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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1988)
m— ^7 1»®2 ^7 Page 4AThe BattalionAThursday, August 11,1988 Back to school in the future Cash For Used Books A&M specialist envisions computer-guided learning system Northgate (across from Post Office) Redmond Terrace (next to Academy) By Victoria Larroca Reporter a&M Steakhouse 108 College Main Announces A Breakfast Special! (7am - 10:30am Mon - Sun) Overstuffed Breakfast Tacos No more pencils and no more books in school. Sounds like a great idea, but it’ll never happen, right? Wrong, according to a Texas A&M learn ing technology specialist. Dr. Lynn Stevenson says the schools of the fu ture will not have any pencils or books. Even though there will still be teachers, she says, they will be called educational engineers, and their purpose will not be to teach but to monitor the progress of students as they learn at their com puters. Stevenson foresees the entire educational sys tem revolving around computers and all the learners (students) being completely computer- literate. Schools of the future will focus on the concept that the end of learning is the end of life, Steven son says. Although this school of the future may be years away, an instructional management pro gram designed by Texas A&M educator Dr. Mi chael Burger is already being used by Stevenson. “An instructional and administrative manage ment system called HeadMaster has been de signed to assist educators in the planning and evaluation of instruction,” Stevenson said. “The software provides teachers and administrators with a tool which will reduce paperwork yet in crease their ability to monitor instructional infor mation and improve the planning and evaluation of instruction and instructional programs.” The HeadMaster progam will free the instruc tional staff from technical time-consuming duties such as grading and lesson planning and allow them to interact more with the learners, Steven son said. “Many people charge that such a system with so many computers could only be impersonal, but the result is just the opposite,” she said. “The system is specifically designed to meet the needs of each individual student, and student profile information will help to continuously revise the programs to keep up with the current level of the student.” The physical aspects of the learning system will change as well, Stevenson said. An example facility would resemble the hub of a wheel with a bubble atrium encasing the center’s instructional core, she said. Lush foliage in a cobblestone courtyard and plants suspended from the convex sides of the bubble would add a natural sphere to the learning environment. Inside the bubble, an engineer at the ten data base will monitor each student's acta while a second engineer moves aroundprotj assistance to the learners, said Stevenson computers will he able to tap into such restn as chief executive officers and Fortune 500t panics through the use of teleconferencing surrogate travel, she said. “Some learners will be receiving correciiij formation from consultants or educationalt neers and will be revising projects," she* “Others will be involved in teleconferences! corporate contacts, information retrieval am view, surrogate travel options or the Jr opment of product or text.” Stevenson said the current system of edna is very inefficient because it advances at sue slow rate. “A student’s individual learning abilityis located by the present structure,” she said "S dents progress on different levels. The com of the school of the future would allowthta move at their own rate and finish their school much sooner.” ^-£±6^5273] Open 24 hours Whenever you need clear, quality copies, come to Kinko s. We re open early, open late, and open weekends. kinko's Great copies. Great people. 201 College Main 846-8721 SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE LU < CO Contact Lenses c/) > LU < C/5 LU Only Quality Name Brands (Bausch & Lomb, Ciba, Barnes-Hinds-Hydrocurve) 59°° t$oo m c/> > pr. *-STD. DAILY WEAR SOFT LENSES m < c/> LU $ 99 00 $ 99 00 pr. *-STD. EXTENDED WEAR SOFT LENSES </> > m pr. < (/> -STD. TINTED SOFT LENSES DAILY WEAR OR EXTENDED WEAR C/> > LU < CO LIMITED TIME OFFER SALE ENDS SEPT. 9, 1988 SAME DAY DELIVERY ON MOST LENSES CO > LU < CO Call 696-3754 For Appointment y CHARLES C. SCHROEPPEL, O.D., P.C. < DOCTOR OF OPTOMETRY CO LU Eye exam & care kit not included < CO VTS4 707 South Texas Ave., Suite 101D College Station, Texas 77840 1 block South of Texas & University SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE Macintosh Plus Now as Easy to Own As It Is To Use. Only $68.00 Per Month 693-8080 2553 Texas Ave. South ©1988 Apple Computers Inc., Apple Macintosh are trade marks of Apple Computers, Inc. Budget Board uses execution authority to relieve prisons AUSTIN (AP) — The Legislative Budget Board, using the new budget execution authority for the first time, on Wednesday approved most of Gov. Bill Clements’ emergency plan to help relieve prison and jail crowding. Included was approval of a $9.2 million transfer for construction of five Texas Department of Correc tions trusty camps that will each hold 200 inmates. In a separate action, the board ap proved the transfer of $31.7 million that the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation will use to meet standards set in the set tlement of lawsuits challenging the way the agency runs its state schools and state hospitals. All of the LBB actions came in re sponse to proposals made by Clem ents under the so-called budget exe cution authority approved by voters in November 1985 and imple mented by the 1987 Legislature. Un der the system, a governor can pro pose spending changes when the Legislature is not in session. The proposals must be approved by the LBB, which includes five members from each chamber of the Legis lature. The money for the trusty camps, which will be minimum-security prisons, comes from unexpended TDC appropriations. The new facili ties should oe ready before August 1989. LBB members also approved Clements’ proposals for increased funds for the Adult Probation Com mission and Board of Pardons and Paroles. The probation commission will get $2 million to use for additio nal employees and increased use of electronic monitoring of probation ers. The money was transferred from funds appropriated for other probation purposes, but not spent. The Board of Pardons and Pa roles was authorized to spend $1.7 million to expand its programs. That money also came from unexpended funds previously allocated for the agency. The LBB balked at a Clements proposal in which the old Bexar County Jail, which was replaced in the spring by a new jail, would be used to house parole violators who otherwise would go back to TDC. The facility would be operated by a private company. Board members had a variety of questions about the plan. They voted to put $3.3 million for the program on hold, and said they would recon sider it at their September meeting. “There are a lot of ifs,” said House Speaker Gib Lewis, an LBB member. “We’re concerned about giving approval when there are so many unanswered questions.” Clements wants $13.9 million transferred for the Bexar County proposal, including $2 million from a $12 million emergency fund given to his office by the Legislature last year. Sen. Bob Glasgow, D-Stephen- ville, rapped Clements for not spending the money sooner to help solve the prison problem. Scott said every effort has been made to find more prison space, in cluding reviews of abandoned air ports, old radar facilities and British ships that had been used in the Falk land Islands war. Oversupply of cotton spurs price drop By Gina Rumore Reporter Texas cotton farmers are sur viving the drought, but an over abundance of cotton is causing market prices to fall, a Texas Ag ricultural Extension Service econ omist said. Carl Anderson said the dam age from the drought is located in the coastal bend and South Texas regions. “About 50 percent of the cot ton grown in Texas is produced in Lubbock and the surrounding counties,” Anderson said. “They’ve been lucky with the rain this year and have produced fa vorable crops.” Anderson said cotton is suffer ing because the cotton crop twice as large as normal, demau for domestic apparel fii! dropped, and exports have dt creased. “T here has been a loss in« port markets for 1988 becaus China and Pakistan also had goo crops for the year,” Andem: said. “T hey were able to delut cotton to other nations for be prices than the U.S., atleasil cents less in some cases." Anderson said the market; very unstable, and weatherconJt lions over the next seven months will decide which w market prices move. It’s just the fax for doctoral candidate By Allison Seale Reporter For a Texas A&M doctoral candidate working on his disser tation in Saudi Arabia, College Station and graduation are only a few “fax” away. Tom Heilman of Houston has been in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia since last September, working to upgrade the medical technology program at Abul-Aziz University while writing his dissertation. With the use of a facsimile ma chine, Heilman transmits his dis sertation, “Predicting Academic Success in Medical Laboratory Technician Programs in Texas Public, Community and Junior Colleges,” one chapter at a time to Dr. Gayle Schmidt, associate professor of health and physical education and Heilman’s doctoral committee chairman. Schmidt reviews the pages, adds her comments and returns the chapter by facsimile a wed later to Heilman. “This method of communio tion is not foolproof,” Schnt: said. “There are bugs in them tern.” Schmidt said that one tiiK Heilman did not realize thank receiving machine had runoutd paper and when she received! chapter, it was missing seven! pages. Another disadvantage Schmidt said, is Heilman's ak sence when she has a questiot making misinterpretation a ret possibility. “It’s a real test of writtenc® munication when you caww communicate face-to-face Schmidt said. “You're forcedi depend the words and the word alone.” Heilman will return toC Station in August and shouldte ceive his Ph.D. in December Blind listeners like what they hear on station that broadcasts comics, books DALLAS (AP) — When more than 2,000 area residents want to en joy a good book after a long day, they settle into their favorite chairs, close their eyes and turn on the ra dio. A special radio station in Dallas — with what may be the state’s smallest but most faithful audience — deliv ers 13 hours of material from books, newspapers and magazines daily to the visually impaired. “Our main goal is to give them in formation they can’t get anywhere else,” explained Dawn Filomena, sta tion manager for the North Texas Radio Reading Service. The station, which prefers to be known as NTRB (North Texas Ra dio for the Blind), is one of 101 simi lar reading services nationwide. The only other Texas station serves the Houston area. Relying on a pool of 250 volun teers to develop and record its pro gramming, the station has a minus cule annual budget of less than $70,000. Only those with a special receiver who live within about 80 miles of Dallas can hear the station, whose signal is broadcast piggyback along side programming from KERA-FM. The receivers are purchased with donations, mainly from United Way sources, then distributed free to qualified individuals. “We figure it costs $40 a year per receiver to run the station,” Filo mena said. “Once a year, we ask our listeners to make a donation. Some of them can only afford to give $3 or $5. They give what they can.” Dallas Times Herald and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Other readers provide listeners with the day’s newspaper editorials, local columns and horoscope list ings, a collection the station calls its “Newspaper of the Air.” The service is critical, Filomena said. The 12-year-old station doesn’t just rehash the day’s news, some thing listeners could get elsewhere, but gives them information other wise denied to them by their lack of sight, she said. For instance, one of the most pop ular offerings is a one-hour Sunday night show in which a volunteer re ads and describes the day’s comics from the Dallas Morning News, the The station also has daily one- hour readings from three different books selected from the New York Times best-seller list. And, possibly because more than 60 percent of the audience is elderly, one of the biggest attractions is a da ily review of newspaper obituaries. quests. That is why it beganm® cc reviews of local plays, somethin: one had previously provided foi visually impaired. “People just assume blind pe don’t go to plays and movici watch TV,” Filomena said that’s wrong, especially for (host teners who were sighted before “I had one little old lady call me a couple of months ago and remind me how important they were,” Filo mena said. “She said, ‘You know, I can’t die until I know all my friends have died.’ And she was serious. When you’re that age, it’s embarrass ing to try and call a friend and find out that way they are dead.” The station occasionally adds to its programming because of listener re- Another highly valued feaiurt 5 a.m. show on Saturday, inwii volunteer sifts through what" appear to be junk mail. Fori blind listeners, who often shop 1 ot hers, it is the only chance the' to become familiar with grocer pharmaceutical prices and often-tight budgets. T he station’s format apparf might he popular with sighted! pie as well. Station manager ine Garrison used to have one problem: “Every time I loaned one of our receivers so people® see what we are doing, I wouldk trouble getting it back.” 9 OUT OF 10 PUPPIES PREFER THE BATTALION Authorized Reseller its w] M he