tech.life at school | Educators get help to improve teaching skills (fwd)

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tech.life at school | Educators get help to improve teaching skills

By Joyce Kasman Valenza
Philadelphia Inquirer

Teachers and administrators continually search for high-quality
professional development opportunities. But today the search seems more
urgent.

We must meet the new federal mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act,
we must retool if we are thoughtfully to integrate new and emerging
technologies, and we must meet new state requirements for
professional-development credits. And good teachers and administrators
understand that to improve their practice, they need to look outside
their classrooms and buildings.

They don't have to look far.

MAR*TEC, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Technology in Education Consortium,
at Temple University serves Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware,
Maryland, and Washington.

The consortium provides programs and technology tools to support "the
effective, continuous professional development of K-12 teachers, both
as individuals and as a community of practitioners."

"We do everything from technology integration at state level to
professional development for teachers," said Joan Pasternak, MAR*TEC's
professional-development coordinator. "Because we are a nonprofit, we
are able to offer very reasonable rates for professional development."

This coming school year's professional-development lineup for teachers
features Using Technology to Enhance Project-based Learning,
Integrating Technology Into the Curriculum: Math/Science, and
Integrating Technology Into Regular Classrooms to Differentiate
Instruction for Students With Diverse Learning Abilities.

For administrators, the 2004-05 offerings include Promising Approaches
to Closing the Digital Divide, Creating a Technology Culture in
Schools, Understanding "Scientifically Based Research" (the research
endorsed by NCLB), and Data-Driven Decision Making.

The newest of MAR*TEC's professional-development tools is
ReflectionConnection, a Web-based collaboration tool. Based on
protocols developed by the Coalition of Essential Schools, MAR*TEC uses
ReflectionConnection to provide teachers extended support and follow-up
workshops. But it can be used in a variety of professional-development
contexts. The site notes: "Anyone can create small, private learning
circles to share samples of student work or any work-related artifacts
in an inquiry-based, problem-solving exercise."

The beauty of this online coaching strategy is that it can be accessed
any time, any place, at the convenience of the professional. Lesson
plans, student work, dialogues can be archived for later research and
evaluation.

"Other professions reflect on their practice," said Pasternak. "They
look at the case they lost, or the patient who didn't get better, or
the building that collapsed. What went well; what didn't. Teachers need
support systems, too. For the average teacher, ReflectionConnection is
a way to create a study group, moving student work beyond one pair of
eyes... . We've had administrators put up case studies or budgets or
other workplace documents for group discussion and peer advice."

MAR*TEC offers a variety of other professional-development tools. An
educational-software-products review chart helps professionals evaluate
current types of educational software and which software companies
provide evidence that they are meeting the scientifically based
research requirements mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.

LOCATE (Locating Online Courses to Advance Technology in Education) is a
searchable database of online courses for educators focused on
educational-technology skills. My search for WebQuest courses yielded
10 course possibilities ranging in price from free to $900. Database
entries address such details as whether the course will satisfy your
state's professional-development requirements.

The educational software preview center is a collection of practitioner
reviews for more than 200 products. The searchable catalog includes
classroom integration advice.

MAR*TEC also has resources for adult literacy and English as a Second
Language instruction, preservice resources and opportunities in
technology integration, and a compilation of online training options.

For further information, contact the Mid-Atlantic Regional Technology in
Education Consortium at 1-800-892-5550 or visit www.temple.edu/martec/.

Contact columnist Joyce Kasman Valenza at Joyce.Valenza at phillynews.com.