Barbara Kurshan





This is a Pioneer page work in progress. Volunteers are needed on the Pioneers' Project.

Introduction
Quoting from her Blog:


 * Dr. Barbara ("Bobbi") Kurshan is Executive director of the Global Education & Learning community (GELC) on Java.net and President of Educorp Consultants Corp. Dr. Kurshan developed the first children's software products for Microsoft--Creative Writer and Fine Artist--and also created award-winning products for McGraw-Hill, Apple, CCC (Pearson) and others. As a professor, she helped students research the impact of technology on learning. Through her venture fund Core Learning, she invested in companies and entrepreneurs who are impacting learning and the industry. Among numerous honors, Dr. Kurshan received the Education Academic Society's Making It Happen Award and the Highest Leaf Award from the Women's Venture Fund. She is listed in Who's Who in Technology Today.


 * Kurshan, Barbara. Dr. Barbara Kurshan President, Educorp Consulting Corporation.

Dr. Barbara Kurshan is the President of Educorp Consulting Corporation (ECC) and the Co-CEO of Core Learning Group. Since receiving her doctorate in Computer Science and Education from Virginia Tech in 1976, she has been actively involved with technology in education and learning. She has applied her expertise to the areas of computer literacy, telecommunications, professional development, multimedia, and product design and development. She has written numerous articles and texts (Internet for Your Kids and Computer Literacy Through Applications), on these topics and has designed software and networks to meet the needs of learners. She has consulted with several investment banking firms and venture groups on companies related to educational technology. She has served on the boards of many education companies and is currently on the Advisory Boards of medsn.com and Pixel? Kidswise and on the boards of Aspire Learning, Fablevision and Headsprout.

Instructions to Authors and Editors
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 one = 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).

Note that if a page has already been created for a person, but little has been added to the page, then probably a few section titles have been entered to get the page started. As the page is fleshed out, this set of directions can be deleted.

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.

3. Major pioneering efforts and contributions. Try to capture the essence of the pioneer's legacy contributions to the field of ICT in education. Be factual. Provide references if possible.

4. Up close and personal stories about the pioneer. These can be contributed by many different authors. Try to flesh out the pioneer as a person and his or her contributions as part of the overall human endeavor of developing the field of ICT in education.

5. Autobiographic materials written by the pioneer in the past and/or written especially for this IAE-pedia document.

6. Interview. If the pioneer is not deceased, try to gather interview information via face to face meeting, phone, or email. Here are three sample interview questions:


 * Q. Looking back over your pioneering activities, which do you feel best about? What is your legacy?
 * Q. Drawing upon your years of experience and accumulated wisdom, what do you think are some of the very best ways to improve our current informal and formal educational systems?
 * Q. What else do you want to say to today's students, teachers, parents, and other people?

7. References. This includes references to sources of information about the pioneer as well as references to some of the published works or and other activities of the Pioneer.

8. Author or Authors. You are encouraged to include your name as the initial author of the document.

9. Finally, at the very bottom of the page you are creating, on a line all by itself and in double square brackets, enter the text: Category: Pioneer