The preservice students strive to accurately and creatively respond to the students in ways that maintain the flavor of the language and setting of the books. The after-school program directors have found that the young students are motivated to read more extensively and more carefully in order to better communicate with the personified characters. Dr. Fernando Hernandez at California State University, Los Angeles, uses a software package designed to allow faculty to easily create Web-based classes to teach parts of his Psychological Foundations of Education course. Half of the course meetings are face to face, and the other half are done online. For each activity, supporting resources such as content standards, performance standards, and rubrics for student reference are provided.
Students post their responses to the videos in an electronic forum.
The online tests are intended to encourage students to read the text rather than to serve as graded exams. Thus, each student is given two attempts at the test, which they must take weekly. Tests are timed and made available only for about a week. Students post reports about professional development conferences to the conference forums. A reference section links students to important Web sites in psychology, learning, and teaching.