ERC Telecom

The Education and Research Consortium of the Western Carolinas, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Hunter Goosmann as Director of Network Operations. Mr. Goosmann assumes the responsibility for supporting and expanding the existing fiber optic network providing low cost Internet access in the region. Additionally, Mr. Goosmann will manage the network operations center.

Mr. Goosmann most recently served as a Critical Situation Manager with Storage Technology Corporation of Louisville, CO. His experience includes program management and strategic customer management as well as managing systems test efforts for Level (3) Communications. He received his Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Miami (FL) and his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee.

The Pisgah Forest Institute (PFI) is providing two internship opportunities for Brevard College students during the Spring 2005 term. One will involve working in the area of virtual ecology, a tool whose potential in predicting impacts of a number of ecosystem management options is just beginning to be recognized. The person working in that area would gain experience in using computer software provided by the School of Forestry and Ecological Studies at Yale University to analyze results of a number of forestry management options. The results of this project could have applications to the new distance learning course being developed by PFI. The second internship would entail involved examinations of the flow of energy and matter during physical, chemical and biological cycles within the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere and/or biosphere. These are topics which are a part of the Institute's "Elements of Nature Course".

Congratulations to PFI Operations Assistants Jayne Hall and Jessica Sharp on their induction into the Alpha Chi Honor Society at Brevard College. Membership is limited to juniors and seniors in the top ten percent of their class. The Institute staff will miss Jessica, who graduates this January with a dual degree in Ecology and Environmental Studies. She completed this rigorous program in 3-1/2 years.

PFI Executive Director Bob Sweeney recently was named to the Asheville Plant Advisory Committee by the Progress Energy Carolinas Inc. This 26 member panel is charged with making recommendations regarding the most effective means of informing the public about the new pollution abatement program being installed at the electric generating facility. A tour of that plant is part of the "Air-Not: Effective Pollution Abatement Workshop" being offered by the Institute June 19-21, 2005.

Enrollment in PFI's 2005 eight summer offerings is moving along at a steady pace. Prospective students can learn more about these offering as well as enroll on line at www.brevard.edu/pfi.

Dr. Sweeney was asked to present two workshops on grantsmanship at the February 9 -12 Preparing Educators for Adventures with Kids (PEAK) conference that will be held at YMCA Camp Greenville in Cedar Mountain, NC. This is the third year in succession that he will be part of that program. The conference also provides an opportunity to inform attendees about the PFI courses.

Watch for an upcoming announcement on the time and content of PFI's in-service training workshop on weather. This short course is being planned for February, 2005. Among the instructors will be staff from the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville. The short courses for educators are held during the school year on a Friday afternoon and most of the day Saturday. The Institute is in the process of seeking external support to underwrite the cost of substitutes so that public and private school teachers can attend without incurring a financial burden on their districts.

PFI’s website is locate at www.brevard.edu/pfi.

KceeI is actively working with consultant Dr. David Reese from the NEIU-19. Dr. Reese is assisting with tasks such as researching graduate credit options, and correlating the National and Pennsylvania State Standards for Environment and Ecology to the course schedules. The Forest Stewardship course has been completed in terms of the standard correlation and documentation for the Advisory Board for NEIU-19, which the Institute will go before the in late February.

KceeI will be conducting a Herpetology Workshop, An Introduction to Amphibians and Reptiles of Pennsylvania for 15 teachers from the Scranton School District. By looking under rocks and slogging through swamps you will learn the habits and habitat of PA's slimy and scaly vertebrates. This workshop is designed to introduce participants to four major components of herpetology: awareness (basic biology), identification, habitat and responsible human action. Participants will also receive an introduction to the biology, ecology and identification of Pennsylvania specific amphibians and reptiles. Teacher resources will be provided at this workshop, including a copy of the PA Envirothon Frog and Toad Calls, and the PA Fish and Boat Commissions’ Guide to Pennsylvania Amphibians and Reptiles.

Tim continues to work with NEIU-19 on the GIS course. NEIU 19 received all of its equipment for this program and they are ready to distribute it to participating teams. This equipment includes D-frame kick nets for macroinvertebrates; single parameter test kits for dissolved oxygen, nitrate, phosphate, iron, pH, and alkalinity, and a Garmin eTrex Legend GPS unit. The institute will be conducting a training workshop for NEIU and State Park personnel on how to use the GPS unit and the accompanying software, MapSource.

KceeI has been updating its website to include a page on resources available through the College. The educational resources include the Tunkhannock Creek Watershed Atlas, real-time monitoring, continuous monitoring, current weather conditions at Keystone College, the Forest Stewardship Virtual Field Trip, and the Water Discovery Virtual Field Trip. The new course information for 2005 has been listed as well as printable registration forms and flyers.

KceeI’s website is located at: www.kceei.keystone.edu.

DePaul University

The last two months have been fairly hectic with the conclusion of Phase I and the ongoing workshops for Phase II. Phase I projects are being vetted and mentoring activities reviewed. The projects will be posted on DePaul’s AAM Website along with the Phase II workshop updates, pictures, and schedule.

DePaul continues to add teachers and schools to Phase II with 16 schools currently participating. The schools act as host sites for surrounding schools. DePaul plans to recruit more schools at the next Chicago Public School (CPS) Best Practices Conference on January 28^th. This is the fourth conference at which DePaul AAM has presented.

DePaul presented video conference tips and strategies at the Illinois Partners’ meeting in Chicago. After the meeting, several Illinois partners decided to purchase a video conference mobile unit. It was a very productive meeting where Illinois Partner personnel shared their programs’ successes and challenges.

DePaul continues to conduct at least two video conferences per month. AAM staff begin the workshop series with a live video conference with the Library of Congress. This is a great way to have teachers meet the LOC staff and have the experts introduce the LOC website resources to the teachers. DePaul has had much success using this technology.

DePaul’s AAM program website is located at: http://aam.depaul.edu/.

Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities (FIICU)

The Federation project is midway through Phase II of its program: pilot implementation of projects developed by the five participating institutions. An upcoming meeting in February will review progress and continue future planning.

Other news includes the hiring of Associate Professor Craig Cunningham of National- Louis University as assistant director. Cunningham’s expertise is technology and he will oversee the development of the project Website and coordinate all activities with the co-directors. In addition, the project faculty will present at the national meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators in Chicago in February 2005 and at the Illinois Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Middle School Conference in March 2005. Faculty have previously offered sessions at the National Council for the Social Studies in fall 2004, the Midwest Association of Teacher Educators in spring 2004, and the Illinois Council for the Social Studies in October 2004.

FIICU’s AAM program website is located at:

http://www.aamprogram.org/introduction/aam_partners_detail.aspx?id=18.

Governors State University

December was a very busy and gratifying month for the GSU team. The month began with GSU’s third kick-off dinner for the winter semester Phase I participants and their administrators, along with many GSU administrators and University Provost, Paul Keys – a very strong supporter of AAM. Every teacher had his or her principal and/or superintendent present. The administrators were thanked profusely for their attendance and reminded that, as with all school initiatives, administrative support ensures success.

This dinner was exceptional because Elizabeth Ridgway was able to join the group. Beyond sharing her great enthusiasm for the AAM program, she had the honor of distributing the laptop computers. The attendees were quite impressed that a “dignitary” from Washington, D.C. was present. And, as usual, once those computers are distributed, there was excitement throughout the room.

Next came the final class for the second group of Phase I participants. Dr. Rich Duran, Regional Superintendent, had heard so many wonderful things about the program at GSU that he asked if he could attend this session to view first-hand what the buzz was all about. He was blownaway with each participant’s presentation of his or her final project, as was the GSU team. Either the team is getting better in their instructional practices or this was an exceptional group – or, perhaps, a little of both. Special thanks go to Luci Sweder for her continuous honing of content and instruction, along with her fantastic ability to keep the teachers engaged.

Out of this group came a unique discovery: reverse photo analysis. In this model, students are given a sentence, thought, or topic and are then sent out to find a photo that depicts those words. For example, the words to the song “America the Beautiful” were broken down into phrases. Student had to analyze digital photos to find one that best represented those words. Then the phrases/photos were seamed back together, with music added, and rolled out into a digital movie. This is such an excellent approach for primary grade students for many reasons that are too many to discuss here. The above example can be viewed at See a Patriotic Movie!

Last, a meeting was held for GSU Division of Education faculty to begin planning for implementation of Phase III. Nearly 50 percent of the faculty attended to learn about the program. It appears that interest is high. Establishing a block of time when the majority of the faculty will be available is the first priority in 2005.

Looking forward, the New Year for the GSU AAM program is starting out with bang with three Phase II workshops beginning in January, along with the Phase I group. The new video conference hardware has arrived and is being tested both off-site and on-site. GSU has thus far only offered workshops to schools or districts where there are Phase I participants. The idea is to use the Phase I graduates as champions of the program to help create AAM schools and/or AAM school districts. These would be defined as schools or districts where a majority of the teachers were AAM-trained. It appears that this approach is beginning to work since the requests for workshops are pouring in.

Governors State’s AAM program website is located at: http://aam.govst.edu/.

Loyola University

The Loyola AAM program has joined the Social Studies Advisory Council for the Chicago Public Schools. This group includes all the regional curriculum coordinators for social studies. They have expressed significant interest in AAM, and Loyola anticipates the opportunity to provide some Phase II workshop training for these curriculum coordinators in the spring. While not a true "trainer of trainers" model, the approach is anticipated to provide some widespread dissemination of knowledge of the American Memory and Learning Page resources among the more than 600 Chicago Public Schools.

Loyola’s AAM website is located at:

http://www.luc.edu/schools/education/aam/index.shtml.

Eastern Illinois University

Eastern Illinois University AAM has been busy finding ways to realize the goal of “Joining East Central Illinois Educators and Students with Library of Congress Resources.” Workshops have been held at numerous schools, as well as presentations to education courses, education specific professional organizations, parent organizations, and conferences. As the spring 2005 schedule begins to fill with workshops and presentations, additional ways of bringing these resources to teachers are being explored.

The EIU AAM website offers resources to teachers and is used as a starting point to get to sites such as The Learning Page, American Memory, and the Library of Congress. From September 14, 2004 through January 10, 2005, there have been 4,269 hits from a total of 1,498 unique visitors. Visitors have come from 18 countries.

While on the EIU AAM site, individuals may also access the monthly newsletter, which is published the 15^th of each month. Every issue will feature a new theme. The December theme was “Presidential Inaugurations” and the January theme is “Black History.” The newsletter has logged a total of 714 hits since the first newsletter was published in October. That is an average of about 178 hits per newsletter! These visitors have seen three major revisions in a never-ending effort by the EIU AAM staff to hone the content of the newsletter to best aid readers. The upcoming newsletter, set to be released on January 14th, will be a fourth major revision and will sport a new design displaying the recent focus shift of the content. Be sure to view the new design at http://www.eiu.edu/~eiuaam/newsletter and offer your questions, comments and concerns to improve this excellent teachers’ tool.

Another exciting project being developed at EIU AAM is an online component of AAM workshops. Digital Preservationist Steve Staskiewicz is collaborating with university staff to establish an online series using WebCT. It is hoped that this will allow teachers who are otherwise unable to attend workshops the opportunity to learn about LOC resources.

Finally, Project Director Cindy Rich has been eagerly working with staff members at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill. The museum is set to open to the public in April 2005. Cindy has been collaborating with Dee Dee Hall, Elementary Education Coordinator, to create tools for teachers to use prior to, during, and after visiting the museum. A workshop with a focus group has been scheduled with teachers from various parts of Illinois and more workshops are going to be scheduled for the summer. This is another unique opportunity to share LOC resources with Illinois educators.

EIU’s AAM program website is located at: http://www.eiu.edu/~eiuaam/.

Illinois State University

The New Year continues to bring new challenges to the AAM program at Illinois State University. Fortunately, Milner Library’s AAM Director Richard Satchwell now has a digital preservationist, Judy Bee, to help him face those challenges. Judy brings a great deal of teaching experience to the project, is excited about what AAM has to offer teachers, and is full of great ideas.

Judy Bee earned her master’s degree in education and leadership from Saint Xavier University. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Sangamon State University. Judy has over 15 years of classroom experience! In addition, she has extensive experience in curriculum development and very competent technology skills that she has utilized during leadership positions for training development and classroom environments. She has developed educational programs for a variety of audiences ranging from children to adults. Judy has developed classes and curriculum using media technologies such as web, video, Microsoft Office, and AppleWorks. She earned the opportunity to present at the TECH 2004 Conference at the Illinois State Capitol. The conference is an effort to bring selected teachers to the state capitol to demonstrate how technology is being used in the classroom and to encourage decision makers at the state level to fund technology in Illinois. Judy has drawn on all of her know-how during her first week at Milner Library to dive into AAM and help create an exciting, meaningful experience for participating school media specialists and teachers. Judy’s email address is jbee@ilstu.edu. Please help welcome Judy to AAM.

Rick has created an Advisory Team to oversee the AAM activities at ISU. The team will bring together expertise from education, digitization, and library science. There are several foci for this team that include: AAM’s curriculum issues and Illinois Learning Standards, communication processes, training activities, digitization needs, and an appropriate research agenda. Rick and Judy look forward to the initial meeting of this team during the first week in February.

The ISU AAM goal is to begin offering workshops to surrounding schools during the latter part of February. ISU is currently working with the technology coordinator in the small rural district of Heyworth, ILIll., to determine the needs of their faculty and develop an adventure for that district. The staff embraces challenges and looks forward to 2005.

ISU’s AAM program website is located at:

http://www.aamprogram.org/introduction/aam_partners_detail.aspx?id=22.

Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

SIU-C AAM has tentatively scheduled a Phase II workshop series with a local high school district. One of the AAM teacher graduates was extremely helpful in this initiative. As plans stand now, AAM staff will begin delivery of an initial series of five workshops, with the possibility of expanding the series by two or three additional workshops, based on teacher interest. Plans to schedule workshops in two additional school districts are also underway.

The preliminary planning for the development of web-based instructional modules continues. Two initial topics have been selected for development, and AAM staff members are researching existing resources.  Different presentation formats are being explored, with interactivity being a primary goal for the final product. The staff is hopeful that prototypes may be ready for field testing in the next six to eight weeks. The goal for roll-out of the initial modules is planned for late spring or early summer 2005. 

SIU-C AAM will be meeting with additional school administrators and Regional Office of Education personnel in the next two weeks to explore additional workshop opportunities. Additionally, SIU-C AAM staff continues meeting with WSIU-TV staff to explore possible collaborations.

SIU-C’s AAM program website is located at: http://aam.siu.edu/.

Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville

The SIU-E AAM team is back in full swing for the new year.  On January 13^th a special congratulatory dinner was held to honor the second cohort of teachers for participating in the AAM program with completion of the course and mentoring activities.  The second cohort of teachers still have the opportunity to implement their lessons and turn in necessary surveys by April 15.  Some lessons have been posted locally at www.siue.edu/education/aam/lesson.htm.

The Phase II workshop program is well underway with the first basic all-day workshops scheduled for January 19-20 at Teutopolis High School, in Teutopolis, IL, for approximately 10 teachers. 

The SIU-E AAM team has been accepted to present at the New Learning Technologies Conference, February 16-18, in Orlando, FL, hosted by the Society for Applied Learning Technology.  The presentation is entitled "Primary Source Analysis and Integrating Technology.”

SIU-E’s AAM program website is located at: http://www.siue.edu/education/aam.

Metropolitan State College of Denver

AAM-Colorado has been extremely busy since the last newsletter posting.  Four participants from two different Colorado school districts completed the weekend workshop series November 5-7 and are now “American Memory Certified”! The participants, from the Sheridan and Jeffco (Jefferson County) districts were enthusiastic about the workshops and information they gained and are now in the process of working with their schools and districts to complete the $1,500 technology acquisitions that they earned.   All are also now eligible for $450 in “Digital Primary Resource Center” (DPRC) gift certificates, where they can order professional-quality printouts, laminated posters, transparencies, CD/DVDs, etc. of any American Memory or other Library of Congress primary source material. More than 150 teacher candidates completed the Series I and III workshops during the fall 2004 semester.  Two new districts, Cherry Creek and the Archdiocese of Denver, have committed to the AAM-Colorado project for the spring 2005 semester.

The AAM-CO staff (including two new interns) is also busily preparing the Blended Learning courses that will launch in January 2005. Cherry Creek Schools, Jefferson County Public Schools, Sheridan School District, Denver Public Schools, and Archdiocese of Denver teachers can choose between all-day Saturday classes or alternating online workshops (via WebCT and Horizon Wimba) with face-to-face sessions with AAM-CO workshop presenters to complete Series I-III and earn graduate or recertification credit, American Memory Certification, Technology Acquisitions for their schools, and DPRC gift certificates.

On March 4th, AAM-CO will host a Librarian Day in conjunction with the Auraria Library and an Open House and Breakfast.  The Open House and Breakfast will feature a presentation by AAM-CO Director, Peggy O’Neill-Jones, a tour of the AAM-CO and Auraria Campus facilities, and a chance for schools to enter a drawing to win one of two projectors or a 72- inch SMART board and stand!  The Open House will continue on Saturday, March 5.  Librarians throughout the State of Colorado will be invited to attend the Librarian Day with a teacher of their choice, and AAM-CO will provide substitutes for all attendees.  Librarian Day participants will learn about the AAM program and local resources, as well as participate in presentations throughout the day. 

MSCD’s AAM program website is located at: http://aamcolorado.mscd.edu.