Introduction

[Eads, David A.]

Hi everybody,
My name is David Eads.  I'm a college student in Chicago, studying physics
and political science but with deep interests in education and technology.
I run http://www.docChicago.net, which right now entails doing a ton of
backend development.  The frontend of the site is in hibernation at the
moment, but we're poised to relaunch in the fall with significant new
content and interesting information.  You'll certainly be hearing more.
We've started an interview series that might be of great interest to list
members here.  We've already talked to Will Wright (the creator of SimCity
and the Sims), Ernest Adams (the burly, jolly game designer from the PBS
Digital Divide series) and have several others scheduled.  There are some
innovative, intriguing, and provocative ideas about education that are being
bandied about, and I hope to soon share that with the list.
Mostly, though, I'm hear to absorb (I can't say listen and the experience is
a little more interactive than reading) what the pertinent questions and
interesting ideas are.  I feel like I'm much closer to being a learner than
any sort of teacher yet.
Finally, since the topic of distance learning was brought up, I'll throw in
my favorite resource and a current project of mine:

Online Learning News is a valuable, concise weekly newsletter of questions,
comments, and resources.  Here's their tagline:  "IT'S WEEKLY. IT'S FREE! To
receive OnLine Learning News, go to http://www.lakewoodconferences.com and
click Free Online Newsletters."

Also, I'm working on a total interface reworking of WebAssign, a web based
testing program that lets users give tests and assignments to their
students.  It's a good program but the interface needs a lot of work.

David Eads
http://www.docChicago.net