New Geography Programs Released!

Helen Lily Educational Software announces the release of two new software programs. Learning geography will never be a drag again with these two "drag and drop" map programs.

Drag-A-Map USA

The states of the U.S. hover around the edges of the map until you drag them to their correct locales. Then, each geographic "puzzle piece" snaps into place, changes into a vibrant color, reveals its name, and emits a satisfying "bing" to let you know you are on target.

Learn More? | Try It? | Buy It Now?

Drag-A-Map Europe

The nations of Europe hover around the edges of the map until you drag them to their correct locales. Then, each geographic "puzzle piece" snaps into place, changes into a vibrant color, reveals its name, and emits a satisfying "bing" to let you know you are on target.

Learn More? | Try It? | Buy It Now?

"Basking in the Blue Glow": Technology in the University?

At a workstation in a campus living center sits an 18-year-old whose face emits a permanent blue tinge from the many hours he has spent basking in a computer screen's glow. He cannot imagine trekking across the ravine to the library with so much intriguing information immediately available at the click of a button. A world away, an adventurous 78-year-old learns to use the computer her children gave her, so she can communicate more easily with family living in cities as distant as Houston, Chicago, and Hong Kong. She has mastered email but is afraid to venture onto the Internet. She explains that the Internet “ruins peoples’ lives.” An unnamed “they” will “steal your money, show you pornography, and lure you into lurid chat rooms.”

While our MTV generation students by and large embrace new technology (lines are longer at the campus email terminals than they are at the Commons’ Taco Bell), most humanities faculty approach technology and teaching as warily as my 78-year-old friend eyes the Internet, and for good reason. We are, after all, not purveyors of fast food. In many ways we see society’s obsession with speed, ease, and convenience as contrary to what we value. What could be any less speedy, easy, or convenient than reading a challenging novel and struggling to understand how the writer crafts her work, what the author says about her world, about humanity, and what meaning these words have for us as individuals and as a society?

Yet, we cannot afford to dismiss technology as irrelevant to our disciplines or to our classrooms. We must bask a bit more in the blue glow, grab hold of those pulsing pixels and shape the future of the humanities classroom in a way that maintains our most cherished traditions and values.

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