Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh

Informational Newsletter
Volume 95, Number 9
http://info.ckp.edu/newsletter/v95n9.html

AskERIC

The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is a national, government-sponsored information system that provides access to education-related literature. ERIC offers educators research summaries, bibliographies, reference services, computer searches, and document reproduction.

AskERIC, which began service in mid-November 1992, is an Internet-based education information service of the ERIC System. It is comprised of an AskERIC Q & A Service, AskERIC Virtual Library, and an AskERIC R&D. Following is a description of these three major components:

AskERIC Q & A Service
It's no news that computers on the Internet are chockful of information. However, no matter how good the indexing and tools are, users - particularly new and infrequent users - can't always find what they're looking for. One solution is to add real people between the users and the information. This is the approach AskERIC has taken.

Teachers, library media specialists, administrators, and others involved in education can send an email message requesting education information to AskERIC. An AskERIC information specialist, a real person, drawing on the vast resources and expertise of the ERIC System, will repond within 48 hours with ERIC database searches, ERIC Digests and Internet resources. The benefit of the human-mediate service is that it allows AskERIC staff to interact with the user, and provide relevant education resources tailored to the user's needs.
To request education information, send email to:
askeric@ericir.syr.edu

AskERIC Virtural Library
The AskERIC Virtual Library is an Internet site of selected resources for education and general interest. Some of the contents include lesson plans, access to the ERIC Database and full-text ERIC digests, InfoGuides (topical guides to Internet and ERIC resources), Goals 2000 information and government resources, and remote access to other Internet sites.
To access the AskERIC Virtual Library:
From the CK:P Main Menu choose:
Gopher
K12 Internet Resources/
Library Resources/
Search ERIC/
From Netscape, Lynx or other WWW client type:
URL: http://ericir.syr.edu

AskERIC Research and Development
The AskERIC Research and Development team was formed so that AskERIC could continue to utilize cutting edge technology to provide high quality service to the education community. Current R&D projects include providing access to full-text ERIC documents on the Internet, improved interface to the ERIC database on the Internet, automating the distributed question-answering service, and multimedia development of the Virtual Library.

Thus, if you have questions about K12 education, learning, teaching, information technology, educational administration, just AskERIC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: What are ERIC Digests?
Answer: "ERIC Digests" are two-page research syntheses, which are among the ERIC system's most popular offerings. There are currently more than 1,000 Digests, and approximately 100 new titles are produced each year.

Question: What are some of the questions AskERIC has answered?
Answer: AskERIC has answered the following questions:
1. From a foreign language teacher - how to help students find email penpals in Spain.
2. From an elementary school teacher - where to get information on multiage classrooms.
3. From a school principal - where to find samples of computer curricula for K12 classes.
4. From a school board member - where to find information on school district restructuring.

Workshops and Support

We are conducting a second set of workshops for anyone interested in learning more about using the Internet. Each workshop will be two hours long and can accommodate 15 people. Participants will have the opportunity to use a computer for two hours and learn about a particular aspect of the Internet. All the workshops are from 4:00 - 6:00 in Room G-8 at the Woolslair Gifted Center.

Monday, December 11	Beginning Email
Wednesday, December 13	Newsgroups

To register for one of the workshops, please call Kathy Mingone, our secretary, at 622-5930.

Obtaining Help

Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh maintains a number of email addresses that provide users with online help. If you have an account on the system and would like to obtain answers to common questions, send email to:

trouble@pps.pgh.pa.us (technical assistance)

resources@pps.pgh.pa.us (curricular assistance)

info@ckp.edu (information pertaining to Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh)

sliplube@pps.pgh.pa.us (setting up a slip account on a PC)

macslip@pps.pgh.pa.us (setting up a slip account on a MAC)

If you are a PPS employee and would like an Internet account, call us at 622-5930.