This summer marks the completion of a four-year partnership between McREL and PBS TeacherLine. Since its first proposal was accepted by PBS TeacherLine in 2001, McREL has developed nine online courses. Working under a Department of Education grant, PBS TeacherLine is a provider of Web-based professional development courses, and serves as a host site for resources and communities of PreK–12 teachers. The first three mathematics courses were completed in 2003, followed by three Teaching Reading courses in 2004. This year, three new Teaching Writing courses are being added to the online course catalog: Teaching Writing in the Content Areas, Teaching Writing in Mathematics, and Teaching Writing in Science.
The Teaching Reading and Teaching Writing online courses provide a foundation of the effective teaching strategies associated with each area. Or, teachers might choose to use them together with our Teaching Reading and with our newly published Teaching Writing in the Content Areas publications. The online courses “take the books beyond the page to help learners see how the strategies are applied,” said project manager Jacinta Behne.
Each online course contains video clips showing real-time applications of the strategies. In addition, each course contains interactive elements that help to engage learners in the strategies and provide opportunities to practice what they have learned. Developing the interactive Web elements was more difficult than it might seem, according to Jacinta. “We had to decide, for example, what an online interactive Web element might look like for high school-level science or mathematics writing, and then find a way to create that interactive element.”
Work on the Teaching Writing courses began last August and was completed this month when the final courses were delivered to PBS for Web editing and course scheduling. Based on their experience with the previous courses delivered by McREL, PBS TeacherLine expects these courses to reach their maximum enrollment soon after they are released. True to the distance learning working model with PBS, a distance learning luncheon was hosted by PBS from New York and Alexandria, Va., to our McREL Symmathium conference room on Thursday, June 23. Team members heard Tim Taylor, PBS TeacherLine director of operations, voice appreciation for the academically robust online course content that McREL has produced. The future of PBS TeacherLine remains uncertain, as they await word from the Department of Education on continued funding.
Teaching Writing in the Content Areas was written by Vicki Urquhart and
Monette McIver, Teaching Writing in Mathematics was written by Deb Aruca
and Susan Adams, and Teaching Writing in Science was written by Deb Aruca
and John Ristvey. Judy Counley filmed, edited, and optimized the video
clips for Web viewing. Brian Lancaster and Paul Hoza of Massively Multiplayer
Online Gaming (MassMOG) developed the interactive elements for the courses.