FOURTH DIMENSION FUTURE

[Music] The computer itself has become a very versatile tool to use in supplementing teaching. I don't see it as an instrument designed to replace the teacher or instrument designed to replace textbooks. Although the program may be highly structured, there is no limit to it. It's just one's imagination of how many programs can be written out there in the future. We do feel that having been exposed to this type of program for one year that our children are out on the leading edge to something new that's out there in the future. I would say again that the program at this point is very highly successful. We have some data support that we have the judgment of our teachers. Our teachers no longer fear the computer and are very complimentary. We recommend it to anyone who's interested in a new innovative program to try in their own school system. That's good. You hear a lot of talk these days about going back to the basics in the writing to read program or any program using computers. That's exactly what we're doing. Going back to the basics. Yes. Uniform. [Music] Our school system would never innovate just for the sake of innovation. When we looked at computers, we waited until we were certain that they could help us do something meaningful in the classroom. Our experience has been a most positive one. We are convinced that we could never do some of the things that we're doing now without the use of the personal computers that we have from IBM. The purpose of the program is to teach children to be able to write everything that they can say. And we find that after being in the program 10 or 12 weeks, our children are able to do exactly that. In all the years that I've been teaching, I have never been able to accomplish alone what I in conjunction with the computer has been able to accomplish. The children who are kindergarteners are truly able to write whatever they can say and they do this very comfortably and in a very creative manner. [Music] We have found that it has opened up vast opportunities for us to further the creativity of children. It's a natural. The computers allow children to advance at their own rate. They have infinite patience and therefore the children can blossom. We have found that by utilizing the computers all the right answers are rewarded. This helps the teachers facilitate their learning because we believe that children learn at their own rate. IBM computers facilitate that idea. Poor Mickey. He had to go to Washington for a business meeting. He missed his meeting. He was fired. Too bad. Spencer. What two letters are those? A W. What sound do they make? O. All right. Say the words, please. Strong. Saw. P. Very good. Now you can finish your page. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Children are not threatened by the computers. They had no difficulty in jumping from lowercase letters to uppercase letters back and forth. uh sound spelling was accepted by the parents and at this time those who were in the program last year are already working themselves out of spelling by sounds. The children have learned to listen. They have learned to follow directions. They've learned to work in teams. They move from station to station without disrupting one another. Could you spell book without looking? B A K. Very good. Would you like to go to the journal table? Okay. Hi, Titan. We welcome you. We hope that you are glad to see us, too. Our spirit is mounting. We are really counting on having lots of fun. We dazzle shine and glimmers. We'll say it out loud. Hello, good luck and yes, we are proud. I've been a teacher for 12 years. Then we purchased our first personal computer and there's been excitement in my teaching career ever since. We start with word processing and when the students feel comfortable with that then we go on to visical basic programming and graphics. There's great enthusiasm about our computer classes, especially by those students who have never had computers before. Naturally, not all days are equal in terms of a feeling of success or fulfillment, but I've never felt better about my job and my students than I do right now. We're working together towards goals and we're reaching them. I feel that with the personal computer, I'm working in the fourth dimension. My students are being prepared to cope with the world as it will be when they graduate and I'm giving them that added dimension of time to prepare them for their careers. Your polomial is missing an asterisk. That is why you're not getting a right answer. Oh, okay. [Music] Mr. Connie, why isn't the sentence completing? The adjective has to agree with the noun in number and in gender. [Music] Bueno, [Applause] it up. Get up towards south. Karen, did the corn come in yet? Uh, yes it did. We need it for Thursday's lunch. All right. The reputation and respect of the IBM equipment in the world of work helps build a more positive image for vocational education with students, parents, and the business world. We develop all of our programs with the highest expectations, goals, and objectives. We develop the highest level programs, whether it be in welding, machine trades, food service, or data processing. Our investments in equipment must be cost effective. Our expectations for the IBM PCs have been justified. [Music] Okay, good job, Chris. That's a nice win. As a large school district, we have been extremely pleased with IBM's commitment to education. This commitment to us has related not only to the hardware and software but to service provided by IBM. Our education system is the foundation of our economic system. We must work with today's labor market while planning for tomorrow when the prerequisite for many jobs will include computer literacy. We are developing four mobile units to be used as portable labs. The portable labs will be used by our participating school districts for computer awareness and computer literacy during the school year. And during the summer, we'll use the labs for that programming out in the community at shopping centers and in playgrounds. [Music] Forget you have a space bar at the bottom. IBM in service training illustrates just how serious they are about education of teachers as well as young people. Instead of being the central source of information, they must become a manager. Adopt the role of facilitator. Now that we finished with the keyboard, let's take out the discet and put it in the right hand dis drive. This allows them to have more direct interaction with each student, giving them the individual help they require. The IBM PC not only makes an excellent computer tool standing alone but network to other systems. For example, it can pretend to be a computer on a large host system accessing massive amounts of dynamic data and store that data on its own discat. This makes it an very valuable tool for the manager because he can access dynamic data, know where he is from minute to minute, yet store pictorial shots of this data as he goes through periods and then compare it later on. Running a school district is just like sailing a boat. You have to keep moving ahead to have any control at all. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "It's not so important where you stand, it's the direction you're moving." In our school district, we compare attendance trending. We compare class sizes both location to location, department to department, and we look at performance over a two or three year trending curve. Managers then can look at how they were before, how other locations are, and where they may be in the future. You don't operate schools for a short-term advantage. We must take the long view. And we believe that IBM will offer the service and the state-of-the-art technology for tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow as Shakespeare said and I might add for the day after tomorrow as well. We educators are moving into the fourth dimension the future and we better be ready for it. [Music]