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Papers
Solutions
to Linking Technology with Learning in Diverse Environments
(PDF Version , 33Kb)
Pamela M. Johnson
Education and Research Consortium, Adventure of the American Mind, Home School
Partner
USA
pamjohnson@ercwc.org
Beth R. Coulter
Western Carolina University, Adventure of the American Mind
USA
brcoulter@email.wcu.edu
Wendy Trivett Fusco
Montreat College, Adventure of the American Mind
USA
wfusco@montreat.edu
Isabel Leroy
Maricopa Community College, Adventure of the American Mind
USA
isabel.leroy@smcmail.maricopa.edu
Abstract: Adventure of the American Mind (AAM), a grant
from the Library of Congress, had one objective for the
1999-2003 funding period. This objective was to teach K-16
public and private school teachers to integrate the digitized
primary sources available at the Library of Congress Web site
into their curriculum. The method for meeting this objective
was not mandated and has been achieved in very different
paths at the participating colleges. This panel will discuss
the some of the methods of implementing this objective
and the lessons learned from four perspectives: (1) a small
liberal arts college working with in-service and pre-service
teachers, (2) a regional community college serving a very
large geographic area of in-service teachers, (3) a large
state university serving in-service and pre-service teachers
as well as college faculty, and (4) a non-profit agency
serving home school K-12 teachers and students in Western
North Carolina.
Background of the Project
The Library of Congress has digitized
approximately 8 million items which are available on
their web site. In
1999, they awarded a grant to the Education and Research
Consortium to form Adventure of the American Mind (AAM)
to enhance the educational arm of the digitization process.
The Adventure of the American Mind’s purpose was
to train teachers how to utilize the electronic primary
sources available on the Library of Congress web site as
a part of their classroom curriculum. Initially, AAM consisted
of three programs in Western North Carolina. As of August
2003, AAM has grown to eighteen programs in North Carolina,
South Carolina, Arizona, Illinois and Virginia. This paper
will present some “lessons learned” by four
of these programs during the implementation process.
Introduction
The four programs represented in this paper include Montreat
College (MC), Western Carolina University (WCU), South
Mountain Community College (SMCC) and the Home School (HS)
Partner. Montreat College has participated with the AAM
program since October, 1999. As a private liberal arts
Presbyterian-affiliate institution, MC has 1,077 students
between the main campus in Black Mountain, North Carolina
and three satellite campuses. In September 2000, Western
Carolina University joined the AAM program. Western Carolina
University, a member of the University of North Carolina
System, is a comprehensive public university with 7,500
undergraduate and graduate students in 150 majors and concentrations.
South Mountain Community College joined the AAM program
in May 2001. South Mountain Community College offers associate
degrees, certificates of completion, college transfer courses
and additional programs to more than 7,000 students each
year. These students reflect the mix of rural, urban and
suburban neighborhoods in Phoenix. The Home School Partner
joined the AAM program in November 2001. The Home School
Partner potentially works with 3,000 home school educators
in fifteen counties in Western North Carolina.
Study Description
The mission of the Adventure of the American Mind grant
is to present to the Library of Congress with effective
methods for teaching K-16 teachers to use digitized primary
sources as a part of their curriculum. The AAM HS partner
was formed as a result of the needs of the home school
teacher being very different from the classroom teacher.
The typical home school educator is not trained as an educator
and works with one to three students in different grades.
These differences meant that the methods to train home
school teachers would be very different from the programs
that were training classroom teachers. The home school
teachers needed online lessons using the primary sources
created and offered to them to use with their students.
The AAM HS partner created curriculum-based lessons covering
North Carolina history and technology-based lessons which
used primary sources at the Library of Congress while introducing
a software product. These lessons were piloted at eight
computer labs in Western North Carolina (WNC) with approximately
600 home school educators and students from September 2002
until May 2003. Home school educators were notified by
a mailing to the WNC registered home schools with the North
Carolina Department of Non-Public Education, as well as
press releases, presentations to the local home school
organizations and posters placed in the public libraries.
Participation in the AAM HS program was voluntary and the
only compensation to the educators and students was the
free training and snacks during the training periods.
During the four-year grant, each college participating
in the AAM grant piloted different methods to train classroom
teachers to use digitized primary sources as a part of
their curriculum. MC, WCU and SMCC trained forty teachers
each year of their participation in the grant. Generally
these teachers consisted of two teachers from twenty schools.
These teachers went through four phases during their training,
the selection phase, the college course phase, the summer
institute phase, and the mentoring phase.
Selection Phase
During the selection phase the
AAM staff contacted the school superintendents for the
participating school systems
to determine which schools would participate during the
next year. The AAM staff invited the principals at these
schools for an introductory meeting to the AAM program.
Following this meeting, each principal presented the program
to their teachers. The Western Carolina University program
allowed principals to select the teachers to participate
in the program. The only requirements by the WCU program
were that the principal select teachers not based on technology
skill levels but on the teacher’s willingness to
participate in the program and mentor another teacher.
The SMCC and MC programs requested the interested teachers
submit an application to participate to their principal.
The principal submitted the teacher applications with their
recommendations to the AAM staff for two teachers from
their school to participate. Some principals were very
specific about their recommendations while others submitted
all teacher applications and left the final decision to
the AAM staff members. Upon selection to participate, the
teachers were invited to an orientation meeting which detailed
the benefits and requirements of participating in the program.
The benefits included a free laptop computer, free 3-hour
college course, and a free summer institute. The requirements
included completing the college course with a grade of
B or higher, attending a summer institute, and mentoring
another teacher on using these digitized resources in their
curriculum. Upon agreeing to the benefits and requirements,
the teachers moved into the college course phase.
College Course Phase
The college course phase included taking a class covering
the integration of digitized materials in the curriculum.
During this class teachers investigated the primary source
digital materials available at the Library of Congress
and learned a software product which enabled them to implement
using these primary sources in their classroom. Upon completion
of the course, teachers submitted lesson plans with completed
PowerPoint or web based units to use in their classrooms.
The college course was offered in several formats: (1)
the traditional 15 three-hour weekly meetings, (2) six
one-day meetings, (3) one-week intensive summer meeting,
(4) a mix of online and face-to-face meetings. The different
formats were designed to meet the needs of the teachers
in the program. During the college course phase, the teachers
submitted the names of the teacher or teachers they planned
to mentor during the following year.
Summer Institute Phase
The summer institute phase consisted of a choice between
two opportunities. The first choice is a three-day institute
at the local college providing an opportunity for the college
course teachers to build a knowledge base if taken prior
to the college course or to expand their knowledge gained
during the college course. The second choice is a five-day
trip to the Library of Congress to work with the American
Memory Learning Page staff on additional ways to integrate
digitized primary sources in the classroom. The three-day
summer institute at the local college was also open to
the teachers who were selected to be mentored during the
upcoming year.
Mentoring Phase
This phase required the teacher who had completed the
college course to select a teacher or teachers in their
school to mentor on how to integrate digital primary sources
in their curriculum. Some of the teachers who had completed
the college course presented training seminars for their
schools while others selected one or more fellow teacher
and worked with them throughout the semester.
Findings
These “lessons learned” by
the different colleges have fallen into four basic areas
which include communication,
community, technology and human nature which are bulleted
by organization below.
Communication
Montreat
- By modeling activities in the AAM course and then
having the teachers create individual activities, growth
in skills and confidence was stimulated
- Overcoming the staunch lecturers’ lack
of technology use in the classroom while helping them
see the laptop
and the Internet as teaching tools
Western Carolina University
- Involving families and community is an important step
in connecting local history and local primary sources
to the Library of Congress primary digital sources
South Mountain Community College
- The advocacy role of the AAM staff on the behalf of
teachers played a major role in the success of the program
- Creating and sustaining a collaborative
learning environment free from day to day distractions
and stressors are essential…and
difficult
- Identify any business/community/education partnerships
- First and foremost take an advocacy role on behalf
of teachers
- Important to build good communication channels at all
administrative levels of a school district
Home School
- Establishing relationships with home school organizations
and leaders in the home schooling community is essential
to gaining participation of home school educators
- Raising the home school educators’ awareness
of the wide range of free curriculum materials on the
Internet.
Community
Montreat
- Include alumni of the AAM program as guest support
staff during the current college course through their
facilitation of integration ideas and additional technical
support
- AAM alumni provide a source of feedback to AAM staff
in planning for future college courses
- Actively work to avoid becoming a burden to the on-site
technology support for the teachers
- Understanding of technology standards, protocol and
procedures at the various participating schools
- Provide an opportunity for teachers to work with teachers
in other settings builds community ties beyond their
schools.
Western Carolina University
- Public and private school teachers have worked very
well together and have shared teaching strategies and
enthusiasm
- Sharing lessons learned and resources with administrators
in other technology-based programs on a local, state
and national level
- Involving families and community is an important step
in connecting schools with the Library of Congress digital
resources
South Mountain Community College
- Be knowledgeable of other projects in the area that
may have a similar focus
- Was it a positive experience?
- Know how you are different and how you can use what
has already been offered to complement and build on this
project
- Be sensitive to institutional and bureaucratic obstacles
- Advocacy on behalf of teachers is critical
- Professional credibility is a valuable commodity -
never promise more than you or your staff can deliver
and be consistent and equitable
- Building access to classroom
teachers is more than asking to present the AAM opportunity,
i.e. creating
a digitized resource learning process that’s for
teachers by teachers in order to capitalize on multiple
knowledge bases and experiences
- Think globally as to how project will be perceived
by all education stakeholders; Department of Education,
school board members, superintendent and district level
administrators, local site administrators, classroom
teachers, and parents
- Be sensitive to site local educational issues and avoid
hit and run programming
- Skepticism is always high at the beginning of each
training session so trust is hard earned
- A good teacher/project staff comfort level provides
ready access to sites and classrooms at all times
- Be proactive in building a safe environment, creating
team work. Be the kindling for the resources fire
Home School
- Home school educators come with their children ranging
in age from newborn to 18 to participate in labs
- The lessons are created for
3rd – 12th grade
students, but the younger children are stakeholders in
the success of the program
- Non-intended users of the online lessons have been
home bound students and individuals preparing for their
General Educational Diploma (GED)
Technology
Montreat
- Concentrated time to learn technology then extended
time to learn integration (placing Summer Institute before
the AAM course) relieves stress and tension for the teachers
by giving them a foundation to work from in the beginning
- Helping the teachers develop projects that could immediately
be used in their classrooms promoted a more positive
attitude
- Including lab time within the
scheduled meeting time rather than assigning “homework” was
much more productive for the teachers and less stressful
on
the instructor
- Projects created after the mentoring phase was of better
quality than the final projects at the end of the course
- State mandated filtering systems and unblocking American
Memory
- Making the American Memory search
engine “user
friendly”
Western Carolina University
- Regardless of the technology
skill levels of teachers – high
expectations yield quality projects
- Providing technology
- Support for the technology and the infrastructure
- Training in two areas:
- Basic computer operations
- Effective use of instructional technologies in
teaching and learning activities
South Mountain Community College
- Non-threatening assessment of technology levels among
teacher cohorts i.e. balancing the teacher techie novice
with the teacher techie competent
- Administrations tend to overlook technology receptive
teachers and instead focus on technology savvy faculty
- Be sensitive to site local educational issues and avoid
hit and run programming
- Partner up tools and knowledge of how to use the tools
Home School
- Time spent to create projects and time for students
and parents to complete lessons make it difficult to
keep presenting new material
- The ability of educators and students to transport
work from home to the computer lab is limited to the
size on a floppy disk or their ability to e-mail documents
- Many participants assume they have Microsoft Office
on their home computers
- The average Internet connectivity in Western North
Carolina is a dial in modem which is a stumbling block
to using many of the primary sources at the Library of
Congress
Human Nature
Montreat
- Giving teachers coffee mugs, tote bags, etc. made
them feel respected as professionals
- Allowing the teachers to choose the number of colleagues
to mentor resulted in more people being mentored. For
even the teacher who selected only one at the beginning
would often end up mentoring more
- Teachers mimicked the activities conducted in class
within a week or two. With course instructors modeling
analysis activities, the teachers more easily integrated
higher-level thinking skills and problem solving skills
involving technology into their classrooms than when
they simply read or discussed activity ideas
- Teachers also began mimicking
the teaching style of the course. Teachers were allowed
to work together, help
each other, and move at their own pace. The teachers,
in turn, would structure their students’ lab time
where the students would work together, help each other,
and move at a more individual pace
Western Carolina University
- Use of the Library of Congress primary sources must
enhance what teachers are doing in their class. It must
be presented as value added enhancements to the standard
curriculum and not added work
- Pre-service teachers benefit from the in-service teacher
unit plans by using them and then modeling behaviors
of the in-service teachers
- If the program does not set quantitative measures,
then teachers tend to give more than the unwritten expectations
- Mentoring works best when the mentoring projects are
left to the design of the mentor and the mentee
South Mountain Community College
- Be prepared to answer these two questions: How do
the children benefit? Why should I/we give you any of
our valuable time?
- Be aware of the unasked question, “What’s
in it for me?”
- You are building and nurturing relationships at all
levels
- Non-threatening assessment of technology levels among
teacher cohorts i.e. balancing the teacher techie novice
with the teacher techie competent
- A good teacher/project staff comfort level provides
ready access to sites and classrooms at all times
Home School
- Population is skeptical of government supported programs
- Break time during the 3-hour weekly training session
includes snacks. This small treat is a very big deal
to many of the students. The opportunity for the parents
to visit during a break is good for building a community
of learners
- The AAM HS lessons have been re-packaged to be completed
with-in one or two lab sessions (3 to 6 hours) to provide
immediate completion of projects rather than the project
being spread over a 12 lab sessions before completion
General
Montreat
- Color coding the filing system to track the different
groups of people
- Providing standardized forms and deadlines for mentoring
work. This provides congruent information across the
board that can be compared. Also, a tracking mechanism
to ensure mentoring work has occurred
Home School
- Providing educationally sound material to meet different
learning styles while presenting the material online
is time consuming and difficult. The development and
piloting phase is taking longer than originally anticipated
is made available through a grant funded by the U.S. Congress.
AAM is administered through
the .
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