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| RTT Newsletter |
| August
2001 I. Notes from the Project Coordinator Plans are well underway for the second year of the Ready to Teach project. Design teams from our partner districts of Lowell, Chelmsford and Methuen are being formed for the academic year 2001-2002. Many design team participants will have the opportunity for training in our multimedia lab during the summer. See the schedule posted on our website for details and sign up today! If the times do not suit your needs, you can contact John Wren at John_Wren@uml.edu in order to make further arrangements for training. We are examining final evaluations from year one design teams and from University of Massachusetts Graduate School of Education faculty to ascertain what improvements can be made to the process of infusing technology into curriculum. This year we hope to include many more graduate students on our design teams. There will also be additional time for the teams to prepare their final projects and curriculum units that will be disseminated through CLASP, MassCue and each school district, as team work will begin by the last week of September. II. RTT Purposes/Goals The goal of Ready to Teach is to reframe, redesign, and restructure the UML graduate level teacher preparation program so that new teachers will enter the profession with the knowledge, experience, skills and flexibility to use technologies to help K-12 students meet state curriculum standards. Long Term Goals: 1. The transformed Graduate School of Education teacher preparation program will be a model of technology integration in teaching and learning. 2. Preservice teachers will experience technology-rich learning environments in their graduate courses, in seminars, and in K-12 school placements. 3. Preservice teacher graduates will demonstrate attainment of ISTE Educational Technology Foundations Standards for All Teachers. III. Project Progress Update Recently the RTT team began work on a concept project given to us by Dr. Boccia. The concept is to include a laptop computer, lightweight LCD projector, and digital camera in an easy-to-transport case or "back pack", to be used by student teachers in their assigned schools. Prior to leaving for NECC 2001 in Chicago, we received a new Apple iBook and Kodak mc3 multimedia device. Both came right out of their original packing and straight into a case bound for Chicago. There was little time to play with these devices before the flight, once at NECC they would have to perform the way we had hoped. One task we had assigned ourselves was to operate a web page from NECC. The iBook comes with many items to make life easier for teachers or road warriors on the go. Although not the most powerful laptop out there, the iBook comes with a 500Mhz processor, which is quite adequate for most users. All of the photo, video, and web editing we asked of it was handled with ease. Our model was upgraded to 128 MB of RAM, from the standard 64MB. This Apple also comes with an array of traveler-friendly items. We had our choice of 56k modem, 10/100Base T Ethernet, or AirPort wireless to access the Internet or any other network we wished to access. In fact, as I said in our NECC report, I was able to update our web site in Lowell from the lobby of the convention center. The center had one very large AirPort network that we could access from anywhere in the building. The iBook comes "AirPort ready", which means it can accept the new AirPort Card, which must be purchased separately ($99, $89 w/educational discount). Video editing was a snap with the built in FireWire port. I had brought along my personal digital video camera that plugged right into the Apple. I was able to download, edit, and post clips to the web site within minutes of shooting the event. As I said, we also brought along a new Kodak MC3 multimedia device. Kodak markets it as a MP3 player that can take pictures, but we were more intrigued by its ability to take video and pictures and gave no thought to its MP3 uses. It is very small and lightweight (about half the size of a Palm PDA). The mc3 takes 640x480 jpeg images that are quite useable for any digital project. We easily downloaded all images for editing through a USB cable provided with the camera. With the flick of a switch we were able to shoot QuickTime video clips, which are quite easy to install into a multimedia presentation. The video is stored as a QuickTime file which can be dragged and dropped anywhere on either a PC or Mac computer. With a 32MB compact flash card you can expect to get around 300 pictures or 10 minutes of video. The Kodak mc3 sells for around $250. One downside of the mc3 is its LCD view panel. At best it allows you to frame up a shot, but we found it to be very dark and difficult to use. However, this should not stop you from considering the mc3. We found it very easy to use and a digital camera you would not hesitate to give to your youngest student to use for a project. Just point and shoot! IV. Websites/Resources of the Month Filamentality Filamentality is a fill-in-the-blank interactive Web site that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Web, gathering good Internet sites, and turning Web resources into learning activities. Support is built-in through Mentality Tips that guide you along the way to creating a Web-based activity you can share with others even if you don't know anything about HTML. http://www.filamentality.com/wired/fil/ Microsoft in Education This website from Microsoft offers a variety of resources for educators, including lesson plans, articles and interviews, tutorials for Microsoft products, and product information. http://www.microsoft.com/education/ NASA Quest NASA Quest is dedicated to bringing NASA people and science to classrooms through the Internet. Whether in the area of aerospace design or training for space walks, NASA Quest is a rich resource for educators, kids and space enthusiasts who are interested in meeting and learning about NASA people and the national space program. http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/home/index.html U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology (OET) develops national educational technology policy and implements this policy through Department-wide educational technology programs. This website includes grant and conference information, reports and other resources. http://www.ed.gov/Technology/index.html
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