit into a bicycle saddlebag or a sports-bag will become a common part of every schoolchild's equipment over the next ten years. This two-evening event is meant to give teachers a chance to explore how English teaching might be affected by this development. Teachers have a chance to try out state of the art text processing and electronic mail at two evening events at the Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute at the University of Edinburgh. You don't need to `know about computers'. The event is particularly aimed at teachers with little or no computing experience. Sessions will run from 7pm to 9pm on Tuesday 9 April and Wednesday 10 April 1991. Monday's theme will be `Electronic mail'; Tuesday's will describe educational use of text processing. There will be lots of hands-on experience. Numbers are limited to 10 and advance booking is essential. A charge of 10.00 will be made (which covers both evenings). Some financial support may be available. Applications: Please send a stamped addressed envelope, to arrive before 22 March 1991, to K R Johnson, Senior Computing Officer A I Applications Institute 80 South Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1HN Phone 031-650 2756, e-mail ken@aiai.ed.ac.uk. Please do not send money with your initial enquiry.