Issue 14

As part of the CUC Key Teacher team from Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School (OLR), Kenmore I was involved in the CUC Course in Term 1 of 1994. Following our inaugural CUC-ing, we CUC-ed a staff of 30 over 1994 and an additional 10 in 1995 as new staff members arrived. This indeed demonstrates the snowballing effect of cue, and trust the following CD-ROM focus provides an insight into the way cue has been incorporated into the learning program at OLR.

The CD is indeed a dynamic medium and its appeal to children is unquestionable. Its implementation of multi-media to cater for many and varied learning styles is unprecedented. An encyclopedic CD with notepad is without doubt the most successful resource I have ever used for teaching children that elusive skill of 'note-taking'. And who would deny that Just Grandma and me has any less appeal to Year 7 than to Year 1? There is however one major problem with CD's. I liken them to a walk in a forest: it is very easy to become lost! I was pleased to discover, as we CLIC-ed away with our staff that this was not a problem unique to me but that other CUC-ers had similar experiences and so did the children. While the "exploration" stage is a vital part of the learning process, it became obvious that particular tracking skills were required if one was to ultimately utilise a CD to its full potential.

With this in mind GuideBooks have been written at OLR for each CD ROM. These are activity books which take the user on a directed journey through all the pathways and options offered by the CD. It is a participatory tour as the user is required to perform tasks, retrieve information and respond to stimuli as the journey progresses. Such responses are recorded in the GuideBook and monitored by the teacher and teacher-librarian. On completion, the user will be familiar with all the highways and byways of the CD and thus better equipped to utilise the resource in the future. These GuideBooks have proved positive learning devices and are keenly sought by students during free time.

Building a CD ROM collection has not proved as formidable as first thought. They commonly come as incentive 'gifts' with hardware purchases. Another source requiring 'no money' is Book Club, and it is also suprising how many ways the creative mind can utilise a sample CD! At OLR we have quite a sizable CD collection having expended only a limited amount of cold hard cash.