tkt8763-01: Change in assignment

["Larry S. Anderson -- NCTP" <lsa1@ra.msstate.edu>]

Attention all Summer '99 students!!!

I have posted a change in your assignments to the class web page
(www.msstate.edu/dept/teched/sip), so you should navigate there and see
what the modification is.

Remember, this assignment should be completed, in its entirety, by the
first day of class.  Yes, I know the posted deadline is July 27 and that
is the second day of class; however, eagles don't wait.  I *expect* you to
have completed this assignment before class begins and you will be able to
discuss any/all of the plans you have critiqued.

We are on the fast track here....don't be left behind!!!  This experience
will not be distinctly unlike sipping (pun intended) water from a fire
hose!!  After all, we are divorcing ourselves from commonness, as members
of the SIP gang.

I have sent letters to all students enrolled in the class and I expect all
of you to be checking the web site frequently for updates.  The majority
of your work should be completed during the first two weeks of class and
we meet face-to-face the third, final week.  I have enough planned for
that week already to last one month...so we don't have time to
"molly-coddle" around.  This is not an insignificant experience.

Now, a note to alumni....please help students in this summer's class.  If
you have advice for them, please give it.  If you have ideas for
resources, give it to them.  If you have an particular notion that you
think would help these students who are taking SIP this summer, in an
intensive time frame, I would love to hear/read your words of sage wisdom.

It's time for the champions to step forward!!!  I know the "Tupelo gang"
is working like bees and have reported that they are finished reading
several of the books on the list already.

I hope all the rest of you have completed "Think and Grow Rich" by now.
You should begin (if you haven't already) posting your critiques on your
personal web pages this week so we can start looking over your thoughts.
The excuse "Oh me, I don't have a web page!!!!" is exactly that -- an
excuse; it's not a reason.  There are *plenty* of places where you can
have web pages free on the web, so nobody has any excuse any longer for
not having a web page.  If you say, "Oh, I don't know how," well...guess
what?  There are *plenty* of hand-holding tutorials on the web for doing
just this, so dive in and let's learn the basics so you can feel good
about posting your stuff.

If you don't have a page, check out www.tripod.com  or
www.filamentality.com or the geocities site or angelfire or .... the list
goes on and on and on.  Some of you have experience building web pages on
these "free" sites, so you might offer words of wisdom.

Too, there are plenty of free or almost-free web page construction tools
that you can download and use.  One of my most favorite is Site Central (a
new product from the HyperStudio people) at www.sitecentral.com.  The
Windows version has been released; the Mac version is due out in July, I
think. Roger Wagner sent me an email promising to send me a pre-release
version of the Mac version.  I loaned my copy of the Windows version to a
young person who had never made a web page previously; in the first 30
minutes that person had the tool, he had created four pages!  One of your
SIP alumni has my copy at this time and she made several pages with
remarkably little effort (any advice, Marilyn?).

So, let's hit it, folks.

And...pity the poor souls who don't know what SIP is like and aren't
checking their mail or (heaven forbid) haven't followed the instructions
to sign on to this mailing list yet.  Can you imagine the look on their
face if they show up for class on July 26 and haven't done any of this???
I'll try to have my Kleenex, Dramamine, Pepto-Bismol, Prozac, No-Doz, and
othe assorted medications available for those poor souls.  If any of you
have other medications or if you are particularly good at CPR, you might
come ready for action, too.  

Now, most of you who know me realize I have my tongue in my cheek, but
this is no ordinary "course" in which we are engaged.  This is a
life-changing experience in which we need to ponder ways we can improve
the world as a result of our having come together.  

Remember, the very first edition of the Guidebook was created during one
of these "one-weekers"....of course, most members of the class stayed up
all night two nights writing, editing, and compiling that document.  What
a mark they made on the world, though.

So, let's see how you are doing.

If you are enrolled in SIP for Summer '99, please send me an email reply
so I know you got this and are reading your mail...and intend to get a
good grade!  Silence will be the tell-tale signal for the ones who....
well, you get the point!

By the way, this is not intended as intimidation; it's just a unique way
in which we eagles express our determination to drive complacency,
commonness, and the "ordinary lifestyle" into a dark, desolate corner,
never to rear its ugly head in our lives again!!  We're "Mac 5 with our
hair on fire!!"

--"Dr. A"

Larry S. Anderson, Ed.D.                              LSA1@Ra.MsState.Edu
Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Technology & Education       Voice: (662) 325-2281
Founder, National Center for Technology Planning      Fax: (662) 325-7599
                    Mississippi State University
Chair, Council for Education Technology              State of Mississippi
         My personal home page URL-- http://www2.msstate.edu/~lsa1
                    NCTP web page -- http://www.nctp.com

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