.IF DSK1.C-3  .CE 10 ~~~~~ TI-101 ~~~~~ OUR 4/A UNIVERSITY  by Jack Sughrue Box 459 E.Douglas MA 01516 #9 AFTERWORD The eight-session course on the educational aspects of our TI-99/4A was harder work for me than I first realized when Charlie Good asked me to write it. I thought then that it would be fun, and it was. The problems, however, were a shortage and a surfeit of materials. In my computer room at home there is probably the largest collection of TI printed materials in existence. (Yes, Barry Traver, even more than you.) I also have a fewthousanddisks and tapes at home and in my third-grade classroom at the Stapleton School in Framingham, Massachusetts. Couple that with the developmental learning books and materials I've gathered up in my 30-plus years of teaching in college and secondary, as well as elementary, public schools, and you can imagine the solid-packed storage areas of materials relating to education and to computing. That's the surfeit. (Or "junk," as my patient wife refers to it.) The shortage is what kinds of educational materials presently are available to the average or new TI consumer. So a dilemma was trying to write about available materials and explain how those materials could be gotten. And, at the same time, discuss what ways all these and other materials could be used to provide the best education for the new and experienced learner, old or young. Education was the main concern. So I went through newsletters - eleven filled boxes, alphabetized by group and then by chronology. Most of these newsletters no longer publish. (Just this week another great - and the only Connecticut - newsletter died: Janet Ryan's NUTMEG 99.) Next, I went through all the magazines (MINI, ENTHUSIAST, REFLECTIONS, 99er, and many others that were devoted solely to the TI). Then the cartridges and their manuals, the disks and their manuals, the tapes and their manuals. Then all the books. I was astounded to discover all the stuff out there devoted to the educational aspect of our computer. So, I figured the best way to approach the whole thing was to give a bit of the history leading to present-day developmental learning methodologies and explain how the TI can readily plug into that structure at home and at school. I used the TI at home with my four kids as they were growing up, and I still use the TI with my present third-grade tykes. My new third-grade compatriot in the next room was so intrigued, she went to the Boston 1992 Fayuh and bought three consoles for herself, along with a PBox, tape recorder, piles of cartridges, and so on. Now the two of us have six TI's running practically all the time during the school day with very specific tasks for each of the children. Every third-grader gets at least an hour a week on one of the machines, and they become computer operating pros in a very short time. But, more importantly, their academic skills continue to improve steadily, as the TI's not only serve as stimulant, but they enhance much of the classroom learning. The excitement has not gone out of the machine, nor the good learning experience; it's just a new clientele is now ready to proceed with reckless abandon. (Including learning how to spell "potato" without an "e"). It's a real shame that more people aren't aware how wonderful (and wonderfully easy) our computer is for children or for any learners. Once I saw how much material I had and started perusing it, I realized that I needed to get back to using lots of great stuff that somehow slipped away from me over the years, even though I have never stopped using the TI in well over a decade (things like "Name That Bone" and "Telling Time" and "Square Pairs" and "The Everything Teacher" and "Cosmopoly" and and and and .... But then I had to write some articles which were practical for grandparents (which, in a few months, I'm about to become for the first time and second time, as both my daughters are mothers-to-be) and teachers and uncles and friends to use with new learners. So more selection. There are so many programmers and other educational TI enthusiasts who have done and are doing so much for the next generation (people like Jim Peterson and Eunice Spooner and Don Shorock) that it would have been impossible to even mention everyone. That's why I chose specific examples to represent all. (Don Shorock, by the way, recently sent me twobrand newdisks full of his excellent educational materials in his remarkable, unique programming manner.) Before I leave this series, though (even in this parting note), I must take a few minutes (inches?) to tell about one of the great programmers for early childhood and elementary schools: Tony Falco. Tony wrote a pile of wonderful, commercial programs (including some teriffic ones for 99er MAGAZINE). He did WORDWIZARD, NUMBER NIBBLER, the BEAMER math series, WORD-WORLD, THE CRAYON BOX, SUPER-CITY, and a pile of classics too long to print out here. He also scrunched better than almost anyone. His tinies are still being reprinted in newsletters all over the world, years after their original publication in M.U.N.C.H. His specific learning programs (like the subtraction series on borrowing) are the best there are for our computer. All his commercial and early magazine programs and a fascinating batch of others have been gathered together by Tony at my urging and are released as a fundraiser for the M.U.N.C.H. Computer Group (c/o Jim Cox, 905 Edgebrook Drive, Boylston, MA 01505) on five disks (about 70 programs) for $8.95, including shipping and handling. A super educational package. I learned more about programming from studying Tony's programs than I did from any other programmer. I would never have been able to do PLUS! if it weren't for Tony. My kids at school love his programs, many with extraordinary graphics. What does all this educational exploration really lead to? Hopefully, a self-networking source for all the great educational uses and materials. An open learning network for everybody! If people writing programs or finding programs or materials relating to the TI as an educational tool wish to assist me as a clearing house, I'd be happy to do it. I'll not only be sure stuff gets out to the kids, but I'll distribute any materials through TIGERCUB, as well as the Lima and M.U.N.C.H. groups. That way, any adults needing any educational materials could get their hands on the stuff quickly and inexpensively. John Kolean, editor of MICROpendium, recently wrote that he has had a console hard at work for many years. I, too, have had consoles (two) that have seen great battles for over a decade and are still operating trouble free. These two consoles run the entire school year, all day every day. They have been banged on by elementary children all this time and have been used all summers by my family. They have been lugged on vacations to Cape Cod and to workshops in libraries and other schools throughout New England. And have operated flawlessly. I've cleaned them (because school chalk dust and sticky little hands are the worst things that can happen to computers), but I've never had them in for repair to TI or even to our user group. I see no reason why they won't still be operating on all four cylinders well into the 21st Century (at least until 2003, when I retire). The advice I gave about joining and participating in user groups (and using their text and software libraries, as well as receiving an informative monthly newsletter) is still the best advice I can give any potential user of the 4A for educational purposes (or for any other purposes). From there, you can branch out beyond your wildest dreams. Sorry, I have to get back to my LOGO II. There are all kinds of things I'm just discovering. Maybe I might even let the kids use it. Someday. So, on behalf of Mr.^Shakespeare, Ms.^Bronte, Mr.^Bell, The Old Professor, and all the other members of the TI-101 Class, good fortune! There's always TIme for TIing for educaTIon, enterTaInment, and InTellectual sTImulaTIon. Հ