Four- to eight-hour sessions were designed to teach teachers how to use tools available to them on the Internet, enabling them to integrate the Internet into their classroom experiences, according to Melissa Kelly, who heads up these programs for NCSA's Science Education and Technology Group.
Kelly explains that while many schools have Internet connections or are hooking up to the Net this fall, many teachers have not been trained on how to use the technology. "We wanted to encourage them to attend the workshops this summer," she says, "and let them know NCSA is a resource for them."
Though some of the teachers had hardly touched a computer before participating in the program, all left wanting Kelly to inform them about upcoming opportunities where they could learn more.
Those who had more experience on computers took part in the Networking Infrastructure for Education Curriculum Development Workshop, which provided 30 teachers with week-long training on developing curricula for Web-based projects. Over two weeks, 28 teachers from central Illinois, who had been part of a spring class with NCSA's Sandy Levin [see access, Summer 1995], and two teachers from Missouri gleaned the wisdom of Kelly and five fellow teacher/participants experienced in using the Internet.
Elementary school teacher Lou Conwell (Carl Sandburg School, Charleston, IL) helped kindergartners through second graders create an electronic zoo. From the Illinois State Fairgrounds, their "zoo" was "visited" by Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra in a live hookup. Pat Brown (Columbia Elementary School, Champaign, IL) designed a scavenger hunt on the Web and taught home page development to third through fifth graders. Jim Hays (Tolono, IL) guided sixth through eighth graders through a week of creating their own home pages.
"We covered anything from quilting to genealogy -- whatever they wanted," Kelly states. Participants had a variety of experience coming into the program: a few had never used computers before, while some were retired professors whom had used computers a lot. They all had something in common when they left -- a desire to learn more.
They may have the opportunity. Kelly is working with the lifelong learners to get them involved with the Tech Corps of Illinois. Volunteers will meet in November to discuss how they can provide computing and communications assistance to their local schools as part of the national program.
While some words may seem like incomprehensible Internet jargon to many people, they are not to those who participated in NCSA's Science Education and Technology workshops last summer, thanks to Kelly and others.
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