SIGGRAPH 1999: Electronic Schoolhouse
Conference:
Electronic School House Co-Chairs:
Subcommittee Member(s):
- Laurie Burruss
- David Cruz
- Paul deBonis
- Etta Dileo
- Eric Huelsman
- Bill LaBarge
- Joseph M. Lohmar
- Kathleen Milnes
- Randii Oliver
- Christa Santiago
- Loretta Schnurman
- Evelyn Seubert
- Kristen Stratton
- Richard Taylor
- Jason Thomas
Jury Member(s):
Overview:
Everyone is an educator and everyone is a student.
This simple tenet is the foundation and inspiration that is the
Electronic Schoolhouse. It was the visualization of this principle that led its three chairs to amalgamate three programs (Educators Program, sigKIDS, Community Outreach) to create a unique wonderland of integrated education, where knowledge sparks in every corner, and inspiration ignites during every conversation.
Education at the end of the 20th century is as multidimensional as it is challenging. The one-room schoolhouse is more evident than ever, yet its dimensions are infinite. We are a fabric of integrated circuits and interrelated topics. Students collaborate with peers halfway around the world, creating projects and establishing a lasting presence where they may not even share a common language. Educators retrieve and use tools from countries they have never visited; they scour library stacks of universities they will never see, exchange ideas with professionals they will never meet, and augment their curricula by perusing classes they will never attend. We learn tools as soon as they’re built. We teach those tools as quickly as we learn them. And as soon as we learn them, we encounter students who have already constructed more tools to augment those we have barely learned.
We can choose to be overwhelmed or inspired.
For while we can be easily distracted by the technology, we should be equally compelled to remember our fundamentals, the basics that are hard-coded into every theory and provide the cornerstones of every dazzling technique. As educators and students, artists and scientists, it is vital to remember that enlightenment occurs in the smallest interactions, and trans- formation from the most unlikely places.
This Electronic Schoolhouse is such a place. We imagined an inte- grated experience where teachers could present papers in a Classroom and then walk their students through hands-on Workshops on the same topics. We envisioned an environment where students of all ages could learn the process of building a project and then explore the creation on their own in a Playground of interactive installations. We pictured a venue where profes- sionals involved in various computer graphics industries could offer teachers and students interaction they might not be able to otherwise access. We conceived of a Library where a plethora of valuable resources, references, and publications could be borrowed indefinitely, and casual conversation could lead to collaboration and inspiration.
Through our incredible contributors, we believe we have realized our vision and we welcome you to the SIGGRAPH 99 Electronic Schoolhouse.
Electronic Schoolhouse Reviewers:
Doug Acheson
Eglin Ayson
Marc Barr, SIGGRAPH 2000 sigKIDS Chair Debi Barrett-Hayes
Ted Brown
Glenn Campbell
Huguette Chesnais
Tim Comolli
Steve Cunningham
Dena Elisabeth Eber
Frank Gladstone
Scott Grissom
Mk Haley
Tim Harrington
Kristy Higby
Pam Hogarth
Karl Hook
Laurie Howard
Debra Howes
Paras Kaul
Nancy Krebsbach
John MacIntosh
Francis Marchese
James Mohler
J. Michael Moshell
Jacki Morie
Mark Ollila
Jonah Peretti
Maria Roussou
Steve Schain
Evelyn Seubert
Chris Stapleton
Karen Sullivan
Ami Sun
Scott Wilson
Rosalee Wolfe
