Expanding
Our IDEAS
by John Fischer, IDEAS Project Director
Since
its inception in August 2001, the IDEAS portal website
has served over 70,000 educators with resources. With
continued supported from the UW System, TEACH Wisconsin,
and the UW-Extension, IDEAS has collaborated with new
partners to offer even greater services to Wisconsin educators.
(Nov. 2002)
Telling
the Story: How UW Schools of Education Prepare Students
to Use Technology
by
Hal Schlais, University of Wisconsin System Administration
Recent
criticism of the nation's education schools has claimed
that students graduating from teacher training programs
are inadequately prepared to use technology in their classrooms.
Hal Schlais offers another side of the story. He outlines
steps UW System Schools of Education have taken to help
pre-service and in-service teachers become "effective
and contemporary educators, as well as savvy users of
technology." (October 2001)
Preparing
Tomorrow's Teachers to use Technology: The UW-River Falls
Model Program
by So-young Zeon, Mary Lundeberg, Lori Beiging, and Karen
Ryan, UW-River Falls
The
UW-River Falls PT3 Program has become a statewide model
for teacher training institutions. The authors describe
how their program uses students to help faculty incorporate
technology into their curricula, partners with public
schools to create teacher leaders in surrounding communities,
and more. (October 2001)
Drop
of Life: Integrated Technology Education through Studies
of Wisconsin Waters
by Mary Gruhl and Janie Besharse, UW-Milwaukee Center for
Science Education
Gruhl
and Besharse describe this exciting Center for Science
Education project, which trains in-service teachers to
use state-of-the-art science technology. The program provides
students, teachers, parents, and community members the
opportunity to contribute to scientific research, learn
of their community cultures, study river history and ecology,
and participate in a river expedition or clean-up. (October
2001)
University
of Wisconsin School Library Education Consortium
by Eileen E. Schroeder (UW-Whitewater), E. Anne Zarinnia
(UW-Whitewater), Gyneth Slygh (UW-Eau Claire), Dianne McAfee
Hopkins (UW-Madison), Louise Robbins (UW-Madison), Ella
Cross (UW-Superior), and Penny Garcia (UW-Oshkosh)
The
UW School Library Education Consortium reports on its
complex journey towards providing a distance education
program to license school library media specialists. In
the process, they have not only begun to meet a statewide
need for these specialists, but they have also strengthened
bonds across System institutions. (October 2001)
The
IDEAS Website: A
New Portal for Wisconsin's PK-12 Teachers
by John Fischer, IDEAS Project Director, UW-Extension
Technology-enhanced
learning has become a hot issue in Wisconsin, not just
in the higher education environment but in PK-12 education
as well. The soon-to-be-launched IDEAS website is a portal
that will provide Wisconsin educators access to high-quality, highly usable,
teacher-reviewed content. In this article, the project's
director provides an update on its current direction.
(May 2001)
Support
for Distance Learning Programs: Is Technology Really Enough?
by Karen Al-Ashkar, M.A., Counselor,
Master of Engineering in Professional Practice Program,
UW-Madison
Learn
more about the student-support aspect of the Master of
Engineering in Professional Practice program at UW-Madison.
(Also see TTT's profile of this
program.) TTT directs readers to the American Society
of Engineering Education's site to read Al-Ashkar's paper.
Related to her dissertation research, Al-Ashkar's paper
won an award at the ASEE's 2000 annual conference. (After
following the link above, scroll down to "Best PIC-V
Paper.") (Jan. 2001)
From
a Country School to Cyberspace: An Educator's Journey and
Reflections on Pedagogy
by William Washabaugh, Professor of Anthropology,
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Professor
Bill Washabaugh's teaching career spans more than thirty
years. Read about his enlightening journey from a country
school to technology-enhanced higher education. As Washabaugh
writes, his career has taught him that teaching requires
more than just common sense and commitment; it requires
a serious consideration of one's own pedagogical strategies.
Washabaugh includes discussion of his current projects
on music and nationalism and museum studies. (Dec. 2000)
Providing
Role Models for Emergency-Licensed Teachers through Streaming
Video: A Faculty Profile of Lisa Dieker
by Jennifer Smith, TTT Editor
In
school districts across the country, teacher shortages
are being managed by the use of emergency-licensed teachers,
especially in the field of special education. While many
of these teachers are concurrently fulfilling the requirements
for their regular teaching licenses, they find themselves
thrust into a demanding situation in which they must do
much of their learning on the job. The problem is, how
can these teachers be provided models of quality teaching
when they do not have time during the school day to observe
veteran teachers? Associate Professor Lisa Dieker has
come up with one solution to this problem: streaming video
on the web. (Nov. 2000)
Scott
Frazier, Health Education Science & Athletics (HESA),
Helps Tomorrow's Teachers
Health Exercise Science & Athletics, UW-Stevens
Point
Frazier
is currently developing a Distance Learning Seminar to
enhance communication while student teachers work on site
(at schools away from campus). Using Microsoft Net
Meeting software, students, their peers and professors
will be able to see and talk to each other on a system
that would work much like a videophone.
Using Technology
to Build a Gateway to Diversity
Rea Kirk, Assistant Professor
Tom LoGuidice, Professor
John Nkemnji, Professor
Department of Education, UW-Platteville
ABSTRACT:
Several Professors at UW-Platteville conducted a research
study to help determine if an electronic environment would
be conducive for students to openly discuss issues of
race, culture, class, and gender within their immediate
campus and surrounding community. In addition to
discussing field/classroom experiences and reading, the
UW-Platteville students communicated weekly and set up
email partnerships with inner-city students in Milwaukee.
Professor Leslie Owen Wilson
Department of Education, UW-Stevens Point
ABSTRACT
(no feature article)
Professor Leslie Owen Wilson received a technology grant
last summer to develop a series of web pages to help increase
the uses of technology specifically in relation to teaching
and learning. Advanced concepts from three of her
graduate classes (now on the web) have been subsequently
offered to undergraduate students enrolled in her educational
psychology courses. In addition, numerous links within
Prof. Wilson's site serve as useful reference for practicing
educators, parents, and other interested web browsers.
For more information about her projects to date, the URL
for her site is: http://www.uwsp.edu/acad/educ/lwilson