Consortium for Educational Telecomputing: Conference Proceedings (Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 18-19, 1991).

Over 50 delegates from 32 states and 2 Canadian provinces attended this conference, during which 5 intensive working group sessions discussed, debated, and achieved agreement on a number of relevant issues concerning the role of educational telecomputing in school reform and restructuring. The conference proceedings begins with an overview of the current status of telecomputing in schools; an executive summary which presents seven conclusions and four recommendations for action from the five working groups; and an editorial guide to interpreting telecomputing issues by Robert Tinker, who addresses applications and requirements for educational telecomputing and organizational needs. Reports from each of the five working groups are then presented under these headings: (1,2) The Opportunity and Experience (Working Group I: Education); (3) Overcoming Barriers (Working Group 2: Curriculum and Teacher Support, and Working Group 3: Network Functions); (4) States and the Consortium (Working Group 4: Organizing a Consortium); and (5) Resources (Working Group 5: Implementing Educational Telecomputing). Each report covers the issues discussed and recommendations as well as the findings of a survey of all of the conference participants that relate to that particular group. A glossary, a guide to abbreviations, and a 14-item bibliography are also provided. Three appendixes contain a report on the EduCorp Statewide Survey that was conducted in 1990 to determine the status of K-12 telecomputing networks across the United States and identify the leaders responsible for those networks; a list of CET conference participants; and abstracts of the papers commissioned by the conference (see the related volume for the full text of these papers). (ALF)