Summary
A Worldwide Integration of Curriculum

• Purpose:  The purpose of coordinating and providing resources for teachers and preservice teachers in technology integration is important as districts and colleges/universities seek funding for technology and seek ways to use equipment which is purchased for their classrooms. Teachers can gain experience and confidence using technology themselves so they can see what is possible for their students. Teachers need to know what to do with what they have!
  
  There often is not a lot of training for teachers with new technology so this type of forum is important to share ideas in a very cost effective way and begin to build a repertoire of activities to use with students. Building networks of contacts is important as sharing and evaluating lessons can happen in a collaborative way. These activities are also important for preservice teachers so they will be able to gain access to resources as they enter classrooms with various technological configurations. For example, teaching a lesson in a lab with 30 machines and 30 students is different than teaching with 5 machines and 30 students or even 1 machine and 100 students.
  
  We have heard politicians talk about the importance of having computers for children and wiring classrooms to the internet. It becomes the educators responsibility to learn how to use these technologies effectively in instruction and to learn of other appropriate uses of technology.



• Proposal for the project. The main editing of the proposal was to make the form work in a way in which the participant information was easy to understand after it was sent to me. Also, it took me a while to succintly describe the purpose and explain the process of the project.



• Coordinators role (what I did and what I learned):  I desiged the project web site and categorized and coded the participants lessons. This was tough to do in a few weeks but I feel very ready for the fall. I found the most difficult thing was managing time to respond to participants and design the project site. The most challenging thing for me was coming up with an effective design which seemed fun and inviting, yet effective to navigate. I also felt some pressure to respond to participants as quickly as I could so they felt welcome and knew I was excited for the project and did want to make it work!


• Expectations v. Reality:  The time I thought it would take to create the proposal and the project site and the time it took were very, very different. I allowed 2 hours for the proposal-it took 6 by the time I got the form working the way I wanted; and I allowed 4 for the project site, and it took at least 8. As one can see, I was not being realistic with my expectations. I had to allow the time for the creation and the revision and the integration of technology.



• Participants:  I received registration for nine (9) participants and seven (7) actually sent in lessons which were submitted. I tried not to change the lesson too much from what the participant submitted. I only added information where clarification was needed-as was the case for those who just sent in website addresses . Lesson plans can be accessed from the project site under the Lesson plan link and at the lesson plan web pages. Lesson plans can be accessed from the main project site page and I had 3 CTER classmates, 1 teacher from Bushnell, IL, 1 teacher from Knoxville, IL, 1 teacher from Galesburg IL, and 1 teacher from Cleveland, OH. I received registration from another teacher from Oklahoma and another unknown participant from GSH but they did not submit lessons. I hope to get them in this fall along with students from Knox College.
  
  • Organization:  In order to organize participant information, I used Excel to create a spreadsheet of names, email addresses, street addresses, and if I had posted the lesson. I will use this to keep track of my progress and can also use this Excel information later on in a mail merge to post a letter to participants. I think this contact will be important to keep participants interested and remind them to come back and visit the site often. One way I must improve is to get permission to publish names and email along with the lessons. I think this would be a great improvement in the round for the fall. I need to add a specific line in the form to get this info right in the beginning.
  
  
  
• Conclusion:  Time is very critical in running these types of projects. It is important to contact participants as soon as possible and to have the project site in place so additions are easy and can be done somewhat quickly. Also, I tried to respond to the problems as quickly as possible-I had to increase the number of spaces in the email part of the form as one participant could not fit his school email address.
  The project site design is also so important. I want people to bookmark my site and pass it on to others. It sounds corny, but I want to make a difference and have people ener my site, want to stay to learn, actually implement technology into the curriculum, and then tell others so they can do it too! Let's face it, teachers are busy and are only going to get busier-I want to provide a resource which makes the load a bit lighter so you all will stay in teaching and others just starting out will want to stay in teaching!



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