[Edu-sig] A fact on the ground

[Econoprof@aol.com]

The government component is a natural for programming.  You've got census 
statistics, budget numbers (calc the deficit, calc the social security bill 
in 20 years, etc), population flows, environmental change, all the DOT 
statistics on airlines that are available for free download, and on, and on.  
(Can you all tell that I used to teach in a public admin program?)  In fact, 
the accrediting organization for Public Admin programs, NASPAA, was a pioneer 
in requiring curriculum-wide integration of computer skills into grad 
programs which often served folks from non-mathy backgrounds. Lots of ideas 
there.

More generally, you have to have people who have fun using technology to do 
the integration into the curriculum, and they are too often few and far 
between.  My experience has been that one staff teacher assigned to service 
all of an elementary school's computing needs is not going to foster a 
computer-friendly environment, nor will the school be in a rush to try 
anything new that the teacher doesn't understand.   Too bad.  It takes money 
and time to develop this stuff, at any level.  Public libraries pushing 
computer skills are likely to be more willing to allow CP4E to develop in 
their facilities. 

Joan