|
|
|
Q1: What is a NetCourse™?
A: Netcourses, in general, are courses of study delivered primarily over digital networks. The personal, linked computer is the main way of sharing information, carrying out discussions, and assessing student learning.
NetCourses™, created at the Concord Consortium, begin with this emerging design and share a unique model for learning and teaching online. They emphasize computer-mediated collaboration and cooperation among participants engaged in student-centered activities and personal, inquiry investigations. The period of participation is well defined and the communication is scheduled, but asynchronous. The advantages of NetCourses include that they are quality, lower-cost learning opportunities available anywhere and anytime. Easy access to content experts and current information online enhances their potential. Social interactions and peer-to-peer support, albeit electronic, are an integral part of the course. Collaborative learning is important because the participants are not only learning content and knowledge in NetCourses, but they also practice and experience an authentic process of developing their understanding in a social context. Purposeful dialogue evolves in a context of a self-correcting, supportive community. NetCourses incorporate in-person interactions as well, to ameliorate the potential alienation of a completely virtual community. In professional development courses, this means small groups of local colleagues join a NetCourse together and supplement their online work with face-to-face meetings. For secondary students, the virtual students and teachers are supported by local site coordinators who check in personally with all NetCourse participants. Cooperation is also a key component of our model. Success relies on the cooperation of participants with one another online for small group assignments and activities. Teachers in our professional development courses are challenged to continue working together after the courses are over on new teaching and learning strategies, and new structures that support new ways of teaching and learning at their local sites. Because NetCourses are embedded in an arena of interconnectedness, they most closely resemble traditional seminar courses, in which learning comes from reflection on critical questions and exchange among participants via discussion of common reading, experimentation, or investigation of new subject matter. We believe that NetCourses encourage more student-centered inquiry learning, compared to traditional models of instruction. Teachers are encouraged to be facilitators and guides in the process of learning and students are encouraged to take more initiative to pursue a topic of interest, an unpopular position or argument, or engage in deeper inquiry investigations that challenge their interests and current understanding. Q2: What is the INTEC NetCourse about?A: The major focus of the INTEC project is to increase the use of student inquiry and investigations in middle school and high school mathematics and science through professional development activities offered over the Internet. There are five major topics covered: (1) Personal Experience of Inquiry, (2) Tools to Support Inquiry, (3) Content Support for Inquiry, (4) Pedagogy in Support of Inquiry, and (5) a Practicum. There is also an Introduction which familiarizes participants with our Lotus discussion area.Q3: A local study group meeting component is mentioned in the description. Isn't it unusual to have local meetings within a netcourse format? Why is the INTEC course designed this way?A: The local study groups are designed to address the isolation many participants feel in traditional email courses. Also, our experience, confirmed by research, is that individuals who are trying to change instruction and/or curriculum often are isolated and unsuccessful, while a team that includes teachers and at least one administrator can provide a great deal of mutual support for change. INTEC participants are members of both smaller, local and larger, virtual groups as part of the instructional design.Q4: What is this project used for?A: The purpose of the project is to develop and test the technology to deliver professional development training to educators. Our premise is that through netcourses we can deliver high quality teacher enhancement programs at less cost than through traditional methods.Q5: What do I need to participate?A: Participants must be members of projects or schools already engaged in the process of reform of mathematics and science instruction. Professional development is then a logical part of the school's effort. At each site there needs to be a team of at least four teachers. An administrator will also need to participate in selected activities to understand and support the individual participants' efforts. Each individual participant must have their own Internet e-mail account and access to a graphical World Wide Web browser.Q6: How long is the course?A: The course requires 125 hours of involvement, but the schedule is flexible. Asynchronous access and locally planned meetings serve to provide the flexibility needed to fit professional development into teachers' already hectic schedules.Q7: How will this course work?A: A participant team of at least four individuals from a single site make up the local study group. These local groups form a cohort of approximately twenty-five participants with a moderator. The cohort progresses through a series of online and offline activities, study group meetings, electronic discussions, and displays projects and products resulting from activities all within a password-protected area.We go far beyond traditional email-based courses and build the NetCourse on a web-based technology that accesses graphics and other media in support of rich, reflective dialogue. The DOMINO interface permits teachers to attach student work (text, images and working simulations) to discussion postings for all to see, read and explore together. Participants in the INTEC program choose from a menu of NSF-funded and commercially produced curricula that directly support the new vision of teaching and learning in mathematics and science. There will be temporary content-specific virtual discussion groups focused on issues or projects associated with the new curricular approaches. These are co-moderated by a teacher who has used the materials already in the classroom. The culminating activities involve a practicum in which teachers practice new instructional approaches and share the results with their cohort. Q8: Is graduate credit given for taking this netcourse?A: We have arranged with the Graduate Program at Fitchburg (Massachusetts) State College for granting graduate credit for the course. The additional cost ($230) for four graduate credits will be the responsibility of the participants.Q9: How is my work evaluated?A: All participants will have a variety of projects to complete for the activities that compose the units. These activities will be used in grading for the granting of graduate credit. If graduate credit is not involved then grading will be more of an issue of task completion. Assessment is tied to practice, in that what is done for the course is intended to be immediately useful to teachers in their classrooms.Q10: Can my school (or project) become a member of this project?A: Yes, if your school or project is already involved in a compatible reform effort, is willing to integrate our NetCourse into this reform, and can support teachers with the required technology.Q11: What is the cost of participating?A: There will be no cost to the participating sites while the course is funded under the NSF project. Participating sites are responsible for providing the email and Internet access for their participants.Q12: How do we get involved?A: Submit a letter indicating the desire of your school or project to participate in INTEC to ray@concord.org or Raymond M. Rose, Educational Director, Concord Consortium, 37 Thoreau Street, Concord, Massachusetts 01742.We do not accept individual teachers at this time. |
 | |
| INTEC, A project of The Concord Consortium. Copyright © 1998, All rights reserved. | |
