The
initiative centers on
creating open
educational resources
(OER) for teacher
education which use
simSchool, a free,
research-oriented
platform for the study
of technology in
teacher education. simSchool
was recently featured
in EdWeek, and has
been studied for the
last three years by
SITE members in the
Research and
Evaluation SIG.
The
grant proposal,
project "Next
Generation Learning
Challenges",
focuses on AACE and
SITE as networks of
collaborating
institutions. SITE was
invited to apply for a
full proposal, one of
50 selected from
thousands of
preliminary
applications last
month.
The
gist of the proposal
is to engage SITE and
AACE institutions
worldwide in using
simSchool in a variety
of ways within the
undergraduate
curriculum for
recruitment and
retention into
teaching and to
leverage its promising
impact of developing
skills and competence
in teaching by having
you and your faculty
develop and share OER
Modules - scenarios,
units, lessons and the
like - which set-up
challenges and puzzles
for simSchool players
to solve.
For
example, given a
classroom of 18
students, can you
figure out who has
special education
needs and what those
needs are? Given one
student, can you
design a sequence of
learning activities
that helps that
student learn? Given a
small group of
students with
particular learning
styles, can you plan a
differentiated
classroom experience?
What
we need now is not a
firm commitment, but a
sign of your interest
and an estimate of the
numbers of professors
and students at your
IHE who might become
involved. You may back
out immediately if the
project is not meeting
your interests or
needs, at any point in
time. We are
collecting, from those
interested now via the
survey below, is how
many institutions
might wish to
participate in this
kind of collaborative
R&D and scale-up
from the US and
worldwide.
To
make it easier to say
"yes", we have
designed 3 Levels of
interest. You can
choose from these, or
design a new Level
that is individualized
to you and your
institution. To
respond to this
invitation, we do NOT
need a signed letter.
We are only asking for
an online survey
response. You can go
to this link to
respond now: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e3cwnmtxgjrlf7uz/start
Dr.
David Gibson
Equity
Alliance at ASU,
Arizona State
University
and
SITE Consultative
Council President
Contact:
david.c.gibson@asu.edu
Information
about Levels of
Participation
The
balance of this email
provides more
information about the
Levels of
participation we are
inviting. These items
will appear in the
online survey linked
above.
Level
1:
We
will form a team in
our IHE (2 to 4
professors, or with
our dean or dept
chair) to EXAMINE
where simSchool might
fit in our course
sequence and list of
courses. Please
estimate that you will
have "x" number of
courses and "y" number
of sections that reach
"z" number of
students, which you
think might be
potentially involved
each year.
In
exchange for joining
at Level 1, your IHE
will:
-
be on the list for
general news, and
invited to info
sessions at SITE. Your
IHE will be considered
"in the project" and
will receive first
invitations to join
all next steps
opportunities.
Level
2:
Same
as the above, plus at
least 2 professors
would agree to:
-
integrate a simSchool
unit into one or more
courses they already
teach to undergrads in
teacher education
sometime within the
next 15 months, and
-
create data and a
reflection or research
paper about this.
Please
estimate that there
will be "x" number of
students being served
by "y" number
professors would use
simSchool within the
15 month period of
this initial grant.
In
exchange for joining
at Level 2, IHE
professors will:
-
be considered research
partners and will be
invited to publish
results in project
publications,
-
be invited first for
new research
opportunities within
the project, and
-
receive
research-oriented
updates and new
opportunities that
emerge in 15 month
timeline.
Level
3:
All
of the above, plus
participate as
collaborating pilot
sites in research
stemming from the
grant activities.
Professors
are expected to:
-
follow protocols and
submit data,
-
be co-authors on
papers and panels,
-
search for and be part
of new grant
opportunities and
-
will be assumed to be
full collaborating
research partners in
new funded extension
opportunities.
Please
estimate that there
will be "x" number of
students and "y"
number of professors
involved from our IHE
at this level.
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