Service
In my faculty role as University Teacher, twenty percent of my professional
time was dedicated to service and leadership. During the evaluation
period I found opportunities for service and leadership in places I
would have never have imagined.
Providing staff development opportunities outside of my teaching responsibilities
is a chance for me to return to the schools and get a feel for what is currently
happening. In the Spring 06, I was invited to conduct a workshop with Priscilla
Norton on the use and design of WebQuests at Dominion High School in Sterling,
VA. In this workshop Priscilla and I each led a group of eight high school teachers
through the process of understanding the use of WebQuests, learning with WebQuests
and creating WebQuests that supported their curriculum. A letter of appreciation
is submitted as an artifact in Part 7 (b).
Another service activity I was involved in last year was my work with the MAIS-ZAL
program. I play a dual role in this program as both instructor (as described
in the Teaching Narrative) and advisor. Additionally however, I served as the
coordinator for the EDIT online courses for the MAIS-ZAL program. My service
to this program included advising students other than those assigned as my advisees
in their choice of online EDIT courses. As the Instructional Technology contact
point for these students, I worked with them to ensure their EDIT course enrollment
decisions matched their program goals, processed contract course enrollments
and payment, assigned the appropriate expert mentor to work with the student
through the online courses, and tracked progress throughout the course.
The major and most time consuming service activity for the year was my participation
in the “Technology, Teachers, and Young Learners” workshops presented
in Macedonia in August 2005 and January 2006. My efforts in Macedonia were part
of a much larger reform movement progressing throughout the country as the relatively
new government prepares for admission into the European Union. These two-week
workshops were attended by eleven members from the Macedonian Pedagogical Faculties
of who were chosen to learn about and apply technology integration practices
to teacher education. With Dr. Norton as the lead faculty member, I participated
in all aspects of the project: proposing direction and topics of the workshop,
preparing materials, taking the lead on group instruction for topics such as
Teaching with Hypermedia, providing individual mentoring to participants as they
developed products, evaluating participants’ progress, writing portions
of the final report, assessing impact, and building relationships. Additionally,
it was necessary to develop an interest in and an understanding of the Macedonian
school culture in order to guide them in developing technology integrated curriculum
for their own practices.
Many products were created by the participants that continue to be used and modified
for their practice today. Action research projects, leadership plans, and several
lesson plans have been implemented. In the final workshop, the group began a
digital repository to house learning resources for Macedonian teachers. The prototype
can be found at http://mason.gmu.edu/~pnorton/MK/onlineMK/index.htm and work
on a version using the Macedonian language is in progress. A sample report, evaluation
results, and agendas for both workshops are submitted as artifacts in Part (a).
Having experienced successes with U.S. students in the ITS program, I expected
that these workshops would be well-received. However, I was not prepared for
the impact that these workshops had on the participants. Five of the participants
have shown commitment in continuing the learning process by enrolling in ITSOLC
courses. I began mentoring them online in Spring 06 as noted in my Teaching Narrative.
My involvement moved beyond teaching coursework and into consultation. Many of
the participants created new courses based on the knowledge they learned in the
workshops and implemented the courses with their initial teachers. I am frequently
asked to review material and provide insight into the process of implementation.
Additionally, I reviewed and participated in scholarly work created as a result
of the workshops. It continues to amaze me how quickly these professors and teaching
assistants have been able to make changes in their practice. It speaks to how
powerful the ITS program can be and that its design can be used internationally.
Emails of appreciation are submitted as artifacts in Part 7 (b).
Service and Scholarship
My doctoral emphasis and my instructor position have informed each other in my
service and scholarship activities. Specializing in Instructional Technology
with a minor in International Education has provided me the opportunity to research
and write for my studies using my professional experiences as the context. This
past year I completed courses towards my minor that included:
EDUC 895- Introduction
to International Education, EDUC 873- Education Policy: Comparative/International
Perspective
EDUC 892- Social Justice/Equity in International Education. In each
of these courses I was able to write and talk about my experience in Macedonia
as it related to International Education. For my International Education Project
Plan, I expanded on our proposal for the first workshop in Macedonia by providing
a review of literature that concentrated on International Education.
In EDUC 873, I was able to present my Macedonian experience to the class as
well as lead a discussion about education policies in Macedonia. For the final
project
in this course, I used research, current education policy in Macedonia, and
participant evaluations from the first workshop implemented to support our
agenda proposal
for the second workshop.
In EDUC 892, I researched and interviewed Macedonians about poverty issues
in that country for a course workshop on poverty. I used the WebQuest structure
to present my workshop, bringing together my knowledge of instructional technology
and social justice issues. As a result of this course, I also participated
in
a research study to explore the perspectives of immigrant teachers on issues
related to social justice and equity in their teaching practice. This research
is currently being edited by me and the other authors to prepare for submission
to the Journal of Research in International Education.
The Macedonian project gave me a platform to experience the process of program
evaluation and to observe the workings of both non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and government agencies such as USAID. It showed me the importance of
using evaluation materials from one project to inform another. I practiced
surveying, interviewing, and observing participants in order to understand
what they wanted
and needed in their quest for educational reform. I collaborated on a paper
with three of the Macedonian participants about our digital repository creation
experience.
This paper was presented in April 2006 at a conference in Sombor, Serbia. I
had the opportunity to participate in proposal writing for an international
project
and to collaborate on a final summary and evaluation report. This experience
has given me something about which to ask questions, research, and write in
the hopes of producing new knowledge.
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