You are invited to participate in a conference of NIE Principal Investigators and practitioners. The conference will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 3 - 5, 1997. The NIE program has emphasized issues relating to systemic educational reform. The conference will carry this theme forward, and explore the balance between educational research and classroom practice.
Goals of the conference will be to summarize lessons learned in the NIE program, to identify successful strategies and problem areas in the development and application of technological infrastructure for education, and to inform ongoing and future research initiatives.
Each NIE project is invited to participate by sending one principal investigator and one or two teacher/practitioners to the meeting. Many of the lessons learned in NIE projects are applicable beyond the NSF. For this reason, representatives of other agencies and foundations which support educational reform efforts are also being invited to attend the meeting.
Preceding the Pittsburgh meeting there will be online discussions on issues that will be summarized in break-out sessions at the conference. The online discussions will take place from March 10-28. Each discussion topic is meant to support the overall theme of educational reform. A preliminary list of the issues to be addressed in these sessions is as follows:
Conference attendees will visit school and community networking sites in Pittsburgh which serve as examples of networking practice. These examples will help attendees establish a common ground for dealing with the research issues listed above. A preliminary agenda for the full conference is attached below.
Information on accommodations, a detailed agenda, and information on the online discussions will be contained in a separate electronic mailing. The following electronic mailbox has been set up for general information on the conference:
conf@info-ren.orgPlease use this address to confirm your plans to attend the meeting and to send any questions you might have about meeting details, either now or as the meeting time approaches. If you have problems reaching this electronic address, you may contact the conference coordinator, Bess Adams, at 412-624-9257. A conference Web site will be established at
http://www.info-ren.org/projects/conference/to provide general information about the conference and to coordinate online discussions and conference registration. The Web site will be operational by March 3.
The conference hotel is the Pittsburgh Hilton. Attendees should make their own room reservations by telephoning 800-HILTONS (800-445-8667) anytime after March 3. We have arranged for a block rooms to be made available at a conference rate, on a first come basis, for those who make their reservations by March 19, 1997 To qualify for these accomodations, please mention the NSF conference "Balancing Research and Practice" when making your arrangements with the Hilton.
Travel arrangements should also be made by individual attendees. Please make your reservations early to qualify for the lowest available airfares. Rooms will be available at the Hilton for those choosing to stay in Pittsburgh over Saturday night, April 5.
We look forward to your attendance at the meeting.
Thanks,
NIE staff