Abstract:

LInC (http://www-ed.fnal.gov/lincon/) is an intensive full-online,
partial-online or face-to-face staff development program for K-12 educators
who are already connected to the Internet and want ideas and support for
integrating it effectively into their existing curriculum. The program
challenges teams of teachers, technology coordinators, staff developers and
library staff to combine engaged learning with effective use of technology to
develop powerful learning projects for and with their students. In addition, the
participants, as school/district leadership teams, create a staff development
plan for their school or district. 

Teams may also attend a facilitators' academy to learn how to team-teach a
course. Our goal is to create a national cadre of educational leaders from
urban, rural, and suburban districts who effectively use technology to support
engaged learning. The course assists participants to: 

- restructure curriculum and create lessons that incorporate engaged learning
and networking technologies. 

- gain knowledge and technical skills for educational use of networking
technology. 

- provide inservice and leadership for others. 

LInC participants reported: 

- engaged learning instruction positively affected teachers' classroom
practices. 

- greatly increased technical knowledge and skills. 

- providing technical assistance to teachers and others. 

After participating in LInC, many participants were involved in leadership
behaviors such as 

- conducting inservices and workshops. 

- writing grants. 

- participating on a technology committee. 

- participating in efforts to improve teaching and learning in their school or
district. 

Evaluation of the online course concluded that classroom projects were of
similar quality to those produced in the face-to-face course. 

A. We developed LInC in response to a 1994 needs
assessment with area school districts. Among the needs
identified were:

- assistance in the transition to a new teaching/learning
  paradigm.

- training in computers and networking skills.

- development of in-district capabilities and leadership in
  effectively integrating emerging technologies as a
  means of improving instruction and curricula.

Research, such as the publications below, identified
similar challenges and needs:

- Teachers and Technology: Making the Connection
OTA-EHR-616, U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (1995)

- Plugging In: choosing and using educational technology
Jones, Valdez, Nowakowski, Rasmussen (1995)

- Using Technology to Support Education Reform
U.S. Department of Education (1993) 

In addition, needs assessment attendees requested:

- online resources and distance learning opportunities.

We believe that the skills and strategies students need
to be successful are effectively taught through
technology-supported engaged learning projects.
Structured so that students are responsible for
their own learning, the projects are collaborative,
student-driven and technology-dependent.
The LInC course prepares participants to develop
these types of projects for and with their students.

When skillfully applied, technology enhances learning
in new, powerful ways that would not be feasible without
the technology. Students can use technology to
communicate and collaborate with students and experts
in other places, find the most recent information,
and publish their work to a world-wide audience.
This can facilitate student-directed work on
real-world projects with authentic tasks which
research has shown to improve student learning.

B. The goal of LInC is to create a cadre of educational
leaders who effectively use technology to support
engaged learning. This includes developing leadership
teams who can:

- recognize, design, and implement engaged learning
experiences for and with their students based on
local, state, and national standards.

- effectively integrate technology in these experiences
to allow students to communicate, collaborate, explore,
research and publish in ways that would not be feasible
without the technology.

- skillfully and comfortably use a broad range of
Internet tools as needed to support these experiences
and to collaborate and reflect on each other's work.

- provide professional development and act as change agents
in their school or district to disseminate what they
have learned.

C. As a product for the course, LInC participants have
the authentic task of creating a curriculum unit on the
web for use with their own students that incorporates
engaged learning and effective use of technology. They
also create a staff development action plan on the
Web and collaborate and reflect on each other's work
throughout the course.

All technology used in the course is used as needed
to accomplish these tasks. Technical skills are not
taught out of context as an end in themselves.

Technology was chosen carefully so that as many
educators as possible would be able to participate
with the equipment they already had. We did not require
videoconferencing for this reason. We chose
only functionality that allowed both Mac and PC
users to participate fully. Specific requirements
are listed at
http://www-ed.fnal.gov/lincon/w99/announce.shtml#hw

The following technology is used:

- e-mail and listservs for communication with other
participants, facilitators, and experts

- asynchronous discussion software: "Conferencing on
the Web" (COW) for reflection and asynchronous sharing

- conferencing software: IRC chat for weekly two-hour
class discussions about topics such as engaged learning,
best use of technology, project development, technical
skills, sharing and feedback on work in progress, and
break-out groups as requested by participants

- Web browser for accessing course materials

- search engines and directories for finding project-
related resources

- Web page editor for creating project Web pages

- file transfer software for downloading software
and uploading (publishing) Web pages

- online forms for rubrics and evaluation surveys

- Shockwave for tutorial animations of technical
skills

For the full-online course, there are no face-to-face
meetings, but the tools above allow for substantial
interaction online.

D. The U.S. Department of Energy sponsored a pilot
face-to-face LInC course with a team of eight local
master teachers in the 1994/95 school year. Then under an
Illinois Scientific Literacy grant, we conducted five
face-to-face LInC courses for 72 participants from 17
local school districts in 1995 through 1996. Following
that grant, the U.S. Department of Education (through
NCRTEC) supported scaling up the program. So far 120 participants
from 18 states have taken LInC Online in 1997 through 1999.
Offering the course in an online format has enabled us to
serve a more diverse group of educators including
more teams from urban and rural districts.

To date, about 200 educators nationally have participated
in the LInC program. The participants have included
classroom teachers from all K-12 grade levels and a wide
range of subjects, staff developers, curriculum
coordinators, library media specialists, counselors,
technology coordinators, and administrators. The
participants have been:

- 7% African American.

- 3% Hispanic.

- 1% Asian.

- 89% Caucasian.

- 26% Male.

- 74% Female.

The students served by these participants have been:

- 20% at or below poverty level.

- 21% low income.

- 35% middle income.

- 18% upper-middle income.

- 6% high income.

- 28% urban (14% face-to-face, 39% online).

- 21% rural (1% face-to-face, 35% online).

- 51% suburban (85% face-to-face, 27% online).

E. Content/learning goals are to enable partipants to:

Create an engaged learning project that effectively uses
technology including the Internet.

Apply engaged learning indicators in project design by:

- identifying, with student input, an authentic,
challenging, multidisciplinary project based on local,
state, and/or national standards.

- designing performance-based, generative, equitable, and
ongoing assessments linked to the project's goal and 
objectives.

- implementing the role of teacher as facilitator, guide,
co-learner and co-investigator.

- creating learning situations where students become
explorers, cognitive apprentices, teachers and producers
individually and in diverse groupings. 

Apply best use of technology indicators in project design
by:

- incorporating technology as a critical component; project
depends upon the Internet.

- providing two-way communication with mentors, experts, or
other students. 

- accessing current data. 

- providing students' access to a wider audience. 

Identify engaged learning indicators by:

- evaluating the projects of peers. 

- evaluating their own work. 

- using rubrics to self-assess, reflect upon and refine
practice. 

Effectively use online communication to collaborate on
project creation and to share and reflect on engaged
learning.

Use technology to support development and
implementation of engaged learning projects by:

- increasing proficiency in finding and evaluating
relevant Internet resources. 

- demonstrating responsible use of the Internet.

- writing Web pages using a Web editor.

- incorporating and creating graphics.

- understanding how to transfer files, both uploading
and downloading. 

Create a staff development action plan for transferring
the engaged learning practices, curriculum integration
practices, and technical skills learned during the course.

F and G. These are discussed together because LInC is
a professional development program.

LInC's design is based on:

- National Staff Development Council's Standards for
Staff Development (for example, middle level goals for
context: 1; process: 2,5-10; content: 2,4-6,8,11).

- Facilitating Systemic Change in Science and Mathematics
Education: A Toolkit for Professional Developers, Regional
Education Laboratories (1995).

- Learning Networks, Linda Harasim et al. (1995).

- various publications by Jamieson McKenzie, Susan
Loucks-Horsley, ACOT and Judy Harris among others.

- experience we gained participating in the NCISE program
held for Department of Energy education managers to develop
expertise in staff development programs.

LInC goals were developed in collaboration with a team of
master teachers who piloted a "draft" course and played
a major role in adapting it and teaching the enhanced
course to their colleagues. During the program's five years,
15 educators from six schools districts have participated
as course instructors and on the program design team.

The LInC program includes the following components:

- an 80-hour course that can be taught face-to-face,
online or partially online 

- extensive Web-based instructional materials

- follow-up support as participants implement
projects and offer staff development

- a facilitators' academy for teams that wish to offer
a LInC or similar course

- extensive materials and support from instructor-mentors
for teams as they conduct their first courses

The LInC course is usually taught as a one-semester
(14-week) course for 4.5 graduate credits. The
facilitators' academy is taught as a three-day session
for 1.5 graduate credits.

The LInC course and facilitators' academy are designed
to model the new teaching/learning paradigm and effective
use of technology that we want educators to implement in
their classrooms. We respond to individual learning needs
of participants, facilitating their movement along the
continuum from more traditional to more contemporary
teaching strategies.

Participants use technology to communicate and collaborate
regularly with other participants and course facilitators
as they complete the authentic task of creating a
technology-supported engaged learning curriculum unit for
use with their own students and a staff development plan
for use in their district. 
Technology is used to research,
contact experts, collaborate, and publish Web pages.

After initial discussions about engaged learning and
effective use of technology, the remainder of the
course consists of:

- participant-requested break-out groups on topics
they need to make progress on their projects or staff
development plans as those topics are needed.

- participants' sharing their work and giving each other
feedback.

Course instructors assist as coaches and guides.
Weekly online "office hours" are also provided.

The course involves a great deal of student choice
and direction. Participants choose their project topic,
whether they will do a team or individual project, when
they want to learn technical or other skills, which project
components they will submit for feedback each week,
and what types of staff development they will offer.

Participants are regularly asked to question and
reflect upon their teaching, course concepts and how
they might apply these concepts in their teaching through
either paper/pencil evaluations, e-mail journal prompts,
an electronic discussion board, or online chats.

All LInC course materials are published online and
distributed in hard copy in the form of a 300-page
Participant's Guide
(http://www-ed.fnal.gov/lincon/intro_overview.shtml).

H. Staff requirements include a course coordinator who
administrates credit, a few hours per week LInC-specific
technical support/setup (possibly by the same person)
and one instructor for every 4-8 participants. 

The ongoing cost for the 4.5 graduate-hour LInC course
is $1,000 per participant. Costs are based on a
16-participant class size team-taught by four instructors.

The start-up cost for a leadership team of four is
$1,000 per member per semester for four semesters ($16,000).
This includes the course, follow-up, facilitator academy,
and mentoring for the new instructors.

Past grants have provided funding for the development of
course materials and methodologies. The funding listed
in section IV includes a small per-particant materials
fee for keeping materials updated.

The target population for the program is any team
of K-12 educators with the interest, equipment and
skill prerequisites at
http://www-ed.fnal.gov/lincon/w99/announce.shtml#hw

I. The key activities for course participants are to:

- create a curriculum unit on the Web (for use with their
own students) that incorporates engaged learning and
effective use of technology. Non-classroom educators
work on projects with a classroom teacher on their team
or work on creating a technology-supported engaged
learning project for adults if this is their audience.

- create one staff development "action plan" as a team for
their region to disseminate what they have learned in the
course about technology-supported engaged learning. 

Communication, collaboration, reflection and feedback
are also key learning activities.

LInC course topics include: engaged learning,
effective use of technology in education,
finding and evaluating Internet information,
Web authoring, graphics, project design,
and assessment and classroom management for
technology-supported engaged learning projects.

Staff Development topics include: best practice for
effective staff development, the "adult learner,"
discussions and reflections on staff development readings
and past personal experience with staff development,
staff development for technology use and engaged learning,
and writing a staff development plan.

In the facilitators' academy, participants work in small
groups to address questions of interest, share tips on
staff development, and complete materials needed to conduct
a LInC course (homepage, assignment sheet, chat schedules,
etc.). Activities include practice

- giving course participants feedback on project ideas.

- assessing projects.

- facilitating online.

- deciding course structure.

- setting up and using online tools.

Activities are described more fully on the course
assignment sheet, chat schedule, and syllabus
which can be reached from the Winter 1999 LInC
course home page at:
http://www-ed.fnal.gov/lincon/w99/index.shtml

J. Participants' assessment is ongoing, and uses authentic
products and multiple methodologies. Participants
are assessed based on their projects, homework assignments,
technical skills, staff development plans, class
participation and reflections. Participants'
projects are assessed based on their incorporation of
engaged learning and effective technology use indicators.
Rubrics are used for all major components and are available
at the bottom of
http://www-ed.fnal.gov/lincon/intro_products.shtml
The project rubric is the major tool that guides
project development.

According to outside evaluation, LInC is an "effective
model for Internet use, classroom instruction, and teacher
training."  To ensure that the content is rigorous and
appropriate, staff review and update the course materials
each year based on feedback and formative evaluations
completed by participants, emerging resources, and
extended reflection by the instructors.

Participant projects, pre-LInC unit descriptions,
and staff development plans are used to evaluate
the program. Participants also fill out pre- and
post-online forms for technical skills, classroom
strategies, and leadership behaviors. An outside
evaluator analyzes the information.

Please see criteria 5, Appendix A, and mailed
evaluation reports for more information on program
evaluation.

K. The keys to a successful program are:

- having classroom teachers on the design and
instructor teams from the start of the program.

- having knowledgable, dedicated and friendly instructors.

- including an embedded leadership component so
dissemination is not left to chance.

- "practicing what you preach" - modeling engaged
learning and effective use of technology in the course
itself so participants experience it first-hand.

- working servers and competent technical support.

- the 1:4 to 1:8 instructor-to-participant ratio.

- accurately describing the program content and
time committment.

- selecting participants who meet prerequisites,
are members of a team and have administrative support.

- minimal equipment requirements.

- online course can provide great diversity and allow
participants to work when they are most productive
while getting feedback several times per week instead
of the tradional once per week.

Keys to participant success in the program are:

- willingness to revise work and try an approach
that may be different than their usual approach.

- being an active student-directed learner by asking
questions, reflecting, requesting break-out groups,
using materials, and sharing expertise, ideas, and
feedback with colleagues.

- meeting course prerequisites and having administrative
support.

- scheduling regular weekly blocks of time to do course
work, keeping up with assignments.

- working with a team.

- asking students for their ideas.

See http://www-ed.fnal.gov/lincon/intro_tips.shtml
for "tips for success."

LInC's strengths are in enabling participants to learn
and apply technology-based engaged learning concepts to
their own teaching by creating a Web-based unit for use
with their students that incorporates these concepts.
Another strength of the program is the development of
teams of educators who provide leadership in their
districts in the forms of staff development, technology
committee participation, and grant writing.

L. Sal Tamayo is a 4th-6th grade ESL teacher from
West Chicago. To accomplish national standards
in U.S. History, Government, and Language Arts,
Sal's students are helping their relatives, friends,
and other foreign citizens study for the U.S.
Citizenship test.

Students responded to questions e-mailed to their
class from people in the U.S. and as far as Peru
and Russia. To do this, the students worked in teams
to research, design and publish a bilingual multimedia
study guide and resource center on the Web. Students also
learned and helped their parents learn the technical
skills needed to access the site. They were assessed
based on their portfolio of e-mail sent and received,
HyperStudio cards, translations, research, and self-
evaluations.

Before this project, Sal's class achieved the same
objectives (minus the technology-related objectives)
by reading in a textbook, listening to lecture,
doing review questions at the end of a chapter,
discussing ideas with each other during class,
creating a bulletin board display, and taking a test.

Sal says "Doing this project changed my teaching . . .
I have become much more concerned that we have
a real task to complete that gets the students
truly involved . . . the students had 90% input . . .
the students boost to self-esteem came from helping
their parents and relatives. Now that we get e-mail
about the site they feel proud helping people from
around the world with questions . . . The enthusiasm
of the students was surprising. The students saw how
important this site could be and really wanted to make
it a quality site to help adults. They liked the idea
they could help grown-ups . . . now I feel my students
know they can communicate with the world and won't go
back to just a bulletin board . . . the project may
expand this year because people have been sending
general questions about immigration and immigration
is another unit we study."

This project is the elementary project example in
mailed supplemental materials and on the Web at:
http://www-ed.fnal.gov/linc/fall96/projects/stamayo/present.html

Other examples include:

o How Do we Inherit Our Biological Characteristics? - Tenth grade biology
students investigate the problem of inherited human
disorders, as defined by the students, using a variety of tools: appropriate
technology to collect and analyze data; telecomunications to gather data and
for collaborative research with experts and other students; and multimedia
to report and present the process and results of their research.
During the project, each team is responsible for developing a plan for
conducting their research and for managing their plan. 

o 100% Recyclable - Seventh grade students will be challenged to develop 
a school-wide
recycling program. The challenge will be for everyone; students, teachers,
administrators and especially the cafeteria and lunch program to recycle
waste products. Students will form teams to investigate waste and waste
management. They will also contact other schools throughout the country
(via e-mail) and collect data on school recycling programs. Do they exist?
How are they managed? What percentage of waste has to be hauled away?
What are the costs for running such a program? The teams will be
encouraged to develop a Total School Recycle Program to either internally
handle waste, or to find resources that will productively utilize waste
products. This will involve investigating the means of disposing or recycling
all the waste generated from their school building.

o Wetlands - Fifth grade students gather information and write
an essay to persuade the park district not to sell a wetland area.
Students will be able to identify the characteristics of wetlands,
as well as the issues and problems surrounding them. The students
will spend much of their time researching using a variety of
sources including the Internet. The remainder of their time is spent
creating their final product.

o Seed Connection: Second grade students investigate the best conditions for
growing plants. Students create a problem statement, develop a study plan, test
their ideas and use construction technology and computer technology as tools
for research, planning, recording data and communicating. Students develop an
understanding of how math, science and technology are interrelated and can be
used to solve real-life problems. 

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