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January 2005 -
Vol. 2, Issue 1 Previous
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Resource of Interest: Indian Ocean tsunami
 Indian
Ocean tsunami: The devastating megathrust
earthquake of magnitude 9.0 that occurred on Sunday morning, Dec. 26,
2004, off the coast of Sumatra set off a tsunami
that crossed the Indian Ocean, creating human death tolls that are currently
exceeding 200,000 and causing severe damage in eleven countries. The threat
of disease increases the liklihood of more deaths, and remains a serious
concern. While extensive recovery and aid efforts are underway to care for
survivors, scientists are examining the series of events that resulted
in this natural disaster. General information on tsunamis can be found at Tsunami! and an animation at the Waves of Destruction site looks at the relationship between
earthquakes and tsunamis. Additional teaching materials can be found at Understanding
Tsunamis, Tsunami: The Big Wave, and Tsunami Visualizations.
Professional development opportunity: My NASA Data
workshop for educators
 NASA
Langley Research Center will host a hands-on workshop for educators
at the 6-12 grade levels, from July 25-29, 2005. The workshop will focus
on the use of Earth Science data sets for student researchers in grades K-12.
The data sets are taken from the archive
of remotely sensed data retrieved from NASA's Earth Observing
System satellites and the Research, Education and Applications
Solution Network (REASoN). Participating teachers will explore topics
in atmospheric science, educational application of data sets, use of weather
measurements, and hands-on classroom activities. Participants will also explore
how data sets can be used to enhance their curriculum and how students can
utilize these data for inquiry-based learning and research.
For more information, visit http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov.
The application deadline is April 8,
2005.
Spreading the word about DLESE: teacher
and librarian survey results
In October and November 2004, the DLESE
Evaluation Core Service administered
surveys to teachers and librarians who had entered their names in a raffle
at a DLESE booth at the National
Science Teachers Association meeting, the Texas
Library Association meeting, or other similar conferences.
One-hundred and thirty four teachers (the majority of them at the secondary
level) responded to the teacher survey. Sixty percent said they logged onto
DLESE as a result of visiting the DLESE booth. Of the teachers who had visited,
20% had already used a resource they found through the discovery system, 23%
had found a resource they intended to use in the near future, and 32% intended
to visit DLESE again in the near future. Twenty-eight percent of the respondents
said they had given their students an assignment to use DLESE; the most frequent
assignment was to do research. Six percent of the teachers had assigned students
to do lab activities. More than half of the respondents had told someone else
about DLESE (most frequently other teachers).
Only 18 librarians responded to the librarian survey, so caution is recommended
for interpreting results. Five librarians found DLESE as a result of visiting
the booth and six had told others about DLESE. Three librarians indicated an
interest in putting a customized DLESE search tool on their library’s
home page; nine more were uncertain. Six were interested in a selectable DLESE
logo for their home page with direct access to DLESE and seven more were uncertain.
More surveys are in the works; stay tuned to find out more about uses of the
discovery system!
NSDL Educational standards workgroup
 An
impromptu meeting at the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) Annual meeting
in November brought together people with an interest in educational standards
and their association with electronic learning resources. Discussion was initiated
about how to coordinate efforts and share information among NSDL collections
and projects working in this area. There are numerous groups working
on different aspects of the issue, including technical development, assessment
of user needs, and interface/display
issues for search and browse. Participants agreed that
a mechanism to facilitate collaboration would be helpful, and a face-to-face
workshop was proposed to provide a focused look at how collaborative
development might be fostered. In response to this need, an email list has
been
created, with the address edu-standards-list@comm.nsdl.org.
To subscribe to this list go to
http://comm.nsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-standards-list.
The email list is a forum for discussing the broad
issues
that cross the boundaries of specific project goals to look at the
interactions between projects, share lessons learned, and look ahead
at how collaborative development might proceed. If you are interested
in or
working in any aspect of educational standards alignment within the context
of digital libraries (content alignment protocols—human or
computer-assisted; user needs; search and display interfaces; technical
underpinnings), please do join this list and contribute to the discussion.
After joining, please send a short introductory message to the group by February
1, 2005
briefly outlining your area(s) of interest and experience in this
arena. An example introductory message will be posted at
the
group's
wiki (collaborative online workspace).
Planning is underway for a workshop in the spring of 2005, pending funding.
News of this workshop will be made available via the email list, the wiki, DLESE
News & Opportunities, and this newsletter.
For more information contact Holly Devaul, devaul@ucar.edu or Anne Diekema, diekemar@mailbox.syr.edu.
Save the date! DLESE 2005 Annual Meeting
Mark your calendars—the 2005 DLESE Annual Meeting is scheduled for July
9-13, 2005. The meeting will be hosted by the College of Marine Science at
the University of South Florida,
St. Petersburg. The Planning Committee for the 2005 Annual Meeting will meet
in St. Petersburg on January 24-25, 2005. More details about the 2005 meeting
and registration will be provided as they become available. Set aside the
date to take part in this informative and productive DLESE community meeting!
Reminder - JCDL 2005 Call for papers
 A reminder to the community that the submission deadlines for the 2005
Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL) are approaching. January 27,
2005 is the deadline for full articles, papers, and tutorial proposals; February
10, 2005 is the due date for short articles, poster, demonstrations,
and workshop proposals. The revision deadline for accepted articles and papers
is April 5, 2005. DLESE plays a prominent role as co-host, along with the National
Science Digital Library (NSDL), and the Department
of Computer Science, University
of Colorado at Boulder. A major forum for digital library research, JCDL
2005 is a great opportunity for geoscience educators, scientists,
and technology specialists.
DLESE Data Services Workshop 2005 Call for interest
The 2005
DLESE Data Services Workshop will be held April
18-20, 2005 at the Beaver Run Resort and Conference Center in Breckenridge,
Colorado. Sponsored by DLESE
Data Services, the workshop is a great opportunity
for data providers, tool developers, scientists, curriculum developers,
and educators to work closely with one another to further the effective
use of data in education. Please complete the Call
for Interest, which remains available until January 28, 2005.
EarthScope National Meeting - March 29-31, 2005
The first EarthScope
National Meeting takes place March 29-31, 2005, at the
Tamayo Resort at the Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. Funded by the National Science
Foundation, EarthScope is an unprecedented multidisciplinary study of the structure
and evolution of the North American continent, and the physical properties
controlling earthquakes and volcanoes. The EarthScope
web portal contains a wealth of information about the effort and about
the National Meeting. The application and abstract deadine is February 15,
2005, and all hotel reservations should be made by February 22, 2005. Take
this unique opportunity to participate in a scientific meeting that will
synthesize the results of over a dozen EarthScope-related workshops, present
cross-cutting research, and identify important issues for EarthScope science
and education. Opportunities for participation include panel discussions, short
courses, interactive formats, poster sessions, social events, and field trip.
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