ARRL Technology Institute at Parallax

Aristides Alvarez

I would like to share with the forum community a link with information and pictures of the class that the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) conducted at Parallax headquarters on June 19-22.
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Please visit the following link:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/06/28/2/?nc=1
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This ARRL class is a 4-days long class that includes all the subjects we teach at our two-days BASIC Stamp Educator’s Courses (BSEC).
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Talking about our BSECs, we still have room for a couple of classes this summer:
July 20-21, Rocklin, CA – Parallax Headquarters
July 27-28, Keene, NH – Cheshire Career Center
August 24-25, Virginia Beach, VA - Ocean Lakes High School
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If you are an educator, you can register at the following link:
http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/edu/courses/registration.asp
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If you have any questions you can ask in this thread or send an email to aalvarez@parallax.com.
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Regards,

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Aristides Alvarez
Education and Technical Support Manager
aalvarez@parallax.com
Parallax, Inc. www.parallax.com

Kevin Wood

It would be great to see Parallax & ARRL collaborate on a Stamps in Class course that was focused on radio-electronics and radio theory. It wouldn't need to be Amateur license based, but it could offer the same RF theory that entry-level amateurs would see by using VHF/UHF based designs.

Given the amount of interest in connecting Stamps to various wireless modules, it would probably find good acceptance overall.

Mark Spencer

Kevin,
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There is already a strong and building cooperation between Parallax and the ARRL.· The ARRL Education and Technology Program supports a number of Teachers Institutes during the summer months that provide teachers with a grant supported in-service training opportunity that focuses on wireless technology literacy, bringing space into the classroom, what is a micro controller, and basic robotics.· One institute this summer was hosted at Parallax, and that will probably happened again in the summer of 2007.· The four day institutes cover instructional strategies for basic electronics and the science of radio during the first two days and use the Parallax “What is a Microcontroller” and “Basic Robotics” courses for the second two days.· There is a lot of information packed into these four days and a good faith attempt is made to cover the material in-depth, however in reality, it is up to the teachers institute participants to take the resources home with them and study the materials on their own so that they can apply it in their classrooms.· (Four days of summer vacation dedicated to in-service training is a lot to ask of teachers)
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The focus on the ARRL TIs is not on amateur radio licensure, the focus is on wireless technology literacy and the science of radio.· Amateur radio is just one way that students can actually DO radio science, not just talk about radio science.
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If you would like to learn more about the TIs, how to participate (must be active teachers in the classroom or school administrators), and/or how to access the resources available through the ARRL ETP grant program, please contact Mark Spencer (WA8SME), the ARRL ETP Coordinator at mspencer@arrl.org or (530)-495-9150.

Mark