Internet Tools To Support Professional Development in Education

Education 603, End-of-Course Presentation, 12/5/96

Presenters: Soo-Young Lee, Gloria Martinez, Darryl Wahlstrom

I. Internet Tools For In-Service Professional Development

A. The Challenge of Professional Development (JJ)

• Teachers need:
  • Information
  • Motivation
  • Opportunity to experiment and receive feedback on the experiment from colleagues and mentors.
  • Opportunity to collaborate and receive support from colleagues and mentors
• The challenge: In a large school district, with teachers dispersed
  • Distribution of materials
  • The right-size time slices for meaningful activity.
    • Every meeting requires travel time and maybe released time: 2+ hours
    • Mentors visits to a PD site must be infrequent

B. A PD Example: Brain-Compatible Learning Initiative in AAPS

• BCL (Susan Kovalik): A typical professional development effort
• Timetable of face-to-face activities (Handout).
• Breakdown by Function

Function	Current Method
Transmit Information	Teachers assemble in a group: Lectures, group activities. Infrequent. Teachers alone: Distribute print materials.
Motivate	Outside expert brought in to "pitch" the innovation
Support Collaboration	Prof Dev Director visits classrooms in 6 bldgs.
	Train principals to support collaboration within building
Study Groups	Teachers come together in common location once/month. Discuss readings and their implication for practice.
Visit Model Sites	1-3 days; travel plus substitutes. Out of district site: afford once per year.

C. Can Internet Tools Enhance Current Methods?

Function	Electronic Enhancement
Transmit Information	Web pages as a library of print & graphical information. HomePage & Fetch.
Motivate	Web as a library of illustrated lectures: text, graphics, & "streaming audio." RealAudio.
Support Collaboration	Asynchronous communication among participants. Electronic mail and e-mail with attachments. Pine, Eudora, Netscape Mail.
	Synchronous communication. Chat Group.
Study Groups	Internet as an interactive electronic newspaper. NewsGroups.
Visit Model Sites	Video Conferencing: CU SeeMe.

Transmitting Information

Web Pages (DW)

• What is a Web Page ?
  • Example of Web Page: AAPS Prof Dev Page
  • HTML--HyperText Markup Language
  • Resides on a Server
  • Viewed Remotely With A Browser (Netscape)
    
• Claris Home Page
  • Web page authoring with ease of w.p.
  • Web page editing
  • "Library" of print and images
  • Emerging technologies (audio, video, and animation)
    
• Fetch
  • File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
  • Transfer of documents
  • Storage of documents
  • Documents--text, images, sound files
  • Graphical interface
    
• Advantages over printed resources?
• Web site has only text and graphical information

Adding Motivation

Streaming Audio (DW)

• Advantages of audio for Professional Development
• Disadvantages of audio
• Example of audio on the Web: Telepathology Conferences
• Potential for BCL: Kovalik cheaper & more frequently

Supporting Group Processes

Electronic Mail (GM)

• What is Electronic Mail? (show Netscape Mail)
  • A tool that enables people to exchange messages electronically
  • Asynchronous
  • Like Web pages, mesages reside on a server
  • Threading can help retain flow of conversation
  • Ability to exchange formatted document.
• How are they accessed?
  • Work on the server (Telnet/Pine)
  • Retrieve and work on personal computer (Eudora, Netscape Mail, etc.)
• Comparing Different E-Mailers
  • Pine: command-line interface; sending formatted attachments is difficult
  • Eudora: GUI interface; sending formatted attachments is easy
  • Netscape has Eudora built-in

Chat Groups (GM)

• What is Internet Relay Chat?
  • Synchronous: exchange of messages in real time.
  • Chat exists on one server; chatters can be located anywhere
  • You can join a particular group or channel or a meeting place on the Internet
  • You can create you own private or public group
• What are the Educational uses of Chatrooms?
  • This is a useful tool for groups of teachers to discuss particular teaching methods and ideas while being at different locations.
  • Classroom Connect Virtual Auditorium
  • Example of how Chatrooms can be used for Brain Compatible Learning (Handout)

Information for Study Groups

News Groups (SY)

• Face-to-face cannot be scheduled more than 1 per 3-4 weeks
• Electronic discussion group can "meet" more frequently
• A News Group is "threaded"--discussions by topics
• Easy to browse
• Example of News Group
  • http://www.w3.org/pub/DataSources/News/Groups/k12.html
  • Handout: a "threaded" conversation in science
• Strengths
  • "Meet" more frequently than face-to-face groups
  • Threading problem is solved
• weaknesses
  • It's just text and graphics

Visitations

Video Conferencing (SY)

• CU-SeeMe :
  • Inexpensive Internet based desktop video conferencing tool.
  • Synchronous communication using audio, video and text.
  • Used for One-to-one communication, one-to-many (lectures), and many-to-many (group conferences)
• Examples from DileM Project: DileM EDMEDIA/EDTELECOM Project
• Strengths
  • Reduces need for travel
  • CU See Me is cheap
• Weaknesses
  • Still requires a technical staff (camera operator, etc.)

Additional Technical Information

More information about technical aspects of various Internet tools are available on the following web site: The ED603 Internet Tool Review : http://www.umich.edu/~ed603/InternetTools.html

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II. Are We There Yet? Capabilities in Selected S.E. Michigan Districts

• Livonia (Susan Sutherland)
• Trenton (William Mull)
• Flint (Daniel Behm)
• India/Tibet (Norbu Tsering & Tsering Phuntsok)
• Ann Arbor (Jere Johnston)

CU See Me Photos

Class talking to a teacher at a remote location

 

Class observing a small group interaction at a remote location

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