Karen Billings
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Here is a rough outline for a Pioneer page. As you create or add to this page, please make appropriate use of main headings (surrounded by == on each side) sub headings (surrounded by === on each side) and, if you feel it to be appropriate, sub sub headings (surrounded by ==== on each side).
1. General demographic types of information such as birth date and place, education, employment, and so on.
2. Setting the scene. This might go all the way back to the pioneer's childhood. Try to capture the essence of how the world was before the pioneer began to do his or her pioneering work. Pay particular attention to the levels of Information and Communication Technology, and their use in education, at the time.
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- Q. Looking back over your pioneering activities, which do you feel best about? What is your legacy?
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- Q. What else do you want to say to today's students, teachers, parents, and other people?
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Up Close and Personal
Comment by Dave Moursund. I got to know Karen Billings when she took some courses in a Summer Institute for teachers that I was running. She was a teacher at Roosevelt Junior High school in Eugene, Oregon. All of my children attended this school, and some had her as a teacher. They fondly remember her as a great teacher!
When microcomputers were first becoming commercially available, Karen bought a Commodore PET. She then had a "PET party" to introduce her friends to her new PET.
Karen and I wrote two books together. (See the References section.) While we were writing the calculator book, she arranged for me to teach the materials to a Junior High School class. This one term, one course of teaching represents my total life experience of teaching at the precollege level. My older son was in the class, but he kept a low profile and did not attempt to embarrass me as I struggled with my teaching at this level.
References
Billings, Karen and Moursund, David (1979). Are you computer literate? dilithium Press. (Also published in Spanish.)
Billings, Karen and Moursund, David (1979) Problem solving with calculators. dilithium Press, 1979.
