On July 30th the Pisgah Forest Institute (PFI) finished up another successful summer workshop season. The determination of success is based in large part on the results from an extensive assessment that each student in all of the seven courses was asked to complete. The PFI staff particularly values the inputs from those individuals who previously took workshops at other institutions. These participants consistently related that the PFI courses provided them with more useful information that they could readily apply in their classes than they had obtained in other summer educational programs.
While the largest percentage of instructional contact during the workshops was provided by PFI staff, employees from a large number of other institutions made valuable contributions in classrooms, laboratories and the field. The highest number of these came from the USDA Forest Service at Bent Creek, Pisgah Forest District, National Forests in North Carolina, and the Cradle of Forestry. Other instructors are employed by the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources, Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI), Henderson and Haywood County Schools, National Climatic Data Center (a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Yale University, Mineral Research Laboratory of the North Carolina State University, Cooperative Extension Service of the North Carolina State University System, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Ernie's Rocks and Minerals, Penrose Quarry, Brevard College, North Carolina Arboretum and the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education. The inputs from each of these individuals significantly enriched the program.
The PFI staff also expresses its appreciation to the Transylvania School System which provided the activity bus which was used to transport students, staff and gear to the many field sites employed in instructional activities over the course of the summer. Bus drivers Doris Pressley and Katrina Wilson, with their knowledge of the local area, also made numerous contributions to the program.
The schedule of workshops to be offered in summer 2005 should appear on the PFI website, www.brevard.edu/pfi, by September 1st. It is anticipated that the short courses (Friday afternoon and all day Saturday ) to be offered during the 2004-2005 academic year also will be listed about the same time. Among the topics being considered for the latter include recycling/composting, fungi and other decomposers, weather, as well as a repeat of "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" which deals with medicinal plants, poisonous plants and invasive species.
Readers are encouraged to view the updates on the PFI website including pictures from the 2004 Summer program as well as a message board. The latter and the photos were added by PFI Operations Assistant Jayne Hall.
PFI’s website is located at www.brevard.edu/pfi.
KceeI’s Watershed Concepts and Forest Stewardship courses were a spectacular success. KceeI is in the midst of assessing evaluations from the participants of these courses. They received great reviews and the participant’s comments were complimentary and will be beneficial in future planning. The success of the workshops is probably best summarized through some of the comments included in the participants’ evaluations:
- “Very impressive for a first-time workshop! The quality would be hard to match elsewhere.”
- “Never attended a workshop where so many different experts and researchers presented information to a single group. Actually felt honored to have the opportunity to interact with these speakers.”
- ”Extensive planning was evident. All staff was friendly and helpful. Presenters were passionate experts in their fields; their enthusiasm was contagious!”
- “I would like to thank Keystone College, the presenters, and the staff for all the hard work that was necessary to present a workshop of this caliber. I am so impressed with this campus and the classes available.”
The KceeI staff expresses its thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the workshops. The staff is now off and running in preparation for next year’s courses.
KceeI’s website is www.kceei.keystone.edu.
Barat Education Foundation
The Barat Team completed development and implementation testing of three workshops during the summer. The following components were tested with about 100 participants:
® Overview of the Library of Congress site
® Using primary documents
® Effective online searching
® Critical thinking through digital photographs
® Project-based learning and digital storytelling
Special thanks to Elizabeth Ridgway for constant help and support as the staff moved forward. These workshops build the prerequisite skills for teachers to complete our American Memory projects, which launch in fall 2004. The following three student projects are being built out:
American Memory and Me: Each and every one of us contributes to the collective American memory. Starting with your birthday, learn how your special day connects to people and events that make up the historical record and the American memory. Then use this short introduction to the digitized primary source collections from the Library of Congress to find more ways that you are connected to our American memory.
Photos & Perspectives from the Civil War: In our media-intense world, it’s important to know that there’s often more to a photograph than what first meets the eye. Discover the secrets to “reading” photos. Then use the digital photo collections from the Library of Congress to create a realistic news magazine featuring articles that represent different perspectives on the Civil War.
Digital Stories of Illinois Heroes: Illinois is filled with heroes. You probably know at least one or two, and you may even be one yourself. Learn how to use digital storytelling to bring history to life. Then investigate, capture, and present the stories of veterans and other local heroes and, possibly, have your work published by the Library of Congress!
And finally, significant progress has been made on the website. Check it out at www.americanmemory.org
DePaul University
DePaul held a summer institute session for Phase I teachers during July and delivered its first series of in-school workshops hosted at Lane Technical High School. Twelve teachers registered to attend the workshops and only three teachers attended. DePaul is working with Chicago Public School’s Office of Professional Development to secure Lane Credit for teachers who attend the workshop series. Lane Credit allows teachers to move up in salary credit. Currently, the workshops provide CPDUs to teachers.
DePaul is working with Chicago Public School’s Office of eLearning to include the AAM course offerings electronically for teachers to register at host sites throughout the school system.
DePaul is also working with Big Shoulders Foundation, a non-profit entity that provides support to the Catholic schools in the neediest areas of inner city Chicago. The AAM workshop series will be offered to Big Shoulders-supported schools.
To date, DePaul has scheduled in-school workshops at 15 schools that will be host sites for surrounding schools in the area. The workshop program starts in August.
DePaul’s AAM program website is located at: http://aam.depaul.edu/
Governors State University
Governors State University is proud to announce that the first group of Phase I participants have completed their course work. On July 26th, they presented their projects to the class. Luci Sweder and Sandi Estep reported that most of the projects went beyond their expectations. It was an exciting and gratifying day. The topics ranged from stem cell research to Abraham Lincoln.
One of the most outstanding projects was presented by a Spanish teacher whose subject was Latinos in American baseball. The teacher page is in English whereas the student page is in Spanish. Although the instructors are technology language literate, they had to take the teacher’s word on the authenticity of the page in Spanish!
There is a national Lincoln Bicentennial celebration planned for February 2005 and since GSU and the participating schools are in Illinois, participants were encouraged to use this project to plan for that event. Five of the 20 teachers decided to do exactly that and will be well-prepared for the activities that will certainly come down from the state this coming school year.
An abundance of elementary school level projects were also produced by this group, a grade level that is typically under-represented in the array of AAM projects. Subjects included a first grade project about American Indians, a third grade project about Abraham Lincoln, and a few projects on Black History.
One of the fascinating parts of the Black History project that focused on the Underground Railroad was about quilts of that era and how the quilts were used as a “code” map for runaways. The quilt designs would give the runaways instructions as to where to go, what to wear, and where to stay. The Governors State area happens to be on the Underground Railroad line and has many local historical sites, a fact that many locals know very little about. The teacher ended her presentation by passing around a real “slave quilt” that was centuries old. (And everyone thought North Carolina had a lock on quilt projects!)
The last class ended with an online, post-evaluative survey. Those results will be compared with the pre-test and analyzed for evaluative purposes and course enhancements.
A few days after the course ended, the e-mail below was sent to the GSU staff. If this teacher’s thoughts are an indicator of how the other teachers feel about their AAM experience, then declare this a success!
Sandi and Luci, I want to thank both of you for the opportunity to work on this project and all your time and help. At times it was frustrating and difficult and it was hard work but I learned a lot. I am looking forward to using my project in the classroom and creating new lessons in the future. I am also going to be watching to see what the next groups come up with. I think we learn a lot from each other.
The projects are now being linked to a searchable database (much like the one at the AAM site) at the GSU website. There are 20 projects currently posted here.
In preparation for Phase II activity, participants from the last class were given a letter and a flyer that delineated workshops, modules, and video conferences that are now available to their schools due to their participation in the program. These opportunities would make wonderful use of the numerous half-days during the school year that are set aside for teacher institutes or as support for their mentoring during the school year. Time will tell if this is a good approach to offering workshops to schools.
With the first group done (until December when they meet to report on mentoring), attention is now turned to preparing for the August 25th kick-off dinner and computer distribution for the fall group. With fanfare and hoopla, the Senator Richard Durbin Adventures of the American Mind Academy will also be dedicated that night. This smart, or one might say genius, classroom will be dedicated to AAM teaching and learning events in his honor.
In July, the GSU team stated that “it is now time for a short, summer vacation…” exactly when does that happen?
Governors State’s AAM program website is located at: http://aam.govst.edu/
Eastern Illinois University
Eastern Illinois University AAM workshops have been positively received. The Illinois State Board of Education provides an evaluation tool that workshop attendees complete. Evaluation scores have averaged 4.8 on a scale from 1 to 5. Written comments have included statements such as:
- “Becoming familiar with LOC offerings on the Web and learning ways to use them in our classroom is great.”
- “My first video conference was cool – very informative.”
- “The best feature was the hands-on use of programs, cameras, websites and computers. Thanks for the opportunity to engage in activities we can use practically in the classroom.”
- “The introduction of ideas that can be used in the classroom is great. I’m ready to try what we did today!”
Teachers collectively agree that the “hands-on” approach to training is best feature of the EIU AAM program.
Cindy Rich attended the Department of Education Secretary’s Leadership Summit on E-Learning in Orlando. This conference featured attendees and presenters from throughout the country. Motivating and informative addresses were given by U.S. Secretary of Education Robert Paige, Susan Patrick, Director of the Office of Educational Technology, and Raymond Simon, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Library of Congress materials were provided for all attendees in conference packets. Sessions varied from issues pertaining to No Child Left Behind to all aspects of e-learning within the context of the traditional school setting and alternative educational programs.
EIU’s AAM program website is located at: http://www.eiu.edu/~eiuaam/
Illinois State University
AAM is pleased to announce that Richard Satchwell has been appointed as the new AAM Program Director for Illinois State University (ISU). Dr. Satchwell began his duties August 16th. ISU is one of nine AAM partner programs in Illinois, thanks to the invaluable support of Senator Richard Durbin, who has been one of AAM’s most important advocates.
Richard Satchwell earned his Ph.D. in Vocational and Technical Education from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The International Technology Education Association recognized him as a "Leader to Watch" in 1999. Dr. Satchwell received the William E. Nagel Leadership Award in 1998 from the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research at the University of Illinois was recognized with the 1997 Outstanding Dissertation Manuscript from the National Association of Industrial and Technical Teacher Educators. Dr. Satchwell spent 17 years as a technology education teacher at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. From 1995-1996, he served as the Associate Director for the Technology for All Americans Project aimed at developing national standards for technology education.
Dr. Satchwell worked from 1996 to 2003 at the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology at ISU as Project Coordinator for the Integrated Mathematics, Science, and Technology (IMaST) project funded by the National Science Foundation. Before becoming AAM Program Director, he served as the Curriculum Specialist on an Advanced Technological Education project funded by the National Science Foundation entitled “Project Probase.” He is a member of the Graduate Faculty of the Department of Technology at ISU.
Dr. Satchwell has authored numerous articles related to technology education; co-authored four textbooks published by Glencoe/McGraw Hill that integrate mathematics, science, and technology; and has co-authored 16 middle school curriculum modules integrating mathematics, science, and technology education published by RonJon Publishing, Inc.
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 completed teaching EDUC 550: An Adventure of the American Mind, for the Summer 2004 semester. Ten students were enrolled in the course and successfully completed the requirements. An emphasis was placed on developing a portfolio of technology-based projects. Students expressed great satisfaction with the course. Learning about primary sources and searching American Memory and LOC collections ranked highly with other course components.
SIU-C AAM continues to present workshops for all AAM in-service and pre-service teachers who have participated in the program. The AAM staff provides continuing support for maximizing laptop performance including updating anti-virus programs. These workshops are very popular with AAM participants.
AAM staff looks forward to implementing Phase II activities in the coming months.
SIU-C’s AAM program website is located at: http://aam.siu.edu/
Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
The SIU-E AAM team has finalized the summer workshop series for Phase I cohort teachers, with the last workshop held August 13th. The workshop focused on strategies in using primary sources and ended with an LOC video conference, “Working with Primary Sources.”
Presentations for CI 407, Middle School Learner, undergraduate and graduate classes were given on July 6th, July 14th, and July 28th. Each class was 90 minutes in length. The students were introduced to the website layout, quick searching tips, and downloading and saving tips. Staff members were excited to hear that students were integrating the American Memory resources into their units even though it was not required.
Phase II workshop recruitment is successfully underway. The AAM team is scheduled to present at the Regional Office Education meetings to introduce and schedule schools for the workshop phase beginning in January 2005. District Superintendents from four counties heard the presentation on August 12th (ROE 40), and presentations are scheduled for three counties on September 7th (ROE 3), and one county on September 9th (ROE 50). Other areas have been contacted in hopes for more recruitment dates in 2005.
The AAM team is continuing to add AAM lessons to the SIUE AAM website. Please feel free to visit the lessons at www.siue.edu/education/aam/lesson.htm.
SIU-E’s AAM program website is located at: http://www.siue.edu/education/aam
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