OPD Report: Section 2

Designing and Implementing Online Professional Development Workshops
EDC Center for Online Professional Education

2. The Basis of this Report

Section Index:
2.1 COPE Projects and Related Work

The information in this report is based upon work within a number of projects in the EDC Center for Online Professional Education (COPE) and related work in which COPE staff have been involved. These projects are summarized below. The online workshops described under the LNT and NetTech 1998-1999 projects form the major basis for the research reported. More detailed information about these workshops is provided in Appendices A-F, and complete workshop archives can be found at http://www.edc.org/LNT/workshop.htm.

2.1 COPE Projects and Related Work

Leadership and the New Technologies (LNT). This project developed a series of face-to-face and online professional development opportunities as well as supporting resources designed for school and district decision makers. In this context, a joint endeavor of EDC and the Harvard Graduate School of Education Programs in Professional Education with funding from the AT&T Foundation, we conducted intensive week-long summer institutes for teams of school district leaders, with about 100 participants from urban, rural, and suburban districts attending in each of the summers of 1997, 1998, and 1999. The related web site (http://www.edc.org/LNT) provides extensive documentation of each institute, and an online journal and library of annotated resources to serve the same audience. We also explored the use of pre-institute and post-institute online discussions, and conducted online workshops that provided opportunities for institute participants and others to explore specific topics in more depth. The first LNT online workshop is described below. Subsequent workshops were jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Education through the NetTech project, and are described under NetTech 1998-1999.

Envisioning the Possibilities: Connecting the Internet with Curriculum Standards and Frameworks. This workshop, led by Glenn Kleiman (EDC and Harvard) and Rob Ramsdell (FreshPond Education, Inc.), and funded by the AT&T Foundation, ran from March 2 to April 27, 1998. The goal of this workshop was to help school district decision-makers develop a vision of effective uses of the Internet in K-12 education, especially with regard to addressing curriculum standards and frameworks.

NetTech, 1998-1999. As part of our work in the northeastern states, we conducted online workshops for this audience of school and district leaders, with support from the U.S. Department of Education through the NetTech project. The AT&T Foundation provided additional funding to support participants from outside of the northeast region. The following workshops form the major basis for this report.

Keeping Kids Safe: Policy Implications of the Internet in Schools. This workshop, led by Libby Black (Boulder Valley, CO School District), and funded by the AT&T Foundation and U.S. Department of Education through NetTech, ran from October 26 to December 18, 1998. Participants explored the implications of Internet presence in our schools, including issues of acceptable use by students and staff, filtering of content, the role of an Acceptable Use Policy, and other steps you can take to provide a safe environment for students.
Planning a District-Wide Technology Infrastructure. This workshop, led by Bob Spielvogel and Terry Dash (EDC), and funded by the AT&T Foundation and U.S. Department of Education through NetTech, ran from October 26, 1998 to January 31, 1999. This workshop introduced basic concepts of computer networks and infrastructure, in order to prepare school district leaders to understand the options and make informed choices about implementing a district-wide technology infrastructure.
District Technology Planning for All Students: Helping to Meet the IDEA '97 Mandate. This workshop, led by Denise Ethier (EDC), Skip Stahl (CAST), and Judy Zorfass (EDC), among others, and funded by the AT&T Foundation and U.S. Department of Education through NetTech, ran from March 5 to April 16, 1999. Participants examined cases and collaborated in district teams to explore ways that effective technology planning can promote learning and participation by all students whether they are labeled as having "disabilities" or not.
Multi-User Virtual Environments: From Research to Classroom Practice. This workshop, hosted by Susan Metrick (EDC) and funded by the AT&T Foundation and U.S. Department of Education through NetTech, ran from March 1 to April 11, 1999 as the first in a series of workshops entitled "Emerging Technologies for Active Learning". Sessions were led by guest facilitators Chris Dede (George Mason University), Alan Epstein (Watertown Public Schools), Judi Fusco (SRI International, TAPPED IN), Amy Bruckman (Georgia Institute of Technology), Lizzie Edwards (Georgia Institute of Technology), Daniel Couturier (U.S. EPA), and a 5th grade student from Watertown, MA. Participants explored text-based and 3D virtual worlds, and discussed ways in which they might be used for classroom practice and professional development, as well as strategies for successful implementation.
From Information to Knowledge: Visualizing Real Data in the Classroom. This workshop, hosted by Kristen Bjork and Terry Dash (EDC) and funded by the AT&T Foundation and U.S. Department of Education through NetTech, ran from April 5 to May 2, 1999, as the second in a series of workshops entitled "Emerging Technologies for Active Learning". Sessions were led by guest facilitators Kathryn Keranen (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology), Randall E. Raymond (Detroit Public Schools), Paul Rooney (TERC), and Ray Sambrotto (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University). Participants explored remote-sensing and geographic information system (GIS) technologies, discussed current research, and examined issues of classroom implementation.

Technology Innovation Challenge Grant to Concordia Parish, Louisiana. As a subcontractor on this U.S. Department of Education grant, in the first year of the project we developed and ran two workshops on the topic of Exploring the Possibilities: Using the World Wide Web in Your Classroom. These concurrent workshops, one for high school teachers and one for middle school teachers, connected faculty from Concordia Parish and Catahoula Parish, LA school districts in an examination of the opportunities, possibilities and key steps to using the World Wide Web effectively in the classroom. Co-facilitated by Kirsten Johnson and Barbara Treacy of EDC and Merrick Lofton and Paula Paul of Concordia and Catahoula Parishes, the workshops ran from January 25 to March 28, 1999. Participants gained direct experience using the web as they explored current models of using the Internet in the curriculum and as they developed their own standards-based, interdisciplinary units. Links to the archives of both workshops are available at http://www.edc.org/LNT/workshop.htm.

During the second year of this five-year project, COPE developed a set of follow-up workshops for each of the initial teacher groups, as well as an introductory workshop for a new group of novice teachers from five neighboring parishes. A major focus of the work during this second year was to build local capacity to include OPD in the overall district professional development program. Therefore, local facilitators collaborated on both the design and the facilitation of the workshops.

NetTech, 1999-2000. During the 1999-2000 school year, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education through the NetTech project, we worked with five urban school districts in the NetTech region (Norwich, CT; Worcester, MA; Schenectady, NY; Prince George’s County, MD; and Philadelphia, PA) in a capacity building program that built upon our experience with the Louisiana districts. Six teachers from each of the five districts participated together in two consecutive online workshops facilitated by COPE, learning how to serve as district OPD Specialists. Following this experience, they facilitated OPD workshops for teachers in their districts. At the end of the academic year, we conducted in-person focus groups with the OPD Specialists from each of these districts.

The first workshop, Approaches and Tools for Developing Web-Enhanced Lessons, ran from November 1 to December 10, 1999. (Screenshots from this workshop are provided in Section 4.) In this workshop, participants explored the possibilities for using the web in the classroom by experimenting with web-based tools such as WebQuest and TrackStar, which they then used to design collaborative, inquiry-based classroom projects. The second workshop, Strategies for Facilitating Online Courses, ran from January 18 to February 22, 2000. This course provided an in-depth look at the curricula for two different OPD workshops that participants could choose to run for local teachers: Approaches and Tools for Developing Web-Enhanced Lessons and Finding the Best Educational Resources on the Web. Participants discussed techniques for successful online facilitation, and developed strategies for offering one or both of the OPD workshops to teachers in their districts. After taking these two courses, the six participants from each district divided into facilitation teams. During March-June 2000, each team of local facilitators conducted one or two OPD workshops for up to 60 teachers in their district. EDC hosted these workshops on its servers and provided technical support to the districts’ liaisons.

Explorations of online discussions to support face-to-face learning opportunities. Glenn Kleiman has included participation in asynchronous, online discussions as a course requirement for students in the Integrating Technology Into K-12 Schools course he has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in each of the past two years. In addition, we have used pre-Institute online discussions to launch the 1998 and 1999 LNT Institutes. Kirsten Johnson, Barbara Treacy, and Glenn Kleiman, all of COPE, are now designing a course on integrating technology into school districts, half of which will be conducted in regular face-to-face classes, and the other half online. This course will be taught in the Harvard Extension School.