The following materials represent the text of the proposal accepted by FIPSE. For further information contact: Dr. Ken Nash, Dr. Berth Danermark, Dr. James DeCaro. See Project Team for addresses.

3.A. Curriculum

a. Need

Almost 3.65 million citizens in the US and EC are born with or acquire (before the age of 18) a hearing impairment which is severe enough to affect their educational opportunities, and their ability to obtain and hold a job appropriate to their potential. The inclusion of these individuals, particularly those who are deaf, in the social and economic mainstream, is an explicit goal of both the United States and the European Community. Achieving this end, however, requires that students who are deaf have free and appropriate access to the education that prepares them to be productive members of society.

The emergence of a global marketplace is placing pressure upon the educational establishment of the EC and the US to create programs that prepare people who are deaf to achieve social and economic equity in the changing marketplace. The discourse in this regard has been initiated in the EC to some extent. That is, a school level network of teachers of the deaf exists and has been in place for some time. This group participates in an ongoing discussion on educational practices in member countries. However, the discourse in this regard has not been substantially joined between the EC and USA. Project Inclusion, through the creation of a unique course, attempts to formalize this effort for the participating countries.

It is essential that future educational practitioners of the deaf be fully prepared to participate in these discussions and have a working knowledge of the varying practices in countries other than their own. This will allow them to consider potential universal design principles and the implementation of approaches to deaf education other than their own. Project Inclusion will serve to provide selected degree candidates with just such knowledge and experience.

Therefore, Project Inclusion will: 1) define and compare the models used for educating people who are deaf in the participating countries; 2) review the social, economic, historical and cultural conditions that have led to the establishment of these models; and, 3) prepare educational practitioners of the future to fully participate in shaping global policies regarding the education of people who are deaf.

b. Varying Models of Education

The partner institutions in Project Inclusion represent countries with differing models for educating people who are deaf. For example, in the US, fully 80% of deaf youth are studying with their hearing peers in public schools. In Sweden, by comparison, fully 100% of deaf students are studying in special schools for the deaf as a matter of national educational policy. Further, non-governmental organizations working in the deafness arena in Sweden are much more empowered participants in educational policy decision making than teachers. In Greece, provision for students with disabilities is included in the general education legislation, Public Law 1566 (1985). Although PL 1566/85 encourages the integration of these individuals in general education, almost 100% of deaf students are educated either in special residential and day schools, or in special units within regular schools. The variety of educational models in partner countries will provide a rich curriculum for students who participate in the course.

c. Objectives

The superordinate objective of Project Inclusion is to assist people who are deaf to realize equality of opportunity. Project Inclusion will identify "universal" design principles, effective policies and appropriate programs related to the inclusion of deaf people in education within the partner countries, and organize this information into the "first ever" comparative course on the subject. The course will be delivered by innovative web technology complemented by a three week Intensive Program. The students will be future educators of the deaf. A significant portion of the students will themselves be deaf.

d. The Course

Project Inclusion will develop and offer a course which presents a comparative study of models for educating people who are deaf. The course will outline the cultural, social, historical and economic forces which frame current education policies in each country, assess methods used to determine the educational placement of deaf pupils in primary and secondary education, and examine as wide an array of programs as time will permit. At the end of the course, students will have analyzed policy and program characteristics in the partner countries. This information will be of practical use in the design of educational programming for deaf people in the students' home countries. The course will also prepare students to become full participants in shaping national and global policies regarding education of people who are deaf. To the best of our knowledge, no such course exists.

The course will be a formally approved component of the curriculum at each participating academic institution and will be an elective course taken by a select group of students. The course, acceptable to all participating academic institutions, will carry full academic credit equivalent to 4 quarter credit hours (7.5 ETCs).

The course has two components:1). asynchronous distance learning mediated by innovative web technology; 2) capped by a three week Intensive Program. These components will be complemented by print and video materials. English and the sign languages of the participant countries will be the languages of instruction. During the three week Intensive Program the sign languages of the participating countries will be used to the extent needed.

Distance Learning

A 20-year veteran in distance education, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), home of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), has offered distance learning courses in various formats since 1979 and introduced full-degree programs through distance learning in 1990 when it received a New Pathways grant from the Annenberg/CPB Foundation. Currently, RIT offers 5 graduate degrees, 3 undergraduate degrees, 12 professional certificates and over 200 on-line courses. More than 4000 students across the United States and overseas enroll each year in RIT's distance learning programs.

RIT uses a variety of distance learning technologies including synchronous and asynchronous forms of networked communication coupled with web based and traditional media such as videotape. One example of these innovative solutions is Colloquy, a web-based software solution developed at RIT (see Appendix A). Colloquy enables faculty to develop a knowledge base of information that can be infinitely organized for customized learning needs. It enables faculty, instructional designers, and curriculum developers to collaborate in the development of content online using threaded discussions. It also serves as the course environment for students to access content, participate in discussions, add content, and develop personal knowledge portfolios.

RIT will lead the development of the distance strategy for Project Inclusion. This strategy will include:

• study of policy documents, case studies and related material via a commonly developed web site;
• electronic dialogue among all students and primary faculty members in participant countries, and face-to-face dialogue in each country; and,
• selected electronic group activities moderated by primary faculty members from each country.

Three Week Intensive Program

The three week Intensive Program will provide the students opportunity for analysis, synthesis and evaluation of the models used in each of the participating countries. Students will form multi-country teams with students from the host country who will assume responsibility as local experts when site visits are conducted to schools and programs. Each team will be tasked with comparing and contrasting the model(s) they visit and the approaches used in their home country. Prior to the end of the three week Intensive Program, each team will posit a series of 'universal design principles' that can be used in any of the participating countries. In addition, each student will produce a paper that details how they would modify the model(s) used in their country to educate people who are deaf.

The components of the three week Intensive Program are as follows:

• face-to-face intensive discussion and debate regarding the models used in each country, led by the panel of faculty from every country;
• site visits by multi-country teams to a broad range of primary and secondary schools serving deaf students;
• dialogue with national policy makers, local leaders and consumers regarding the effectiveness of the model(s) used in the host country;
• development of a paper by each team of students which delineates "universal design principles" for a multi-national model for educating people who are deaf; and,
• development of a paper by each student which details effective policy and program characteristics in the partner countries which can be of practical use in the design of more effective educational policy in their respective home countries, posits interventions that can be implemented, and discusses the political, cultural and educational implications of the recommended changes.

Printed and Video Material

Videotapes will be used as adjunct materials to support the web-based component of the project. The videotapes will provide students with access to deaf adults from every country. Were it not for the video medium, this would not be practical. Note: while the video will be placed on the web, it is currently not feasible to deliver video only over the web due to limitations in the bandwidth available to most universities.

• videotapes of deaf adults discussing how the model of education under which they studied in their respective home countries prepared them, or didn't, for inclusion in society (subtitled and/or interpreted in the language of each country);
• videotapes presenting a historical perspective of deaf education in each of the participating countries (subtitled and/or interpreted in the sign languages of each participating country);
• print materials and a series of study questions will accompany each video (these same materials will be available on the web); and,
• electronic dialogue among all students regarding the material presented in the videos utilizing structured study questions as a prompt for the dialogue (moderated by faculty members from each home country).

3.B. Students

a. The Target Population

The target group is comprised of students enrolled in teacher education programs and deaf studies at the participating universities. The students will be selected from among full-time masters degree candidates in education of the deaf in the US and among those full and part-time students pursuing the baccalaureate, masters or specialist certification in deafness and deaf education in the EC. The students will be the most competent and most promising candidates in their respective programs, as measured by grades and faculty recommendations. Care will be taken to assure that both deaf and hearing students participate.

In the EC most students can pass directly from a B.A. to a Ph.D.program, i.e. there is no need for a masters degree for those who will continue their education to a doctoral degree after completing a B.A. However, there is an increasing number of master programs in education.

The distribution of student participants is as follows:

.	Year 1	Year 2
Rochester Institute of Technology	5	5
University of Tennessee Knoxville	5	5
American Society for Deaf Children	0	0
Örebro University, Sweden	4	4
University of Patras, Greece	4	4
Instituut Voor Doven Holland	2	2
TOTAL	20	20

In sum, a total of 40 students will participate in the course, 20 in Year Two and 20 in Year Three. Participants will receive 4 quarter credit hours or 7.5 ECTS from their home universities for successful completion of the course.

During the third year of Project Inclusion, a limited number of students from institutions elsewhere in the USA will be permitted to register. Furthermore, the Internet/web model should make the course very accessible to learners at remote sites, i.e., sites other than the participating universities. "Remote" students can pay the fee rates of one of the participating universities, and attend the three week Intensive Program (at their own cost).

b. Rationale for Focusing Upon Deafness

People with some form of impairment must struggle both for "recognition" and for "transformation." First, they must be recognized as a group, not only as individuals. Once identified and recognized as a group with special needs, the struggle to change how they are treated begins. (In reality, of course, these two phases are not mutually exclusive and do overlap.) In effect, recognition is a precondition for transformation. One goal of transformation is to assure that people with an impairment are fully enfranchised and are beneficiaries of the economic, social and educational opportunities that come from unencumbered inclusion in society. The circumstances in which people with an impairment find themselves in a country reflects the disability policy of the country. This is very true as regards deafness in each of the participating countries. The struggles of people who are deaf for recognition, transformation and access to the economic, educational and social benefits of society are illustrative in general of the processes for individuals with impairments.

The deaf citizens of the US and Europe are defined by their languages and cultures. Nonetheless, some people who are deaf experience exclusion, isolation and many of the same challenges felt by other minority groups as they attempt to enter the social and economic mainstream of a culture. For these reasons the deaf population will serve as an excellent group upon which to model a prototype course dealing with the issue of "inclusion."

c. Impact of Deafness on the Instructional Strategy

A significant portion of the students and faculty involved in Project Inclusion will themselves be deaf. They have not had the same level of international opportunities readily available to hearing peers, due in large part to the challenge of learning a foreign language which they cannot hear. Through Project Inclusion, for the first time, a sizable group of deaf people will have unencumbered, systematic "access to information and communication." To maximize the impact of Project Inclusion under these circumstances, we have proposed the Intensive Program/Web Based Course(a mixed model).

To offset the challenge presented by differing sign languages in each participating country (American Sign Language, Swedish Sign Language, Greek Sign Language and Dutch Sign Language), sign language interpreters will be provided for each language. Providing these services is an expensive proposition. Therefore, we propose a web-based strategy tied to a three week Intensive Program which will allow us to offer interpreting in one location at one time. This contains the cost, but will still require a substantial investment of resources. Offering the intensive session in one country does not provide all participants the opportunity for an experience outside their home countries. While this is a drawback of the proposed model, the demand of accessibility for all participants dictates such an approach. This drawback, however, will be addressed through virtual mobility provided by the web discourse/distance learning component which precedes the three week Intensive Program, and through videotapes that will be reviewed by all participants before the Intensive Program.

Students will receive instruction in, and be able to use, state-of-the-art technology to develop the prerequisite knowledge needed to derive the maximum benefit from the three week Intensive Program. The Intensive Program is provided so that students can work face-to-face with peers, interact directly with faculty from each participating country and visit as broad an array of sites within a country as time will permit. In sum, by participating in the mixed model, with the support of sign language interpreters from each of the participating countries as needed, the communication barriers faced by students who are deaf will, to a significant extent, be eliminated. As a result, these individuals will be able to benefit from Project Inclusion, translate that benefit into quality educational models on both sides of the Atlantic, and establish an ongoing multinational dialogue regarding policy improvement.

3.C. Language/Culture Preparation

The language/cultural preparation will include 15 two hour cultural orientation seminars, study of the sign languages of all participant countries, and dialogue across countries on the Internet. Cultural mores and customs will be discussed in the seminars conducted in students' home countries prior to leaving for the intensive component of the program. The seminars will be conducted by the primary faculty member from the home country with the assistance of individuals from the country to be visited. In addition, fact sheets and other publicly available training materials from the foreign services offices of each participating country will be used by students to prepare for the three week Intensive program.

Since a significant portion of the participating faculty and students from the four countries will themselves be deaf, language orientation will focus on a comparison of the different sign languages (American, Swedish, Dutch and Greek). This will be done, in part, by using a video compact disc developed through Project DICTUM, an EC project. It contains basic instruction in Dutch Sign Language, Swedish Sign Language and Greek Sign Language. This basic instruction will be complemented with more advanced CDs to teach the sign languages of the participating EC partners. In addition, NTID has produced a series of instructional materials including books, videotapes and a videodisc to teach American Sign Language. While it is not possible to develop fluency in each of these sign languages, participants will develop the rudimentary skills needed to conduct a basic social exchange with other participants. The dialogue between students (moderated by the primary faculty members) prior to the three week Intensive Program will focus heavily upon cultural issues. In addition, instructors in each country will develop a series of questions that will be posed via the Internet to stimulate discussion and sharing regarding cultural issues not covered in the core course materials.

3.D. Multilateral Collaboration

Project Inclusion is built upon a strong history of collaborative activities:

a. Rationale for Selection of Participant Universities

As lead institutions, RIT and Örebro University are building upon five years of successful cooperation. A number of lecturers and researchers from Örebro have each spent two to three months at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), a college of RIT, working on issues related to the education and job placement of deaf college students. One of these individuals, Dr. Berth Danermark, is co-director of Project Inclusion.

Örebro University is the home of Deaf Studies, one of the groups in the Department of Education at the University. The department offers teacher of the deaf degree courses, Swedish Sign Language courses for both deaf and hearing people, and a unique pedagogical course for teachers of Swedish Sign Language. Currently, Deaf Studies has a unique collaboration with 11 of the 12 schools for the deaf and hard-of-hearing in Sweden. Deaf Studies also maintains ongoing discussions with deafness related non-governmental organizations in the country. Further, the universities of Örebro and Linköping have established a center for research on communication disorders (re: hard-of-hearing people) as part of the Ahlsens Research Institute. This innovative center is a unique asset to Project Inclusion since it includes a cadre of highly competent scholars and educators who are concerned with models for educating youth who are deaf. Dr. James J. DeCaro, immediate past dean for NTID, and Dr. Marc Marschark, director of research at NTID, currently serve on the Örebro/Linköping International Research Committee, advising on research related to education of deaf students and young adults. Finally, Dr. James J. DeCaro will be serving as a Senior Fulbright Scholar from 1 March until the end of June of 1999 at Örebro University.

The Sint-Michielsgestel Instituut voor Doven (IvD) is the largest organization for education of the deaf in the Netherlands. Its department of Research, Development and Support (RDS) offers special courses and in-service training to teachers and those studying to be teachers. IvD also offers post-graduate courses in collaboration with Dutch universities to prepare teachers of the deaf. IvD has lead numerous development and research projects based upon national and European funding. Projects cover the areas of education and training, multi-media applications, telematics and behavioral sciences.

The University of Patras is the only university in Greece where research focusing on deaf education is carried out. The University, through its Deaf Studies Unit, offers both undergraduate and graduate courses in deaf education and prepares teachers and specialists to work with the people who are deaf throughout Greece. The University of Patras cooperates with the major European universities and institutes for the deaf on various research projects and in developing multimedia programs to train teachers and deaf pupils. Several video CD's on learning sign language have been developed at Patras, in partnership with the Instituut voor Doven in Holland. These innovative CD's will be used in Project Inclusion.

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), located in the northeastern United States, has more than 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students. RIT, through the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) a college of RIT with 500 faculty and staff, enrolls more than 1200 deaf students in a broad range of technical subjects at the associate, bachelor and masters levels. Its academic programs represent a broad range of "inclusion" models, ranging from self contained courses to instruction where hearing and deaf students learn together, with the support of sign language interpreters, tutors, note takers and C-Print (a innovative voice-to-print technology). In addition, RIT prepares teachers of the deaf at the master degree level. Many of these future teachers are deaf. These graduates, prepared to work at the secondary level, often become leaders in their schools and regions. NTID has approximately 130 international students, representing about 20 countries. Research is a significant part of NTID's mission. Among the topics of highest priority are the inclusion of deaf people (especially NTID graduates) in education, work, and society.

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK), located in the southeastern part of the United States, enrolls 19,000 undergraduate and 7,000 graduate students in 15 colleges and schools, blending research and public service with teaching. UTK, involved with deaf education since 1935, currently offers professional preparation programs for teachers, interpreters and rehabilitation personnel at both the bachelor and master's academic degree level, as well as in continuing education. The programs are multi-state, regional and national in scope. In addition, UTK manages the Postsecondary Education Consortium (PEC) which provides outreach and technical assistance to deaf students enrolled in postsecondary programs in 14 states and the Virgin Islands. UTK is also home to the Southeast Regional Interpreter Training Consortium (SRITC), a federally funded regional program serving the eight states of Region IV. Given this array of resources and experience, UTK is the primary center for advice and training related to deaf education and transition programming in the southeastern part of the US.

RIT and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK) have multiple links at many levels, including the Postsecondary Education Programs Network (PEPNet),


Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). The PEPNet leaders and selected staff meet frequently as part of a National Coordinating Council to ensure cooperation on diverse projects such as distance learning, biennial conferences, public awareness campaigns, instructional material development, and the establishment of quality standards. PEPNet will become a major vehicle for advertising the course to individuals and programs outside of RIT and UTK during the second and third years of the project. The primary faculty member from UTK (Dr. Olga Welch) is the current chair of the NTID National Advisory Group, and is recognized nationally as an expert in multicultural education.

Primary faculty members from each participant academic institution have conducted study tours to RIT to review the programs and services of NTID.

The American Society for Deaf Children (ASDC), a parent organization in the US, focuses upon the educational, social and economic needs of deaf children. NTID and ASDC have worked collaboratively on a variety of projects ranging from the translation of information for parents into Spanish to the establishment of a linked web site for ASDC. The ASDC was selected as a non-institutional US partner because: 1) parents have a profound effect upon the educational model in which their children will study, 2) parents are looked upon by policy makers in the US as a critical constituency, and 3) parents have much empirical knowledge to lend to Project Inclusion. Dr. Sue Ouellette, president of ASDC, and the parent of two children who are deaf, will serve as a member of the curriculum development team.

b. Cooperative activities

Using the strengths outlined above, the partners will collaborate on the development of a joint course delivered by innovative web technology and a three week Intensive Program. All partners will access the resources of their universities to develop the instructional strategies for Project Inclusion and will benefit from the experience of creating and offering a course on a distributed basis internationally (see Appendix B). The participating universities, by expanding their curriculum development and technology capabilities, will learn a great deal about the process of delivering asynchronous learning on a global scale.

3.E. Evaluation and Sustainability

a. Program Development Goals and Evaluation

The over-arching rationale for the project is creation of the opportunity for international discourse among leaders of the future regarding the establishment of educational programs and policies that maximize the inclusion of people who are deaf in the social and economic mainstream. See Appendix C for the development time line.

The development goals are as follows:

i. create the curriculum;

ii. apply an innovative web technology designed at RIT to the development and offering of the distance learning component of the course. See Appendix A for details on Colloquy, the innovative software technology; and,

iii. create a mechanism for the exchange of credits across the participating universities.

IV. DEVELOP A MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION PLAN TO ASSURE CONTINUATION AFTER YEAR THREE.

The curriculum will be subject to review and approval by the appropriate faculty bodies at each participating academic institution. The time lines for project development will be monitored and all time lines will be met. The quality of the web site will be evaluated by experts in web and instructional design from the participating universities. Further, students will provide formative feedback as they participate in Project Inclusion.

The learning goals are as follows:

i. students will understand the educational, social, economic, cultural, language, legislative, historical and policy circumstances for people who are deaf in the participating countries;

ii. students will review, discuss and assess a wide array of programs from both a theoretical and practical perspective;

iii. students will review and critique the various aspects of the educational models and describe how they can be translated into practical effective programs in the various participant countries;

iv. students will posit universal design principles that could be applied in any of the participating countries; and,

v. students will describe the potential policy implications of applying, adapting or adopting models other than those used in their home country.

Recognized formative and summative evaluation techniques will be applied to the development process and to the learning goals. Data collection will be an integral part of the web design and the intensive program. These data will be collected during the first offering of the course and appropriate modification will be made prior to the second offering. In addition, a summative review will be conducted after the second offering and the course will be modified for use on a regular basis by the participating universities.

Student learning outcomes will be assessed. Faculty will monitor the dialogue among students and provide students with feedback. In addition, papers written by each student and by each team will be reviewed by lead faculty from each country as the papers are being developed. The teams and each student will be provided with formative feedback and the students themselves will be examined by a faculty panel at the end of the three week intensive program. The panel will develop a list a questions as a part of project development. See Appendix E for a preliminary draft of the evaluation plan.

b. Dissemination

The student delegation from each country will share both their individual papers and the reports of each team with appropriate authorities in their home countries (e.g., the Ministry of Education). Each delegation will also hold at least one seminar for students and faculty members in their respective home universities who did not participate in the course. In addition, all student papers will be posted on the Project Inclusion web site and will be accessible to interested parties. Finally, the web site will be a linked site that will direct anyone who accesses the address to other sites containing information regarding deafness and the topics covered in Project Inclusion.

c. Access

As has been stated previously, this project is specifically designed to provide opportunities for full participation by students who are deaf, as well as those who are hearing, in an inclusive setting. The rationale for so doing is grounded in the contributions that both groups can make in an interactive and face-to-face educational setting. Students who are deaf and those who are hearing will bring very different perspectives to the study of the content of this course and this will enrich the experiences of all.

Therefore, students who are deaf will be provided access to the course through the sign languages of their respective countries. Further, they will provide evaluation feedback regarding communication access during each of the phases of the program.

d. Sustainability

During the second offering of the course (Year Three), a limited number of students from institutions anywhere in the participating countries can register. Using the Internet/web will make the course very accessible to learners at remote sites, i.e., sites other than the participating universities. In fact, it will enhance the course. "Remote" students in the US will pay the fee rates of one of the participating universities, and attend the three week Intensive Program (at their own expense). The income so derived will demonstrate the capability to maintain the course after funding ends.

Each academic institution will integrate the course into its ongoing distance learning offerings. At the end of Year Three, each partner will have developed a marketing plan for the course. Finally, the course will be an integral part of the curriculum at the participating universities. The course will carry full academic credit appropriate for the educational system in the participating countries and universities. This will help to guarantee the course a permanent place in the course of study in each country.

Appendix A: Colloquy
(see Colloquy)

Appendix B: Partial List of Responsibilities of Each Partner
(see Tasks and Timelines)

Appendix C: Planning Timetable
(see Tasks and Timelines)

Appendix D: Mobility Chart

	Host Institutions	U of örebro	U of Patras	Instituut Voor Doven	RIT/ NTID	U Tenn at Knoxville	Total outgoing
Home Institutions
U of örebro					8		8
U of Patras					8		8
Instituut Voor Doven					4		4
RIT/ NTID		10					10
U Tenn at Knoxville		10					10
Total incoming		20			20

Appendix E: Preliminary Evaluation Plan

1. Internal Staff reviews

Each time the lead faculty meet (twice annually), they will review progress made in the preceding six months, check the list of tasks completed against a project master plan (to be developed as a first order of business by the team of faculty) and discuss the forward movement of the project. If data indicate that any modifications are in order, those modifications will be discussed and made.

2. Evaluator Review

Review of the technical and curricular aspects of the project will be conducted by an external evaluator(s) drawn from the participating universities. The evaluator will insure that the highest standards are being maintained. The evaluator(s) will review all aspects of the curriculum design, the quality of the instructional technology used, the quality of the materials developed and selected for the project, and the dissemination plan.

3. Faculty Perceptions

It is extremely important to sample the perceptions of the project faculty over the life of the project. Since knowledge and attitudes change over time, it is easy to forget or ignore the frustrations and problems that arise early in the development and implementation of a new project. However, such problems and frustrations must be identified and, whenever possible, remedied. If not, implementation efforts may be doomed to failure. The faculty will be interviewed each year by the evaluator(s) and recommendations for changes in the curriculum development and implementation process will be recommended.

4. Documentation and Review of Instructional Units

"Units" of instruction will be reviewed (if NECESSARY, a random selection of representative materials will be drawn) to determine:

a. appropriateness of content,
b. ease of delivery, and,
c. overall instructional quality.

5. Baseline Student Data

Measuring student outcomes is one of the more difficult evaluation issues of this project. However, the project faculty will collect baseline information that will help them examine changes in student knowledge about the models used in participating countries and how these models might be changed to improve the circumstances of deaf pupils in their respective countries. Project faculty will identify appropriate baseline measures, document them and publish them for students as a first order of business in the first year of the project.

Last Updated: November 8, 1999