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Greetings!
The crisp air of autumn has arrived in New England,
and at WIDE World our Fall courses are set to kick off
at the end of the month. In this issue we'd like to
give you a glimpse into WIDE World initiatives around
the world, as in our interview with local facilitator,
Heidi Soule, who has been working with teachers and
educators in Uganda and Namibia. We've also
included a short helpful article looking inside WIDE
World online courses and a big welcome to new
clients. And we are officially launching our new NEWS Section!
on our website, with articles, case studies and
resources for all kinds of educators. Please forward
our work onto your friends and colleagues if you find
it interesting.
| Africa Online: Learning Initiatives in Uganda and Namibia |
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In the east African country of Uganda, learning
online takes a little more effort than sitting down
at a desk and booting up a computer. "There is
ongoing unrest in the northern part of Uganda due to
violence associated with the Lords Resistance Army
(LRA)," said Heidi Soule, a local WIDE World
facilitator and coach. "Tolofisa Ofwono (pictured
with Heidi) and her colleagues experienced
tremendous difficulty accessing the Internet during
their course due to security issues and power
shortages."
Yet despite the long treks and temperamental
machines, these educators are committed to
incorporating the principles of understanding into
their teaching. From January 2003 to May 2005, 70
teachers in Uganda joined with 80 Namibian
colleagues to participate in WIDE World?s Teaching
to Standards with New Technologies courses. The
initiative was made possible by the USAID-funded
(United States Agency for International
Development) dot-EDU
Initiative,
the Initiative for Namibian Education Technology (iNET) and Uganda?s
Connectivity for Educator Development Project
(Connect-ED).
During the courses, teachers learned how to
incorporate the technology they had available to
them to support the Teaching for Understanding (TfU)
framework. They developed new curricula, chatted
with each other online and discussed
challenges. "Having outsiders come in [coaches from
WIDE World] provided a platform for colleagues to
have conversations that they would not have
otherwise had," one Namibian participant said.
A participant like Robinah Nazziwa, a music teacher
in Uganda, has seen her students become more
practical and involved after the implementation of
TfU principles. They create their own musical
instruments using local materials and take part in
ongoing assessment. "Innovation and creativity are
crucial when there are large class sizes and
insufficient resources," Ms. Soule notes. "The TfU
framework helps teachers think through crucial
questions to find solutions to daily challenges."
To read more about the Uganda/Namibia initiative,
including the full interview with Heidi Soule about
its beginnings and its successes, her comprehensive
paper and the multimedia Picture of Practice
(including pictures and samples of teacher work from
the courses), check out our Case Studies
area of the NEWS section.
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| How do you say, "Wanderlust", in Pulaar? |
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Our research manager, David Eddy Spicer, has had
restless feet in the past. We here at WIDE World
know him to be the one with new ideas and an eye
for detail, but before joining WIDE World he roamed
the world in the service of education. As a Peace
Corps volunteer, he spent two years teaching English,
Geography and History in the Democratic Republic of
Congo and another year training others at a
pedagogical institute.
After gaining his Masters in International Educational
Development, designing an adult literacy program for
urban speakers of Pulaar, a Senegalese language, he
went on to work for a non-profit in Kenya, Senegal,
South Africa, the Phillippines and around the world.
David's achievements as a researcher and educator
(he has over 40 published text and multimedia
studies to his name) haven't dulled his sense of
adventure, although now he has the daily excitement
of negotiating his bike through Cambridge traffic.
He's currently working on an Ed.D. at the Harvard
Graduate School of Education, focusing on the role
of technology in teacher learning and collaboration.
David has two daughters, fifth and eighth graders,
who attend a Spanish-English public school in
Cambridge. His feet don't wander as far as they
used to, but he's hoping his children's will.
You can meet David at the forthcoming School
Administrator Symposium (see our Calendar).
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| Inside WIDE: Online Learning Revealed |
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People new to WIDE World and online learning often
ask us what exactly goes on in our "courses". Being
teachers and educators themselves, the WIDE World
research team and program developers knew that an
online course should be simple to use and
interactive. The thought of pages of dull text and
one-sided instruction made our blood pressures soar.
Instead, our online experience focuses on coach-led
teacher discussion about our research-
based strategies. Course resources, assignments and
logistics have been constructed with this goal in
mind. Our coaches stimulate and motivate learners
by encouraging them to talk about WIDE World's
strategies and share their real-life experiences with
each other.
Throughout the courses, teachers can log on
whenever they have a moment and respond to
questions and comments in an asynchronous learning
environment (see below for a definition). Instructors
remind students to post their thoughts and finish
their reading before a certain date, so that the
discussion can progress. The flexible nature of the
work means teachers don't have to commute to a
class and can implement what they are learning right
away.
"Working through the course, while still teaching, I
was able to share the contents of the course with
my students. They became part of the experience.
This was not something fundamentally new, but
rather a new emphasis on understanding, and so I
had the opportunity to check with students to see if
the emphasis was accurate to their needs. They
seemed to think so."
John Syvitski, High School Teacher (Focus on Student
Understanding Course)
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Get in early! Sign up for the Winter/Spring session
on our website.
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| Definition of the Month |
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Asynchronous Learning
In the sense of online learning, this means WIDE
World participants can respond to questions and
comments by posting them whenever they want.
They don't have to be online at a certain time of
day to interact with other participants.
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| Upcoming Dates |
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September 27-28, 2005
WIDE World is attending the School Administrator Symposium
in Marlborough, MA. Our research manager, David
Eddy Spicer, and Joanne Krepelka, the Coordinator
for Educational Technology at Cambridge Public
Schools, will be presenting a paper about Project
COOL (see August's Newsletter,
now on our website).
October 20, 2005
Our August Ambassador of Learning, Isabelle Hoag
Gason, will be hosting an interactive presentation
and staffing the WIDE World booth at the Education
Minnesota Conference
in St. Paul, Minnesota.
November 3-5, 2005
WIDE World will be exhibiting and giving a session
at the Annual Conference of the National
Middle School Association (NMSA)
in Philadelphia, PA. Come and meet us at Booth 954.
November 14-15, 2005
WIDE World will be exhibiting at the Annual Technology Conference of the
Massachusetts Computer Using Educators, Inc.
in Sturbridge, MA. You can find us on the lefthand
side of the map.
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| A Big Welcome to New Clients |
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WIDE World would like to welcome some new clients
from all over the globe. Our clients this Fall include:
National
- International Baccalaureate of North America
(IBNA)
- Weston (MA) Public Schools
- Bronx (NY) High School of Medical Science
- Sarasota County (FL) Schools
- Lake County (FL) Schools
- eTech Ohio Commission
- Messalonskee (ME) School District
International
- Saskatchewan (Canada) Ministry of Education's E-
learning branch
- Victoria (Australia) Department of Education of
Training
- Tasmania (Australia) School Education Division of
Tasmania
- Learning Tapestry (Glasgow, Scotland)
- Universidad de Dessarrollo (Chile)
- Victoria School (Singapore)
If you have an idea about a newsletter feature
(including projects you've constructed after taking
a WIDE World course) or any other suggestions,
please contact us at
wideeditor@gse.harvard.edu
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Ambassador of Learning |
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Dr. Mary A. McFarland (Coach)
Mary has been a WIDE World
coach since 2002 in such courses as Teaching for Understanding,
Dimensions of Understanding, Differentiating Instruction
and Coach development. A longtime teacher, Mary is
an educational consultant and past president of the
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). Up
until recently, she served as the Director of Social
Studies (K-12) and Director of Professional
Development in the Parkway district of St. Louis
County, MO.
Mary was part of the Task Force of the NCSS that
produced the publication, Curriculum Standards for Social Studies.
She facilitated eight video workshops based on the
standards for NCSS, WGBH and Annenberg/CPB. In
addition to her coaching, she has hosted face-to-
face workshops in the U.S. and abroad, facilitated at
Project Zero's Summer Institutes,
and co-facilitated a workshop at the HGSE with Stone
Wiske this July entitled, "Educating for Democracy:
Building Civic Competence".
Mary and her husband play keyboard and sing in a
small band, the M & Ms ("a yet to be discovered
band") offering renditions from the 50's to the
present-day. She and her husband sail a Catalina on
Lake Carlyle - just across the river from St. Louis in
Illinois - and like to travel through New England in the
Fall.
AHA! MOMENT
"One of my special needs youngsters hated my
problem solving sessions every Friday morning. I
thought I was doing a great job at providing multiple
approaches and strategies. Then, our second grade
team started the Algebraic Thinking course on-
line. One assignment was to read Two
of Everything by Lily Toy Hong to the class and
then have the kids work with T-charts to teach the
principle of doubling. My special needs youngster
took off with this idea. She just needed a story to
connect to the math! Her success with this project
gave her the confidence she needed to try other
problems. It changed her attitude about math. It
might even have changed her life. Thanks, WIDE
World!" Betsy Carter speaking about her
Grade 2 students, Freetown Elementary School, East
Freetown, MA
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
We are now archiving our monthly newsletter. You
can have a look at last month's Inaugural issue,
which talked about Project COOL and contains an
interview with David Perkins, in the Newsletter Archive
section.
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
Microsoft and Dell have teamed up to find
technology-minded educational visionaries. The
Visionary Award is given to educators who
write the best essays on using technology to
improve: student performance and 21st century
skills, teacher productivity and instruction, the
effectiveness of school administration and local
community participation. There are also opportunities
to win equipment and software. Learn more
by visiting the FutureReady website
or reading the article in the September issue of
eSchool News.
The Department of Education has opened a
new competition for the Striving Readers
Program.
Eight grants, ranging in size from $1-$5 million,
will be awarded to Local Education Agencies to
improve the reading skills of middle and high school
aged children reading below grade level. Grants
will support the implementation and evaluation of
research-based reading interventions. The deadline
is November 14, 2005.
SUMMER SURVEY RESPONSES
- 100% of respondents said that they had found
WIDE World's research-based course content usable
in their teaching
- 96% of respondents see WIDE World's courses
having an effect on their teaching practice
FOR THE BOOKSHELF
A report on how teachers and educators can find
ways to meld NCLB and Teaching for Understanding
in the service of 21st century learning.
Find out more....
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