News

Unsure about how much time to allot to write your dissertation proposal? Not to worry...the CIMC has adapted a Dissertation Calculator from the University of Minnesota that helps current and future dissertators plan their studies. Users simply enter the expected start and completion dates of their dissertation work and the calculator will generate a plan that includes every phase of the process along with a suggested amount of time for each step. In addition to the timeline, the Dissertation Calculator provides strategies and links to support resources for each stage.

Posted by Jim Jonas on November 1, 2007

This fall, the Technology Enhanced Learning group has been meeting with SoE faculty and instructors to lend help and consulting towards integration of technology into course work. The TEL group works through the CIMC and is charged with increasing capacity of faculty and instructional staff to integrate technology into their teaching. TAs Alan Hackbarth, Luiz Lopes, and Brian Zoellner have been working with project leaders Catherine Stephens and Jo Ann Carr to provide assistance to SoE faculty and TAs in using resources such as Learn@UW, Moodle, Second Life, and QuizVideo to design and implement class activities.

Examples of ongoing project work include:

• integration of technology into new course development
• exploring and using Learn@UW’s gradebook features
• using the Learn@UW digital drop box to manage student assignments
• assistance with integrating Second Life into the study of graphic arts and design
• using quizvideo to create assessment tools for class

The TEL team works in a collaborative context with faculty and staff. TEL TAs bring knowledge in the discipline to instructional technology support and instructional design. Professor Michael Connors offers the following comments about instructional support coming from TEL and CIMC staff.

If you are interested in using technology to help meet the pedagogical goals of your course, contact Alan, Luiz, Brian or Catherine to set up a consultation. Visit the TEL project online for TEL Team contact information.

Posted by Brian Zoellner on November 1, 2007

Just in time for American Education Week, an online collection of annual reports for the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) will be available on November 13. The result of a partnership of the CIMC, MMSD, and the UW Digital Collection Center, this online resource will include annual reports for the Madison School District. Materials in this collection will be of interest to a wide variety of audiences from researchers studying educational history, to methods students who are looking at changes in curriculum, to fourth graders who study Wisconsin history. The annual reports typically contain (a) a superintendent's report, (b) list of Board Members, (c) list of faculty, (d) list of graduates, (e) a description of the curriculum at various instructional levels, (f) a listing of textbook titles, (g) financial and budgetary information, (h) a listing of Board Rules and Policies (some quite fascinating e.g.,"contagious diseases") and (i) suggestions to the teacher". This collection will be available free at the UW Digital Collections site (see http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/index.shtml).

For more information, please contact Jo Ann Carr at carr@education.wisc.edu.

Posted by Catherine Stephens on November 1, 2007

TEL Brownbag Discussion: Reflective Teaching Using the Analysis of Course Artifacts
Date: Monday, Nov 12, 12 - 1 pm
Location: IMDC Hub Space, Room 109, Teacher Education Bldg

SoE faculty and instructors are invited to take part in a reflective discussion about teaching using the analysis of course artifacts. Discussion points will include:

"What is a course artifact?"

"What is reflective teaching?"

"I would like to use course artifacts to help me become a more reflective teacher. How can I use Learn@UW to analyze course artifacts?"

"How can Learn@UW serve students and teachers in Teacher Education?"

"Can Learn@UW help my students with reflective thinking and writing?"

"What is meant by technology literacy?"

This discussion will be led by TEL TAs Alan Hackbarth, Luiz Lopes, and Brian Zoellner. Cookies and beverages will be served. The event is the first of a series of TEL discussions funded by campus funds. It is also the first of the IMDC Coffeetalks which will be scheduled throughout the academic year.

Posted by Brian Zoellner on November 1, 2007

ICS (Instructional Communications Systems), an academic support unit within the University of Wisconsin-Extension Broadcasting and Media Innovations division, offers free web video conferencing for timetable courses using Learn@UW.

Two products are offered: ExtendLMS, the ability to hold meetings online, and Breeze Presenter, a tool to post narrative PowerPoints online. ExtendLMS offers instructors the ability to hold virtual class meetings online, or bring in guests over distance, and can be arranged with audio and video capability.

Faculty are encouraged to contact ICS staff for information. ICS staff provide support and training, and instructions to obtain the necessary software. For more information, contact:

Rich Berg
Instructional Design/Distance Education Specialist
Email: extendlms@ics.uwex.edu
Phone: 608-263-4262

Posted by Catherine Stephens on November 1, 2007

October 22nd, CIMC staff and student volunteers led a spirited story hour and craft activity for children grades K-1 at the Allied Drive Safe Haven After School Center.

Children gathered round for a special “Reading Reading” song written by student SLIS volunteers, and then were all ears for There's a Monster Under My Bed by James Howe, followed by The Three Bears Halloween by Paul Meisel. Story time was followed by a craft activity to create “Monsters on a Plate." Many scary monsters emerged on white paper plates with the help of color, feathers, pipe cleaners, and buttons. Children waited patiently for face-painting, and then gobbled up a “monster eyeball” snack.

We closed the afternoon with I Love My Pirate Papa by Laura Leuck, and Trick or Treat Countdown by Patricia Hubbard.

A special thanks to Elissa Purvis for helping lead and steer the project, and thanks to our SLIS volunteers Betsy Wermuth and Emily Schearer, along with Student WEA volunteers, David Brown and Kristen Carpenter.

                    


Emily Schearer and Kristen Carpenter read stories at Allied Drive.

Posted by Catherine Stephens on November 1, 2007

An exciting event in the School of Education's academic year takes place this month - the 86th annual American Education Week (AEW) sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA). The NEA's mission is to act as advocate for the nation's public schools, school employees, and the communities they serve. Each year, the National Education Association sets aside the week prior to the Thanksgiving Day holiday to spotlight the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education, and the need for everyone to do his or her part in making public schools great. This year's AEW theme: Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility reflects the Association's call to Americans to provide students with quality public schools that will enable them to grow, prosper, and achieve in the 21st century. We are excited that, once again, the CIMC will be the site of a Student WEA display celebrating American Education Week (November 12-17th). You can find out more about this exciting national event by visiting http://www.nea.org/aew/index.html

Each year the editors of the American School Board Journal (http://www.asbj.com/) recommend their “Notable Books in Education.” Their 2006 “must-read” choices point to the problems of kids who come from families that are too smart, too rich, or too achievement oriented. Many of the ASBJ's 2006 selections are part of the CIMC collection. Stop by and take a look at these “must-read” books that focus on a preoccupation with privilege.

Dedicated to the art of teaching, Tom Snyder Productions (http://www.tomsnyder.com/) creates innovative technology to support and inspire great teaching and learning. Tom Snyder Productions has won over 100 prestigious industry awards for products covering the social studies, language arts, science and mathematics curriculum. Their motto: Interactive Group Software for Teachers Who Love to Teach. Stop by the CIMC in November to see some of the many great Tom Snyder Productions resources that are now a part of the CIMC collection.

Posted by Patricia Eschmann on November 1, 2007

The following papers are selected from the Madison Metropolitan School District Classroom Action Research page. The CIMC plans to provide electronic access to all these PDFs in MadCat. Many titles authored by Madison area teachers have been posted here from 1990/91 through 2005/06 and the page continues to be updated.

"The importance of teaching questioning" (2002, Gail Borchers, Lake View School)

"What experiences will help my students think about mathematical properties in a generalized manner?" (2001, Mary Bostrom, John Muir Elementary School)

"Improving collaboration between special education and regular education staff" (2001, Beth Budzisz and Colette Donahoe, Shorewood Hills Elementary School)

"The interactive reading guide : an investigation of a strategy to support struggling readers in learning history" (1999, Doug Buehl, Madison East High School)

"Who team teaches, really? : building successful high school team teaching" (2002, Christine Thompson and Wendy Callaway, East High School)

Other New E-reources in MadCat

Leaders and laggards: a state-by-state report card on educational effectiveness

Arts Education Partnership

Monthly reading activities: a year of reading with NEA

Posted by Vince Jenkins on November 1, 2007

101 Great Classroom Games: Easy Ways to Get Your Students Playing, Laughing, and Learning, by Alexis Ludewig and Amy Swan.
McGraw-Hill, 2007
Prof LB1029.G3 L83 2007

50 Literacy Strategies for Beginning Teachers, 1-8, by Terry Norton and Betty Lou Jackson Land.
Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, copyright 2008
LTy LB1576.N845 2008

100+ Ideas for Teaching Mathematics, by Mike Ollerton.
Continuum, 2007
Prof QA11.2 O45 2007

101 Ways to Help Preschoolers Excel in Reading, Writing, and Speaking, by Catherine DePino.
Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2007
LTy LB1140.5 L3 D46 2007

The Ten Students You'll Meet in Your Classroom, by Vickie Gill.
Corwin Press, 2007
Prof LB3013.G53 2007

The "In's"

Teachers in the Movies: A Filmography of Depictions of Grade School, Preschool and Day Care Educators, 1890s to the Present, by Ann C. Paietta.
McFarland, 2007.
Prof PN1995.9 T4 P35 2007

Women in Science: A Social and Cultural History, by Ruth Watts.
Routledge, 2007
Prof Q130.W385 2007

Boys in Children's Literature and Popular Culture: Masculinity, Abjection, and the Fictional Child, by Annette Wannamaker.
Routledge, copyright 2008
Prof PS374.C454 W36 2008

Feds in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education, by Neal P. McCluskey.
Rowman & Littlefield, 2007
Prof LC89.M333 2007

Posted by Vince Jenkins on November 1, 2007