ABOUT WEBSTER

Education

M.S. Computer Science (summa cum laude) West Coast University

B.A. Mathematics U.C.L.A.

Mathematics Rice University

Now semi retired, Dick is a many year veteran of the computer industry. Starting in the 'tube' days (anybody remember those?) Dick has held positions in corporations large and small, has developed computer hardware and software and is currently interested in K-12 education. Having known and consulted with the Caine Learning Institute in Idyllwild California, Dick became interested in their work and concepts of brain based learning. WEBSTER in its current form resulted as an effort to implement their concepts of 'global experiences' in software. Long amazed by the richness of the Internet and its potential for education, Dick was also appalled by the exploitation and crass commercialism present on the web. Clearly, the raw Internet was not a suitable playground for young impressionable minds. So, the first task of WEBSTER was to limit Internet access to selected websites and prevent access to any others. This approach was quite different from existing 'censorware' which implements a filter database and, in effect, says 'let er rip'. The first result was the webtree which encapsulated teacher website selections as choices for the student. Gradually it became clear that the webtree could become something much richer, the web lesson, as is seen here on this site. Dick is also interested in educational standards such as the California K-12 standards and has several years experience writing test questions conforming to California standards.

Dick hopes that many parents, teachers and schools will utilize the capabilities offered by WEBSTER and that a library of excellent web lessons will grow from their efforts and be offered to all students who might benefit from them.

Currently, Dick and others are continuing to produce web lessons conforming to California K-12 standards and are making them available via this website.

This website was created with the intent to inform visitors about WEBSTER. People surfing the web often look for lots of flash animations , sounds going on and off, annoying popups to block your view, log-ins, myriads of Google ads, passwords and various CSS, JAVASCRIPT and HTML goodies. Well Dick has spent his time primarily on the product and not on the website. You will see lots of nice web techniques used in the web lessons themselves where they seem relevant but not here where the only intent is to transfer information. We hope no-one is seriously bothered by the lack of effects. FYI, the strange green thing on the first page is a Klien bottle which itself is a three dimensional Mobius strip. Interesting tidbits like the Klien bottle are presented in the web lessons.