After the
intensity of completing last-minute details, solving unforeseen problems, and
then offering our summer workshops during May, June and July, August was a
welcome opportunity to regroup and evaluate the summer offerings. The PFI office is quieter now that the
summer staff have returned to their other duties. Dr.
Jennifer Frick-Ruppert was able to spend some time
completing her book on the natural history of the Southern Appalachians before returning to her other
“half-time” job of teaching at Brevard College. Classes resumed there on August 29th,
where she will teach two courses titled Environmental Perspectives and Animals
and Plants of the Southern Appalachians. She hopes to have the book under review by UNC Press
within in the next few weeks. Kevin Fischer, besides returning the PFI office to order, which was no small
task, spent much of his August in preparing a summary of the 2007 workshops.
During the 2007 workshop season, PFI served 134 educators. Although most
(73%) were from North Carolina, the remainder came from eight
other states. We had 19 participants from Florida, 7 from Ohio, 4 from South Carolina, 2 each from Delaware and Tennessee, and 1 each from New York and Louisiana.
PFI offered five workshops, including a
distance learning on-line workshop, three 5-day workshops and one 3-day
workshop. These workshops included Earth and Environmental Science for Middle
and High School Teachers Distance Learning Workshop (February 24-April 20),
Earth and Environmental Science for Middle and High School Teachers (June
17-22) , Earth and Environmental Science for Elementary School Teachers (June
24-29), Forest Ecology (July 8-13), and Goods in the Woods (July 25-27). One of
our biggest surprises was that the distance learning workshop was composed
entirely of participants from North Carolina rather than more distant locations.
The workshops were all completely filled, with 29, 24, 26, 28, and 27
participants in each workshop as ordered above. Six participants elected to
receive Brevard College undergraduate credit in addition to
the CEU and NC Environmental Educators credit.
PFI utilized 23 different instructors
in the courses and several for more than one workshop, all of whom are experts
in their fields. Most of our instructors were from federal, state, or local
agencies including the USDA Forest Service and the Cradle of Forestry in
America, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, NC
Cooperative Extension Service, NC Fish and Wildlife, NC Department of the
Environment and Natural Resources, Holmes Educational State Forest, Southern
Appalachian Forest Coalition, Asheville Clean Air Trust, and Pisgah Center for
Wildlife Education. Other instructors were from colleges and universities that
included Brevard College, NC State, Mississippi State, and University of Tennessee. We appreciate the time and
expertise these instructors were able to provide.
PFI's website is located at www.brevard.edu/pfi.
Pacific Forest Institute
.
Our second 2007 Workshop for
teachers was held July 15-20 with the opening of the session at William Jessup
University (WJU) in Rocklin, CA. We were pleased to have ERC Executive Director John Hunter attend five of those days.
We enrolled 21 teachers into the
workshop. There was a different mix of attendees this year with as many male as
female and five representing high schools.
Following our orientation and dinner
the group met for a welcome by Dr. Kay Llovio, WJU Associate Dean of Educational Effectiveness, PFI Project Director Bill Dennison and an over-view of the week ahead
from Program Coordinator Mark McReynolds. As usual, PFI Executive Secretary Mary McFarland was available to provide for staff
and teacher/student needs throughout the 5-day workshop.
Attendees were given a pre-test on
general forestry that will be compared to a post-test provided at the end of
the session to determine how well PFI is able to teach the facts about
forestry, land ownership and general authority of various county, state and
federal agencies.
John Hunter provided a summary of ERC’s coordinating work with PFI and the other two Institutes.
Because of the late hour, an
abbreviated version of the Forest Service movie “The Greatest Good” was shown.
Monday was our first full day of
classes, during which presenters from CA Fish and Game (Bobbie Winn), Project
Learning Tree (Kay Antunez), CA Forest Products Commission
(Lisa Perry) presented Project Wild and WILD Aquatic, Fire Education and an
array of facts about strict CA Forest Practice Rules, land ownership and
general forestry issues.
WJU Biology teacher, Karen
McReynolds provided a tour of the University Pond where various specimens were
collected and then viewed under the classroom microscopes.
An evening session provided
opportunity for teachers to begin development of their curriculum, or learn
basics about GPS and GIS systems from Mark and Karen McReyolds.
Tuesday morning, the
students/teachers, loaded into four vans, prepared to spend the next four
nights in the beautiful, semi-remote camp at Hidden Lakes.
The day was very full of new
activity. We visited a Sierra Pacific Industries, Inc. (SPI) logging operation just north of Truckee, to observe mechanical logging
(feller-bunchers), tree length skidding of the logs and “cut-to-length”
equipment that removed the limbs and cut the tree to precision lengths, all in
one operation. The logging company also arranged a special demonstration of a
couple of large trees being felled with a chain saw. This is still an important
part of some logging operations and requires very skilled individuals. There is
decreasing demand for “Timber Fallers” as the federal restrictions prohibit the
harvest of larger trees in the national forests. .
This logging operation was a
selective harvest with primarily thinning of the trees from the under-story.
The management plan was to reduce the fire hazard and improve the the growth of the larger trees for a later harvest.
The SPI forester also discussed the
company’s use of other silivicultural practices including clear-cutting. He
recognized some public opposition based primarily on the aesthetics. However,
this silvicultural tool can not be used without the approval of the
California Forest Practices Inspectors and includes the consideration of
leaving trees within the riparian zones and where appropriate, small stands
within the clear-cut area are also left for wildlife purposes.
Because of the extensive SPI timberland holdings, the company
goal is to treat all of their private lands, as soon as practical to minimize
the catastrophic fires that have been plaguing national forest lands over the
past 15 years. It was indicated that thinned forests and plantations provide an
“anchor point” from which fire crews can begin fire suppression operations.
Clear-cutting is used as a forest
management practice on lands that were not well managed over the past 25-50
years. The result was that too often the remaining trees are genetically
defective and/or suppressed. The removal of these struggling trees and planting
of new superior seedlings will provide a better young stand in a shorter
period. In the short-and long-term there are many benefits to the wildlife,
watershed production and wood product yield.
A sack lunch was planned for the Big Bend Visitor Center, however our schedule required that
we teachers and had a sack lunch at Big Bend Visitor Center.
We met Tahoe National Forest
Supervisor Steve Eubanks at Yuba Gap. Steve once again, as he did last year
provided the background on this large, devastating Yuba Gap fire:
a) How the fire was ignited—by campers,
who were located and never prosecuted.
b) The salvage of the dead trees and
planting of seedlings by the private land owners immediately following the
fire.
c) The lawsuit by an individual who
alleged that a woodpecker species would be harmed if the dead trees on public
land were permitted to be removed. The end-result was that the Forest Service
prevailed in the lawsuit, however the process consumed so much time, that the
dead trees were of no value for lumber, or chips and are no left to rot.
The trees are still standing, but will disintegrate, fall among the brush that
has become prolific and the area is destined to burn again within the next
10-20 years in this heavy ground fuel, where it is unsafe to send fire crews. Thus,
the land is essentially out of production for most uses (recreation, wood
products, some wildlife species) and has a reduced watershed value for the
next 100 years.
That afternoon, we settled into our
6,200 ft. elevation Hidden Lakes camp, where there were
opportunities to swim, hike, or rest. The camp is situated above one of the
larger lakes and surrounded by large granite rock formations and high elevation
conifers. That evening we were treated to “star-gazing” by two of the teachers
with astronomical expertise that had brought high-powered telescopes. In
addition there were opportunities for campfire stories and singing.
Wednesday, Neal Lemerise from Sierra College, once again provided three hours of
tree identification (dendrology) and practical forestry (siliviculture).
There were two presentations in the
afternoon.
SPI Biologist Kevin Roberts provided a review of the CA Forest
Practice Rules and SPI extra precautions to preserve wildlife during all phases of
their forest management on private lands.
Next, Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch representatives
Dale Sanders and Penny Sarvis provided a presentation about their
opposition to the SPI clear-cutting practices in Placer County. They displayed photographs of the
clear-cutting patches on private land. They indicated that Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch was not necessarily opposed to all
clear-cutting, but mostly against the extensive use of this silvicultural practice in their area. However, brochures were distributed
to the teachers that indicated opposition to all clear-cutting on the basis
that it is damaging to wildlife, streams, that it is aesthetically unpleasant and that wildfires are more difficult to suppress in plantations.
Teachers were very interested in
hearing both sides of this clear-cutting controversy, were able to witness the
practice “on-the-ground” and hear the pros and cons from professional public
and private foresters, experienced firefighters and an “environmental group.
Based on that, the teachers were able to ask questions and form their own
opinions.
That night, we took our Sundown
Group photo and had another chance to “Star-Gaze.”
Thursday was another beautiful day
that provided an opportunity to hear a Fire Ecology and Management presentation
by CalFire representative Scott Witt. He verified the need to manage
our forests if we are to have any opportunity to minimize the destruction from
wild fires and stressed the danger to both fire personnel and home owners under
the current, highly inflammable e forest conditions.
After lunch there was an Ecosystems Management presentation by California State University at Sacramento professor Jamie Kneitel, who demonstrated the reasons to consider the entire
ecosystem during land management planning.
Following another great dinner the
attendees completed a Scranton Evaluation and did their post-forestry exam.
Each were handed certificates of completion and their $50 deposit for the free PFI workshop.
The evening was complete with Folk,
Blue Grass and Celtic music by “Within Reach”.
The next morning we had breakfast
and all of the vans loaded by 7:30 a.m. in time to meet our scheduled tour of a
SPI high tech/state-of-the-art sawmill
in Lincoln, CA; just a few miles from WJU. SPI representative Mark Luster and mill
managers escorted the group through all phases of the mill and answered
questions. None of the teachers had
previously
visited a sawmill and were amazed at the coordination, expertise and production
of this highly mechanized facility.
In summary, PFI Workshop participants were provided
an on-the-ground experiences of the complexity of forest
management practices. They heard presentations and attended short-field trips
to learn about the various tree species, wildlife management, the devastation
of wild fires and the care given by trained, Professional Foresters to assure
that California forests are sustainable on private lands.
They also learned that the harvest
of trees from public lands has been reduced by 90% over the past 15 years and
the resulting over-stocking in those forests is resulting in more frequent and
larger wild fires than in earlier years. This is compounded by the effective
campaign to stop all fires 25 to 50 years ago, when light ground fires would
have been manageable.
During the sawmill tour attendees
learned of the efficient use of the entire tree, including the bark, needles
and limbs for generation of electricity.
They were told that the demand for
wood products is high in California. However, because of costly
restrictions on removal of trees on private land and the curtailment of most
timber sales from public land due to lawsuits, more and more of the States
lumber is being imported.
The PFI workshop ended at noon on the WJU campus where staff and
attendees enjoyed the hugs and handshakes from new friends and agreement that
this had been a very educational and successful time for
all.
For
updated information on the Pacific Forest Institute, please visit our website
at:
http://www.jessup.edu/academics/pacificforestinstitute
Keystone College Environmental Education Institute Keystone College Environmental Education Institute
Forests and Society
KceeI’s
Forests and Society course was held
from July 15th-20th. After registration and an ice-breaking
game of KceeI bingo, the teachers were given the
Forests and Society pre-test. The
opening evening banquet was next on the agenda.
For the fourth year in a row, Jim Nelson, a retired state forester of 42
½ years, presented the keynote address on the History of Pennsylvania’s
Forests. Jim’s account of the
Pennsylvania Forest History was excellent as always. Participants received a copy of The Pennsylvania Forest History with Jim
Nelson, a DVD that was recently produced by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
Monday began with an early breakfast at the Water Resource Center.
Howard
Jennings, Director of KceeI, started the morning off
with a discussion on clear-cutting.
Following this, Jim Lacek, a retired forester, conducted two
different lessons with the teachers that will be of great significance in their
classrooms: “Goods from the Woods” and “What’s a Forest to You?” The teachers spent the rest of the morning in
the field learning about tree identification.
After lunch Jim Lacek, Tim Eichner, Assistant director of KceeI, and Dr. Robert Hansen, a forester with the Penn
State Cooperative Extension, spent the afternoon teaching and conducting
woodland inventory in Keystone College’s own woodlands campus. Dr. Hansen finished up the day with a
discussion on silviculture.
On Tuesday
morning, Dr. David Reese from the NEIU-19 spoke to the group for a brief period
of time regarding the requirements for those obtaining CPE credit through the NEIU. Rich Gulyas of
the Bradford County Conservation District was the next presenter. He took the group into the field to discuss
ecosystem management, vernal pools and soils.
At 9:30am transportation was provided to Woodbourne Wildlife
Sanctuary. Here, Dr. Jerry Skinner, Keystone College professor, offered an excellent
hands-on presentation about birds in the forested landscape. He then took the group on a hike into the old
growth forests of the sanctuary to talk about forest ecology. After Lunch, the group traveled to Deer Park
Lumber for a sawmill tour guided by Steve Fox, Sales Manager for Deer Park
Lumber. Jim Kessler, DCNR forester, followed the tour
with a discussion on timber harvesting and showed the group a recently timbered
plot of land.
On
Wednesday morning the group left for Grey Towers National Historic Site. Located in the northeast corner of
Pennsylvania on the outskirts of Milford, Grey Towers is the ancestral home of
Gifford Pinchot, first chief of the US Forest Service
and twice Governor of Pennsylvania. Here
the group was met by Daniel Banks from the US Forest Service. Daniel gave a guided tour of the beautiful
home while relating the history of the Pinchot
family. Following the tour, he gave a
presentation on the history of conservation, the history and philosophy of the
Forest Service and on the current issues and challenges.
After lunch
in one of Grey Towers’ historic conference rooms,
Kathleen Sandt, Environmental Education Specialist at
the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, presented an excellent
slideshow on the history of the Delaware Water Gap. Following this, the group left Grey Towers and traveled to a woolly adelgid infestation site at Dingmans Falls within the Delaware Water Gap
National Recreation Area. Here, Rich Evans, an ecologist with the Park
Service, spoke about the detrimental effects that this insect pest is having on
Pennsylvania’s state tree, the eastern
hemlock.
First thing
Thursday morning, Howard Jennings administered a survey to gauge how
much money the teachers would be willing to pay for future courses offered
through KceeI and how much they are reimbursed, if
any, from their school districts. KceeI has received some very valuable information from this
survey over the summer. Threats to the forest ecosystem was the topic of Thursday
morning. Bill Oldland,
an entomologist from the USDA Forest Service, spoke to the group about
threatening forest pests in particular, the emerald ash borer. Donna Murphy, Coordinator of the USDA Forest Service Mid-Atlantic Center for Urban and Community Forestry at
Keystone College, followed Bill with a very
informative presentation on exotic and invasive plant species. The next presenter was Tom Hardisky, a wildlife biologist with the PA Game Commission,
who spoke about the impacts of white tailed deer in Pennsylvania.
After lunch, Dr Jerry Skinner kicked off the afternoon with wildlife
habitats and mammals of Pennsylvania followed by stream ecology and
quality. The group finished off the day
with a discussion on riparian buffers.
Vinnie Cotrone, Urban Forester with the Penn State Cooperative
Extension, began Friday morning with a presentation on urban forestry and
proper pruning techniques. Following Vinnie’s presentation, the group walked up to the main
campus parking area where the Pennsylvania WoodMobile
was awaiting their arrival. The
Pennsylvania WoodMobile is a traveling exhibit that
provides information on the state’s forest resource and the state’s forest
products industry. Jim Daly, The PA WoodMobile coordinator, gave each teacher a packet with
various resources on PA forest products.
The Pennsylvania Wood Mobile is a project of the Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture’s Hardwoods Development Council, with the support of the state’s
hardwoods industry. The trailer and
truck are provided by Deer Park Lumber, Inc. of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. Right before lunch, the group gathered in
Evans Hall for a discussion on Last Child
in the Woods, a book they all received in their packets.
After
Lunch, Tim
Eichner conducted a game of Forests and
Society Jeopardy as a means of wrapping up the topics covered during the
week. After the post-tests and evaluations
were complete, so was the 2007 Forests and Society
Course.
The success
of this course is probably best appreciated through some of the comments
included in the evaluations:
“Real, practical and exciting
science. I grew personally and professionally.”
“In the past seven years I have
experienced two life-changing events – my Rainforest hikes in Ecuador and my participation in KceeI’s Forests and Society course. Totally Awesome!!”
“KceeI was
the most exciting educational adventure I have ever been on.”
“This was the most well-taught
teacher education course I’ve ever taken.
I didn’t just learn what to teach, I learned how to teach it in a way
that will engage all my students.”
“The intense, hands-on activities
provided me with both renewed passion and renewed knowledge to teach my biology
classes.”
Of the 24 teachers who attended this
course, 11 obtained CPE credit through the NEIU-19, 4 obtained Wilkes University
Graduate Education Credit, and 9 received Act 48 Hours.
Geology of Northeast
Pennsylvania
The last of KceeI’s 2007 courses
was the Geology of Northeast PA course. This
course ran from July 22nd-27th. It began the same as all other KceeI courses with registration on Sunday at 3:00pm.
Following registration and a pre-test, the group proceeded to the
opening evening banquet. Howard Jennings, Director of KceeI,
gave an introduction to the Institute and a brief overview of the week’s
activities and materials. Dr. Robert Cook, Keystone College Professor and
currently serving as Academic Dean, welcomed the group to Keystone College.
Dr. Lewis Ziska, an ecologist with the USDA’s
Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, MD, was the keynote speaker for the
evening. Dr. Ziska
served as the keynote speaker for KceeI’s 2006 Exotic
and Invasive Species course. He was such
a remarkable speaker that we wanted to bring him back this year. Currently, Dr. Ziska
is studying the impacts of rising carbon dioxide and global climate change on
weed biology in managed and natural eco-systems for the past 15 years. He began his career as a Smithsonian fellow,
and then took up residence as the Project Leader for global climate change at
the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines before joining USDA. At present he is investigating the role of
rising carbon dioxide and changing climate on weed-crop competition,
invasive/noxious weeds and weeds and public health. Dr. Ziska’s
research has appeared in National
Geographic, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report
and CNN Headline News.
The topic
of Dr. Ziska’s presentation was global climatic
change, plant biology, and public health.
He left the teachers wanting more after he concluded. Dr. Ziska’s presentation truly opened the ears and eyes of
everyone in the audience. It was an
extremely timely topic and a great way to start off the week. KceeI would like to
thank Dr. Ziska for his excellent presentation.
Dr. David
Reese from the NEIU-19 talked to the teachers first thing Monday morning about
the requirements for those obtaining CPE credit. Following this, Dr. Robert Cook kicked off the course with the
first topic: uniformitarianism and actualism, the importance of observation. This served as an appropriate introduction to
the next topic: indicators of depositional environment, climate and flow
direction.
Although it
was a cold and rainy day, the group toughed it out, put on their rain coats and
visited a very interesting geological site called Little Rocky Glen where a
brief overview of the recent geologic history of the area was given by Mary Felley, Executive Director of Countryside
Conservancy. The group was given time to
make their own observations in and around the site. Rock types, paleocurrent
indicators, fossils and stream incision mechanisms were just some of the
Devonian indications that were found here.
They then traveled to Leggett’s Gap, another significant geologic area,
where various rock types were observed as well as, strike and dip formations,
and unconformity. A summary of
observations and a discussion of Devonian paleogeography
was the last item of the day.
Tuesday
began with an introduction to rocks and minerals of the northeast followed by
identification of common rock forming minerals and rocks. Topographic maps and geologic structures were
covered in the afternoon. To get a
better sense of the subject matter, the group set out on a topographic
profiling hike to observe the geologic structures that make up a topographic
map.
Wednesday’s
field trip was the highlight of the week. The first stop was in Dunmore, PA to view an area that is part of the
Pottsville formation. Following this, the group traveled to the
next two locations to view the remains of Mississipian
Paleoforest in Mauch Chunk
Formation and the Trimmers Rock Formation.
Lunch was eaten on the bus in route to the final location: The Boulder
Field at Hickory Run State Park.
The Boulder Field, a striking boulder-strewn area, is a National Natural
Landmark.
Thursday
morning’s topics included deep time, relative and absolute dating activities,
and volcanoes. After these topics, Dr.
Cook directed the teachers to a website known as DLESE – Digital Library for
Earth System Education [http://www.dlese.org].
This is an extremely valuable site for educators with a plethora of
resources available. The rest of the
afternoon was spent learning about earthquakes and plate tectonics. After dinner, an E-Portfolio session was held
for those obtaining CPE or graduate credit.
On Friday
morning Dr. Cook gave the group a tour of Keystone College’s Environmental Laboratory
facilities. The group was impressed with
high-tech resources that are available to the students. The rest of the day was mainly focused on
glacial geology and soils. Laura Mayo, a
teacher from the Newtown Middle School in the Council Rock School District and
a participant of the 2006 Geology of Northeast PA course, gave a great
presentation on how she was able to integrate geology concepts into her
classroom. With the help of her
students, Laura constructed a rock outcrop on some of the walls located in her
school’s courtyard. The post-test was
administered and after evaluations were complete it was finally time to go
home. The success of this course is
probably best appreciated through some of the comments included in the
evaluations:
“I now have a great appreciation for
something I took for granted.”
“KceeI has
been one of the best educational experiences I’ve ever had. The combination of top-notch instructors, hands-on
experience and interaction with peers from a wide spectrum of expertise and
interest makes this a one of a kind event.”
“At last a valuable, content-based
science course…KceeI is the place to learn!
“This was the best learning
experience I’ve had in over 30 years of teaching.”
“You have taken the rest, now take the
best. KceeI.”
“It’s like an educational vacation –
lasting memories and all.”
A total of
21 teachers attended the course. Of
whom, 11 obtained CPE credit through the NEIU-19, 4 obtained Wilkes University
Graduate Education Credit, and 6 received Act 48 Hours.
Just a reminder…
KceeI’s
website is located at www.KceeI.keystone.edu
ERC BROADBAND
Lou Vasquez, Network Architect, was quoted in a story about Asheville luring the weather industry in USA
Today. Below is what the article said about ERC Broadband:
"All the data from radar stations and
satellites orbiting the globe ultimately land in Asheville, piped in through lightning-fast
fiber optic lines of the ERC Broadband network. The multimillion dollar
Internet network matches the capacity of major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta or Washington.
Mining the massive databases takes incredible amounts of bandwidth, explained
Louis Vasquez, the network architect at ERC Broadband, which provides the NCDC with its
Internet pipeline to the outside world. It would pay some companies to be
physically closer to those archives, rather than try to transport all the data
they need to a distant city for analysis.
"If you're at a hub, you can buy massive connectivity," Vasquez said.
The broadband network has designed Asheville as a hub with ready access to Atlanta and Washington."
Hunter
Goosmann, ERC Broadband's General Manager was also recently
appointed to Buncombe County's Economic Development Commission.
This is a further role that supports ERC Broadband's goal of advancing technical
economic development. Staff continues to be very engaged in the local technical
community.
Additionally, Mr. Goosmann will also be attending Leadership NC as a member of
class XV. This is an opportunity for ERC Broadband to not only enhance
its state-wide contacts, but also provides a great exposure across the state of
our initiative. With increasing emphasis on municipal networks, the ERC model is an example for others in
the state to emulate.
Jeremiah
Jackson,
Senior Network Administrator, was the featured
presenter at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) in Rosman, NC at the 'Evening at PARI' on August
17th. Jeremiah's presentation was on broadband connectivity in Western North Carolina and the role of the ERC Broadband in bridging education and industry.
Our customer, Baseline Technology, was the focus of a story in the Asheville
Citizen Times on August 29th. Below is an excerpt from the article:
"With his networking company, Baseline Technologies, Monroe really could
work from anywhere in the country, but what sold him on Western North Carolina
was the Education Research Consortium Broadband, a nonprofit fiber-optic
network based out of the Federal Building in Asheville. "The ERC has a highly secure facility where
the power doesn't go down, and the staff has been wonderful," Monroe said."
Broadband
website:www.ercbroadband.org
ERC NEWSLETTER – AAM REPORTS
09-04-07
AAM PROGRAM TRANSITION NEARLY COMPLETE
September
marks the final phase of transition of the original Adventure of the American
Mind program to the Library’s new Teaching with
Primary Sources (TPS) program that began in the summer of 2006. At month’s end, all remaining AAM partner institutions outside of North Carolina will move to TPS.
So with
this issue, we bid fond farewell to the wonderful staff and participants of all
the AAM programs we have been privileged to
work with: Barat
Education Foundation, California University of Pennsylvania, The Center on
Congress, DePaul University, Eastern Illinois University, the Federation of
Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities, Furman University, Governors
State University, Illinois State University, Loyola University Chicago,
Metropolitan State College of Denver, Northern Virginia Schools Partnership,
Quincy University, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Southern Illinois
University Edwardsville, USC Upstate, and Waynesburg College.
In
addition, the Online Education Program, based in North Carolina, will conclude its activities
during September. This program provided
training and resources to more than 800 home school students and nearly 500
home school educators. In addition,
program staff developed online student lessons and professional development
tutorials focused on understanding and using primary sources in teaching and
learning.
AAM programs will continue at five North Carolina colleges for one more year, then officially conclude in September 2008. These are Mars Hill College, Montreat College, Brevard College, Western Carolina University, and Fayetteville Technical Community College.
As it happens, AAM began in North Carolina in 2000, then
quickly grew to include partners in South Carolina, Illinois, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
So the program has come full circle.
AAM is also grateful for the continued
support provided by Library of Congress staff throughout the eight years of
this project. This unique project
allowed AAM partners to innovate and contribute
local expertise to enrich professional development opportunities for educators
and enhance the learning experience for students.
AAM is now in the process of collecting
program data and will publish the final annual report in December 2007.
Western North Carolina
Mars Hill College
At Mars Hill College, Associate Director AnneMarie Walter has completed her M.S. in Instructional
Technology from East Carolina University where she was named the 2007
Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year. Graduating with a 4.0 average, she
has also earned a Distance Learning Certification.
For her
MSIT capstone project, AnneMarie designed, developed,
and implemented a professional development workshop to assist faculty members
to use online video resources in their classrooms. In a series of workshops in August 2007, she
and AAM administrative and technical
support specialist Elizabeth Lang guided their colleagues in searching, saving,
and using this burgeoning new media.
In the
coming year, AnneMarie is looking forward to working
with MHC faculty and pre-service teachers to
develop learning objects that use primary sources to enhance student
understanding.
Western Carolina University
The WCU-AAM partnership developed a list of AAM deliverables to be hosted on a WCU
server for teachers, students and university faculty to access. The work
towards online access of these deliverables and transitioning these and the AAM online education lessons and
tutorials has begun. UNC-CH (Learn NC), NC State University (MEGA), WCU
(Mountain Heritage Center – Educational Outreach to Schools) and the NC
Department of Public Instruction have requested digital copies and permission
to use and post online lessons, unit plans, how-to sheets, and activities.
Professional
development workshops for WCU teacher education faculty will begin in
September. Library of Congress online primary source sample activities are
being developed and produced to share with the faculty during workshops. So
far, six activities have been adopted by the WCU-AAM program for use.
Beth Coulter, WCU-AAM Director, is now working full-time
with Swain Middle
School as their Media Coordinator. She will continue part-time
with the WCU-AAM program until September
30, 2008.
More
information about AAM in WNC is available at www.aamprogram.org, www.aamlearning.org, and at the
individual partner websites at http://www.mhc.edu/aamind/,
http://aam.montreat.edu/, http://aam.wcu.edu, and http://www.brevard.edu/aam/.
Southern Illinois
University-Edwardsville
The SIUE AAM program teamed up with Eastern Illinois University’s Teaching with Primary Sources
program to hold a “Learning with Lincoln Institute.” The institute serves as a second level of
development for in-service teachers who have already participated in a workshop
series or AAM graduate course. After completing seminars at their respective
schools, institute participants from both programs met at the “Learning with Lincoln” symposium at the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
Participants
from both programs had an opportunity to collaborate and share their learning
experiences (lessons). They also had the
opportunity to engage in a special library tour and visit the museum. SIUE AAM and EIU TPS are planning to hold
another institute next year. An article
on the event can be viewed at: http://www.siue.edu/education/. The Learning with Lincoln Institute is
proudly endorsed by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, http://www.lincolnbicentennial.gov/.
Visit the
“Learning with Lincoln Institute” page at, http://www.eiu.edu/~eiutps/lwli/.
The SIUE AAM team is proud to announce their
future involvement in a Landmarks of American History and Culture grant from
National Endowment of the Humanities that was awarded to Drs. Susan Breck and Caroline Pryor in the SIUE School of Education
titled, Abraham Lincoln and the Forging of Modern America. The SIUE AAM team will present sessions in
summer 2008 on using the digitized collections at the Library of Congress. The workshops will be open to teachers
nationally. Read more about this NEH
workshop at, http://www.siue.edu/education/news/index.shtml.
SIU-E’s AAM program Web site is located at:
http://www.siue.edu/education/aam
Waynesburg College
On August
20th, Waynesburg College announced that it has achieved
university status and is now named Waynesburg University. This change is indicative of the
recent growth in student population and expansion of degree programs offered.
This announcement precedes only slightly the upcoming start of the Eastern
Regional TPS Partnership pilot program, which begins in October. Waynesburg TPS staff is excited about the
progress made in the local community, both as an institution and as a Library
program, and the many possibilities that lie ahead.
Waynesburg University’s TPS Summer Institute 2007
concluded on August 2nd with presentations of lessons created by participating
teachers. Topics for these lessons range from the little-known struggle of Jews
during the American Civil War to remembering what Labor Day is all about. Check
out the lessons that have been published at: http://tps.waynesburg.edu/teacher_projects/other.html.
Additional lessons will be posted as they are ready for field-testing. Please
email Nancy
Wrick
at nwrick@waynesburg.edu to report
any field-testing experiences of Waynesburg University lesson plans.
By all
accounts, the WU Summer Institute was a success, leading teachers to
incorporate primary sources into their existing classroom curriculum. As part
of the workshop evaluation, one teacher summed it up this way:
I never realized there was so much available at the LOC. I always kind of thought of it as a “stuffy library.” There
is so much available there to help bring real history (primary sources) alive.
I am very sure that I will use this resource again and again and will also tell
my colleagues about it.
Another
participant said that she learned “how to use primary documents, not as a
gallery of pictures for students to look at, but as sources of information that
the students can interact with and further the curriculum.”
Waynesburg’s
AAM program Web site is located at:
http://aam.waynesburg.edu