Communication is a process of sharing experience till it becomes a common possession.

John Dewey, Democracy and Education

Welcome to Dewey!

You've reached the DeweyWeb, an experiment in using the World Wide Web for not only providing information, but also facilitating communications between students from all over the world.

DeweyWeb Library

About the DeweyWeb...

Several projects exist on the DeweyWeb. They represent an interesting variety of bringing students togther in the name of active learning. The following are (or will be) actively running on the DeweyWeb:

The World Forum: Viewing the World through the Eyes of Others

The World Forum is an adventure learning activity developed by ICS in conjunction with the World School for Adventure Learning . It allows students to participate in a simulated dramatic trip or adventure in an exotic part of the world. The current expedition, a rerun of an actual trip mounted by the International Arctic Project, is made up of a small group of explorers and scientists who crossed the Canadian Arctic by dog sled and canoe. The World Forum uses role-playing to broaden particip ants' understanding of the travel experience. Participants take on the intellectual personas of distinguished world figures and discuss aspects of the journey through the viewpoints of the individuals they represent. Through a combination of travel, role -playing and participation in an ICS global classroom, students develop a broader and deeper understanding of the world.

The Journey North

DeweyWeb: The Journey North was inspired by the Winter 1994 run of the World Forum, and Indiana University World School for Adventure Learning's Journey North project. These projects attempted in different ways to expand the classroom ex perience with reports from scientists and explorers, as well as linking distant schools together through telecommunications. The DeweyWeb version of the Journey North is based on that Winter 1994 run, and serve mostly as an example of a way to serve and g ather information from students.

The following projects are currently being run on the University of Michigan MTS computer system, under Bob Parnes' Confer/V computer-mediated conferencing system. As U-M is phasing MTS out in favor of a more distributed computing environment, thes e ICS exercises will be moving onto the Internet (in some fashion) mostly by Fall 1995. We provide information (and hopefully experts) from the exercises below.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict Simulation: Political Reality in the Classroom

This is a role-playing simulation exercise designed to plunge students into the dynamics of the Middle East drama. Students assume the roles of key decision makers in the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict. All communications among them must be conveye d by computer, since country teams of student role-players are located in different schools around the world. A group of "Mentors," University of Michigan undergraduates, monitor all communications and help participants to act realistically in the intere sts of the characters and nations they represent. Through this experience, students become more sophisticated world citizens with an appreciation for the intricacies of domestic and international politics.

International Poetry Guild: Building Bridges through Creative Expression

This exercise combines the individualized activity of writing poetry with the teamwork needed to compile "journals" of student work. The Poetry Guild can be incorporated easily into any language arts curriculum at the secondary level. Through compute r conferencing, students exchange their work and ideas with others around the world. Their poems are also read by a group of "Mentors," upper-level University of Michigan students of poetry, who critique participants' work and engage them in an on-going d iscussion of poetics and the creative process. The culmination of the exercise is the publication by each school or class of a journal of poems selected from among the work of their peers around the world.

Earth Odysseys:The Ultimate Field Trip

The 1990s Earth Odysseys is an interdisciplinary adventure learning activity that "sends" students to places where they may never have been. Participants learn about the world's geographical and ecological diversity as well as the rich and varied cult ural expressions of its people. In the present exercise, students "accompany" a young American on a voyage of discovery through Central and Eastern Europe and across the Trans-Siberian Railway into Russia. Student participants maintain computer contact with the "Traveler," who actually went on this tip in 1992, and a group of undergraduate "Mentors" at the University of Michigan. The "Traveler" shares with participants aspects of his own experience of travel. The Mentors then challenge students to use the "Traveler's" experiences to define and articulate their own ideas, to read their own writing and that of others with a critical eye, and to take a fresh look at their own lives by aspiring to understand how others live theirs.

About ICS...

A small group of educators at the University of Michigan form the core of ICS. Working closely with classroom teachers, they have developed a series of student-centered activities that have gripped and challenged young people -- from gifted and talented to the most "at risk" -- throughout the U.S. and around the world. These exercises are carefully structured but allow teachers the flexibility to meet their own objectives.

Over the past ten years, ICS has become recognized as a pioneer in educational telecommunications. Thousands of students in over 400 public and private schools in 36 states, 4 Canadian provinces, and 23 countries overseas have been involved in hundreds of ICS exercises.

DeweyWeb Library

Visit the library; if you have any suggestions for additions, please let us know!