Math Teacher Link was initiated at the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois, and is now being developed as a partnership project of the University of Illinois, Illinois State University, and Eastern Illinois University. Experienced classroom teachers facilitate these learning communities. The program includes a series of video lessons that allow teachers to make virtual visits to classrooms where teachers and students are engaged in standards-based instruction. Lesson guides provide ideas for online discussions that promote active student learning. Teachers log in to share experiences, find and contribute educational resources, hold meetings, conduct collaborative inquiries, and meet new colleagues.
Membership is free to educators.
This electronic community is designed to resemble a real-world conference center. Teachers enter rooms in a virtual building to access information and communicate with others who are logged on at the same time. On the first floor, users find the Reception Area, Auditorium, Main Hall, and Library. Additional floors contain office space available to individual members and small groups giving users a private place to meet with colleagues and store documents. The activities are accomplished with the aid of tools such as electronic whiteboards, notes that enable the user to create, edit, or link to web sites, and WebViewers for browsing web sites together.