There is no issue
more important to California's future
than improving its public schools.
The quality of these schools depends
directly on the quality of the teachers
working in them. That quality is being
reduced to disastrous levels in schools
across the state by the mushrooming
shortage of qualified teachers in
the state. To staff classrooms last
year, schools needed to hire, on an
emergency basis, over 40,000 "teachers"
(14% of the work force) who did not
have even the minimum qualifications
of a credential. Most were without
any experience teaching and, in many
cases, there was not even minimum
assurance that they possessed basic
academic skills. And the problem is
getting worse each year.
In his "New
Partnership Agreement" UC President
Atkinson has pledged to the state
legislature that the University of
California will do its part to counter
this looming disaster in California's
schools. Specifically, to meet teacher
demand and improve the quality of
teacher preparation, the President
promised to increase "...the
number of students enrolled in teacher
credential programs from approximately
1,000 in 1998-99 to 2,500 by 2002-03,
with a focus on increasing the number
of first-time and new type credentials
in math and science. This would more
than double the number of teachers
prepared by UC in 1998-99."
Our Difficult
Instructional Problem
The eight teacher education programs
in the UC system are thus faced with
a most difficult instructional problem.
The adequate preparation of new teachers
is an intensive and time-consuming
endeavor and we are being asked by
UCOP to double our productivity almost
immediately. It is clear that the
implementation of new instructional
technologies holds great potential
for UC for meeting President Atkinson's
commitment to the legislature and
the people of California problem.
Two UC campuses,
Irvine and Santa Barbara, are now
in the third year of funding from
the U.S. Department of Education's
Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use
Technology Program (PT3.) As a main
part of this work these projects have
developed a number of applications
of instructional technology intended
to improve the quality, effectiveness
and efficiency of teaching and learning
in their two teacher credential programs.
These two projects have thus far not
collaborated in their development
activities, nor have they consulted
with the six other teacher education
programs in the UC system about developments
on those campuses. Though the applications
that are being developed may work
well locally, there is no guarantee
that they could be exported for use
by sister institutions.
We intend to overcome
this wasteful difficulty. One purpose
of this proposal is to seek planning
funds to allow conversation between
Irvine and Santa Barbara about what
would be needed to enable sharing
of the instructional technology products
of the two projects. The second purpose
is to explore the feasibility of 1)
engaging all interested campuses in
a process of cataloging those instructional
technology applications that are currently
in use throughout the system for teacher
education, and 2) engaging in a series
of "standardization" efforts
intended to enable the distribution
and use of these applications beyond
their home campus. Thus, we are requesting
funds for both planning and feasibility
activities. The rationale for this
request is presented below.
Instructional
Technologies and Teacher Education
The Santa Barbara and Irvine projects
are in the process of developing the
following instructional technology
products. We group them by pedagogical
function.
Pedagogical Function
- Analysis of Practice
Learning to make connections between
principles of learning and actual
classroom teaching practices is a
crucial but difficult task for teaching
credential students. The UCI Department
of Education has developed classroom
videocase examples and structured
writing prompts that are delivered
via webpages that students access
outside of class time. Students are
asked to bring to bear what they have
learned in their courses to interpret
and explain the teaching and learning
they observe in video clip segments.
The practice of critically reflecting
on one's teaching and on student learning
is an important skill which novice
teachers must master early in their
careers. The UCI credential program
also engages its students in the construction
of videocases of their own teaching
as objects for reflection. From a
videotape of a particular instructional
lesson, students critically select
and edit clips that illustrate important
ideas about teaching and learning.
The clips are put into a web-based
"electronic portfolio" into
which students also write reflective
annotations to explain the importance
of each video clip. These annotations
are electronically associated with
the video clips in the portfolio.
In a similar manner,
the UCSB Teacher Education Program
has developed a series of online activities
which present, on a course's website,
exemplary videocases of technology
use in classrooms. Students are asked
to view the cases and then respond
to a series of questions that elicit
their analytical thoughts about the
segments viewed. Students' responses
are electronically submitted to a
database that allows the course instructor
to examine trends and identify topics
that will be used in the following
class to challenge students' thinking.
Pedagogical Function
- Planning Skills
A key process in which all teachers
must become skilled is the planning
of learning experiences for pupils.
UCSB has created a series of "Simulated
Design Studios" (SDS's) into
which its students "enter"
as small working teams. Each SDS is
specific to a grade level and content
area and contains the necessary tools
and resources to allow credential
students to create a lesson or unit
for a specified classroom of pupils.
Each SDS is contained on a CD-ROM
and features a user interface built
on the metaphor of a workshop. "Tools,"
located on various "workbenches"
in the SDS, are used to create such
things as learning objectives, assessments,
needed materials lists, and lesson
delivery sequences. "Materials
drawers" in the SDS contain background
concerning the lesson's content, a
list of California Content Standards,
and a selection of available print
materials, websites, computer applications,
and samples of activities that have
been designed by other teachers. Credential
students have to decide which tools
and resources to use, and in what
order. Different students working
in the same workshop are very likely
to create discernibly different products
which can be compared during a class
meeting as is typical of all good
design studio work.
Pedagogical Function
- Building Communities of Practice
A central goal of any teacher education
program is helping credential students
to learn to work and collaborate with
other professional educators. UCSB
offers students the opportunity to
"publish," on the Program's
web site, successful lesson plans
which have been peer reviewed and
judged to meet appropriate selection
criteria. These plans are collected
in a database which allows easy search
and retrieval. As the project grows,
UCSB envisions adding to the website
video examples of teachers delivering
some of these exemplary lessons.
UCI has developed
a methodology for students to engage
in technology-mediated discussions
in support of their fieldwork seminar
course. As different weekly topics
are covered, students write up their
own observations and reflections and
post them to an email listserv where
members read one another's observations
and reflections, and post responses.
The seminar instructor also reads
and gives students feedback about
the aptness of the observations for
a particular standard and the quality
of the reflections that have been
posted.
Pedagogical Function
- Assessment of Knowledge Acquisition
UCSB has created examinations that
assess students' acquisition of knowledge
in their coursework. These examinations
are delivered via web pages and offer
both immediate feedback to the user
as well as guided opportunities to
correct their answers. This examination
environment utilizes a combination
of hypertext and Java programs to
"branch" and thereby offer
to students challenges that are most
appropriate to their responses.
The funding sought
by this proposal will enable the following
feasibility/planning activities:
Planning Conference
Two individuals from each of the eight
UC Teacher Education Programs, nominated
by each program's Director, will attend
a one-day conference at Santa Barbara
in late January. One of these people
will be knowledgeable in the program's
content and pedagogy; the other will
bring information on current efforts
to apply instructional technology
in the program. The objectives of
this meeting will be to: 1) identify
and describe the various applications
of instructional technology that are
currently being used across the system,
2) identify technological and pedagogical
barriers to the use of these applications
by campuses where they were not developed,
and 3) create a plan by which these
barriers can be surmounted so that
these applications can be transferred
easily throughout the system. If all
goes well, this plan will be the foundation
of a Full-Scale Implementation Proposal
to be submitted in April, 2002.
Coordination
Meeting
In order to coordinate the above Planning
Conference, the two Directors and
a staff member from each of the UCI
and UCSB PT3 projects will meet for
one day immediately after notification
of funding. The purpose of this meeting
will be to work out the process of
invitation, logistics for attendance
and agenda of the above Planning Conference.
Post-Conference
Analysis
The two Directors and their staffs
will meet approximately two weeks
after the above Planning Conference
to synthesize the results of the conference,
decide whether to pursue a Full-scale
Implementation Grant, and, if that
decision is positive, plan that proposal's
development. Depending on the results
of the Planning Conference, individuals
from other UC Teacher Education Programs
may be invited to this meeting.
