So exactly which students will get computer skills updated?  This is the
classic example of where accessibility is critical as it is used more and
more in education.  Far too often students who are blind get left out of
these kinds of advancements.  I haven't seen this software as of yet but
from the surface it sounds like people that are blind would have a real
challenge using it.  If there's anyone out there with close ties to the
K-12 education system in Oregon this is certainly something that should be
examined further.  I am going to attempt to get more info on this myself also.

Kelly


Oregon students' computer skills will get update
New, easy-to-use interactive software will enable youngsters to create
complicated multimedia presentations with great ease

Sunday, August 16 1998

By Gordon Gregory, Correspondent, The Oregonian

SISTERS -- An immense gap exists between today's sophisticated computer
software and what public school students and their teachers are capable of
using, even if they had access to it.

The most powerful and useful programs are often too complicated, require
top-of-the-line hardware and are too costly to be of practical use to
public schools.

In Oregon, that could change, thanks to researchers at the Oregon Graduate
Institute of Science & Technology. The institute's Center for Spoken
Language Understanding, through a $1.5 million federal grant, has developed
simple-to-use, interactive software intended to be remarkably easy to use.

Early editions of that software, which includes a talking head called
Baldi, already is in heavy use at the Tucker-Maxon Oral School in Portland.
There, students with little or no ability to hear, interact with a
three-dimensional bald character who talks, perfectly forming words with
lips and mouth to help students learn how sounds are formed.

And the software, which speaks and understands language spoken in Spanish
and English, is more than just a pretty face. It allows those with little
computer background to build interactive, multimedia presentations. With
relative ease, teachers and students can develop programs that talk, listen
and respond to an audience.

The keys to the program include Baldi -- the talking head that can be
replaced with any image -- speech recognition and speaking capabilities.
Developers also have created an easy-to-follow programming menu that
simplifies the task of designing new uses.

"This allows novice users to build multimedia applications," said Brian
Rundle, center software engineer. "The simplicity allows them to use
cutting-edge technology without being cutting-edge programmers."

What's more, this software will be available free to any school that owns
the powerful computers needed to run it.

Intel Corp. is donating 10,000 of its Pentium II microprocessors to Oregon
schools, processors that will be loaded with this software package. The
processors are going to the StRUT Program, or Students Recycling Used
Technology, run by the Northwest Regional Education Service District in
Hillsboro. That statewide program puts used computer equipment in the hands
of students, who rebuild it and set it up in their schools.

StRUT students will assemble these 10,000 computers, most of which are to
be distributed by Christmas.

"This is really big. This is, I think, the beginning of a revolution," said
Ron Cole, director of the Center for Spoken Language Understanding.

"For the first time ever, you're going to see kids using state-of-the-art
technology before it's on the market."

And unlike most other programs, Baldi was designed in collaboration with
teachers in an attempt to make it serve their purpose. Furthermore, Baldi
is more of a tool than a typical computer program. It is designed so that
people with only moderate computer skills can use it to do what they want.

At a recent workshop in Sisters for educational service district directors
from around the state, participants told Cole they could see a multitude of
uses. One director said it could be easily used to develop an interactive
geography program, where students could be asked by Baldi to point out a
country from a map on the monitor. Students could speak the name of the
country into a microphone. If they give the right answer, they might be
asked to name the capital, chief export, political system or dominant
religion.

Any teacher should be able to build his or her own uses with a minimum of
training and practice, Cole said.

Michael Lasher, director of information technology at the Umatilla-Morrow
Educational Service, said Baldi is simple enough so that sixth-graders
could create multimedia lessons for fourth-graders, give presentations on
research, even create programs for specific purposes.

Because Baldi can understand verbal communication and talk, someone could
build a program that lets people call up a computer and ask for a specific
Friday night prep football score, Lasher said.

A student engaged in developing such a project would not only learn how
this program works, but would also gain an appreciation about the everyday
potential of computers.

Cole thinks students will be the chief innovators of the Baldi system.

"The thing that strikes me most is there's an infinite number of
applications, and the kids discover these in ways you don't expect," he said.

Dee Carlson, director of the StRUT program, agreed that students would be
the real innovators.

"We adults have real difficulty envisioning how kids think with computers,"
she said.

And if this software works as its developers hope, it will bring powerful
computing capabilities into the hands of students across Oregon.

"To get ahead in the 21st century, kids are going to have to take what they
know and create new things. And that's what this software program allows
them to do," Carlson said.


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