Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the ABPC 21st Century Learning Project

What is the 21st Century Learning Project?

The Alabama Best Practices Center has designed a two-year professional development program that engages educators from participating schools in powerful conversations about 21st Century Learning. Last year, with support from Microsoft, ABPC recruited small teams from 20 forward thinking schools across the state and established a virtual learning community built around an online curriculum called, “Keeping Up with the Net Generation." Feedback from our first group of schools was very positive.

Twenty more schools have been selected to begin their participation in 2006-07 and will experience the "Keeping Up with the Net Generation" curriculum during the school year. For the schools that began our program in 2005-06, we are offering additional professional development opportunities through an Advanced curriculum strand.

The project is supported by 10 Alabama educators who have been selected and trained to be ABPC's “21st Century Teacher Fellows.” The project's leadership includes staff from the Alabama Best Practices Center and two consultants who are experts in 21st Century Learning and virtual professional communities.

During Spring 2006, our first 20 school teams participated in four two-hour online workshops. During these live sessions, which took place in a web-based classroom-like environment called Elluminate Live (www.elluminate.com), groups of four teams at a time were exposed to the concepts of 21st Century learning.

In the live workshops and in follow-up asynchronous activities in the Tapped In online learning community (www.tappedin.org), the teams also learned about web-based technologies that trailblazing teachers are using in their classrooms, considered how these web tools can help students develop 21st Century skills, and began experimenting and sharing with other team members and online colleagues.

What will be different in Year Two?

Drawing on our experiences during the first year of our Microsoft Partners in Learning grant—including survey feedback from participants—we've tweaked the design of our program to maximize the experience for our participating schools.

During the 2006-07 school year, our “Keeping Up with the Net Generation” curriculum is being offered during first semester, when the scheduling is less likely to conflict with state testing and end-of-year school activities.

Our professional development experience begins with a day-long "21st Century OctoberFest." This face-to-face conference features a combination of keynote presentations, small group discussions, and hands-on activities for members of our school teams. Teachers from our 2005-06 schools are on hand to help accelerate the learning of educators on our new 2006-07 teams.

Following the October conference, our new teams attend three live online workshops and also take part in activities at Tapped In, where participants can access resources and participate in message-board discussions at times convenient to them. Our returning teachers from 2005-06 also engage in an Advanced curriculum strand and collaborate on developing web-based projects to improve student achievement.

Year Two of the project will culminate in an Alabama 21st Century Fair, to be held in Spring 2007 and attended by a cross-section of school team members and state leaders interested in advancing the 21st Century skills agenda across our state.

What criteria were used to select 21st Century schools?

ABPC looked for schools that demonstrate some ongoing commitment to 21st Century teaching and learning. Our goal was to involve a diverse group of schools in different settings and at various grade levels.

The school leadership must fully commit to the project and must agree to expect and support participation by all school team members in all of the project's professional development activities. The school leadership must also agree to serve as a liaison with district IT decision-makers, as needed, to assure that the Internet access necessary for participants to take part in our virtual curriculum can be secured.

Selected schools must also commit to provide each team member with an adequate computer, microphone and headphones, and with high-speed Internet access.

Before final selections were made, administrators from applicant schools were asked to participate in a live, 90-minute Elluminate session where they were able to ask questions and discuss the program in more detail.

How are school teams selected for the program?

Participating schools agree to select a faculty team of no more than five educators, including a team leader. Team members must be able to commit to attending (1) the face-to-face conference in Birmingham, and (2) three live, online curriculum sessions during October-December 2006, which are scheduled after school [3:45-5:45 p.m. CT]. They must also agree (3) to actively participate in the Tapped In online community established to support this work.

We recommend that individuals chosen as team members have solid computer and Internet skills. Our program is not aimed at the entry-level computer/technology user but at educators who have sufficient experience and expertise to capitalize on the latest web technologies we introduce. We anticipate that team members will be able to use the knowledge and skills they gain in this program to enrich their classroom instruction and support other teachers in the school to explore the possibilities of 21st Century teaching.

Team members can include classroom teachers, media specialists, technology specialists, content area coaches, or principals and other administrators. The majority of the team, however, must be made up of classroom teachers. (Research shows that having an administrator as a member of school-based technology teams encourages the development and implementation of a technology-rich school improvement plan.)

What are the characteristics of a good 21st century team member?

Characteristics of a good team member include: basic technical aptitude, a willingness to learn new things, adaptability, interest in using new technologies in instruction, a student-centered philosophy of education, teacher leadership, enthusiasm for teacher collaboration, knowledge of subject matter and teaching methodologies in their discipline, and an interest in project- and problem-based learning.

Why is every team member required to have an up-to-date computer, a microphone, and headphones to participate in the live online workshops?

We have learned several things from our first-year experience:

(1) Team members are most likely to be active participants if they are sitting alone at a computer, hands on the keyboard and mouse, with a perfect view of the screen.

(2) Out-of-date computers with inadequate speed/memory and/or old software prevent team members from fully participating in the live online workshops.

(3) A microphone is necessary to participate in the voice features of Elluminate. A mic of reasonable quality can be obtained at Radio Shack, Best Buy and similar stores for $10-15.

(4) Relying on headphones, rather than built-in or external computer speakers, assures that sound from the speakers does not reach the microphone and cause echoes or reverberation. Some participants opt for “earbuds” in lieu of headphones that fit completely over the head. Some use a headset that combines the microphone and headphones.

Do you allow substitutions of team members in the event someone can’t attend a live online workshop?

Our curriculum relies on a building-block approach, so it is important to have the same team members participate throughout the professional development experience. Team members should be selected who expect to be generally available for 3 two-hour sessions after school during first semester.

We understand that unforeseen circumstances may force someone to miss a session. Our sessions are recorded and archived, however, and our general expectation is that anyone who misses a session will find time to view the archive prior to the next curriculum event.

Why do you limit the number of team members to five?

School teams will participate in our live sessions in groups of 4-5 teams. We want everyone to be able to fully engage in the Elluminate discussions. The five team-member limit per school ensures that each session is of manageable size within our online Elluminate environment.

Our sessions do not follow the familiar online college-course model; instead, we rely on a mix of presentation and collaborative discussion, with many visual elements and live feeds from the Web. Active involvement is essential.

What if we want others to take advantage of the training?

We are able to provide a sixth “log in” for any interested participating school—under certain conditions. This log-in makes it possible for other school faculty to listen in and observe the live curriculum sessions (typically by using an LCD projector and sound system). We do ask that this observation take place in a room separate from the room or rooms where actual team members are participating. This will prevent distractions and possible audio feedback problems. The observation group would not actually participate in the discussion, but would be able to see and hear everything that goes on.

We will also make the recorded archives of our live curriculum sessions available for viewing by any faculty member in participating schools.

Finally, we’re pleased to open our Tapped In virtual community to any faculty member in a participating school. These faculty members will have full Tapped In participation rights, including access to resources and the opportunity to read and post in our threaded asynchronous discussions.

What do you mean by "asynchronous"?

"Asynchronous," in this instance, indicates that the activities do not require everyone to be at the same place at the same time. Participants in Tapped In can choose a time and place (e.g., at school or at home, in the morning or evening) to participate that's convenient or best fits their schedule.

What is the role of the team member?

The team member will attend all face-to-face and virtual meetings. They will participate in the online discussions during our live Elluminate workshops, and they will actively participate in asynchronous discussions in Tapped In.

Participants will also collaborate within their school-based teams to accomplish the goals of the ABPC 21st Century Learning Program, including participation in a virtual 21st Century Learning Fair that will highlight the school team’s web-creations and virtual artifacts. These products will provide evidence of learning from the program.

Advanced team members may also cross-collaborate with other school-based teams to create action-research and other inter-school projects that not only utilize the Web 2.0 tools but improve learning for 21st century students.

What is the role of the team leader?

Participating schools are required to designate one member of their 21st Century School team as the team leader. In addition to regular participation as a team member, the team leader will serve as a facilitator and “encourager” during the professional development experience.

The team leader will be the day-to-day liaison between your school and the Alabama Best Practices Center staff, assuring good communication between ABPC, the school, and other team members. The team leader may also be called upon to work with district technology staff to assure reasonable access to the Internet for teaching and learning activities.

An effective team leader will have good technology skills, a good understanding of the World Wide Web, and be motivated to enhance the team’s ability to work together in a collaborative way—both online and in the school environment. The team leader should be proficient enough to help develop the team's knowledge of the virtual tools they will be using. There will be an online training session for team leaders.

What is the role of the 21st Century Fellows?

Our school teams are supported by 10 educators from schools across Alabama whom we have designated “21st Century Teacher Fellows.” These outstanding educators serve as facilitators of our online professional development activities and will also work with educators and the public “face to face” at selected meetings and schools. They will also lead the team leader training sessions. Our group of Fellows was selected at the beginning of the 2005-06 school year. The group represents elementary, middle and high schools and includes eight classroom teachers, a district technology coach, and an assistant principal.

What will the curriculum include?

Our curriculum sessions for Beginning schools includes:

Session #1: Introduction to 21st Century Learning: The Digital Natives Are Restless – What is 21st Century learning? Why is it important? This session introduces teams to the research about why using 21st Century tools and learning strategies is critical to student learning in a digital age. During 2006-07, this content is offered in a face-to-face workshop in early October.

Session #2: Cool Web Tools for Teaching & Learning – This session moves team members from talking about 21st century learning to examining some specific tools and gadgets available on the Web. It focuses on a variety of web-based tools and how teachers are using them to engage students, improve practice, increase learning, and save time. This session is offered in the Elluminate environment, with supporting activities in Tapped In.

Session #3: OK, We're Cool. Now What? – Session #3 takes a closer look at how the tools and gadgets introduced in Session #2 can support project-based and inquiry-driven approaches to learning—and help students acquire the 21st Century skills identified by national education/business partnerships as vital to their future success. This session is offered in the Elluminate environment, with supporting activities in Tapped In.

Session #4: 21st Century Learning Fair – School teams have an opportunity to showcase, reflect, and celebrate the success and outcomes of their learning. The "Fair" takes place in the Elluminate environment.

What's included in the Advanced Curriculum Strand?

Schools that began our program in 2005-06 take part in an Advanced strand during 2006-07. They participate in several live Elluminate sessions and attend a statewide conference in Spring 2007, where some teams and individuals will present 21st Century projects to an audience of state leaders.

In the Advanced Strand, school teams and individual participants organize themselves into Special Interest Groups (SIGs), based on their learning priorities. Much of the curriculum focuses on knowledge development, with special speakers, sharing, and brainstorming. The curriculum is learner centered and emphasizes collaboration. School teams cross-teach what they are learning and lead discussions in Tapped In.

What is the difference between Elluminate and Tapped In

Elluminate Live! is a real-time virtual classroom environment designed for distance collaboration. We use it to meet for 2-hour curriculum sessions where we explore concepts around 21st Century teaching and learning. Each participant logs on from their own computer using a link that is emailed to the participant in the form of an invitation. Using a microphone and earphones, participants can comment and ask questions while viewing PowerPoints, video clips, and other instructional materials around the topic being discussed. Elluminate also includes a direct-messaging component that allows participants to ask questions and make comments while others are speaking.

Tapped In is a collaborative online professional learning community comprised of over 20,000 educators world-wide. Our 21 st Century schools participate in a Tapped In room created for our work. Tapped In offers asynchronous discussion boards and areas where participants can download files and access collections of weblinks.

Building a collaborative community online in Tapped In is an important part of this learning framework. Our goal is to help participants explore and develop ideas in Tapped In and then try them out in their own classrooms. Active involvement in Tapped In is an expectation of the school teams participating in the program, and training and support is provided to make this possible.

You used the expression "Web 2.0." What does that mean?

Web 2.0 and "the Read/Write Web" are expressions used to describe the evolution of the World Wide Web from a medium used primarily to find or post information, to a medium where those with shared interests can communicate, collaborate, and form temporary or long-term social networks. In school settings the "shared interests" may be class or school projects carried out by a "social network" of students. Web tools like blogs, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking software, etc. support Web 2.0 activities

How important are district Internet policies and operations to this work?

Very important.

Effective participation in our “Keeping Up with the Net Generation” curriculum depends upon a school team's ability to access the Elluminate and Tapped In web platforms, to receive mail from our email listserv, and to visit and experiment with a variety of websites that offer tools that can be adapted for classroom use.

We work to support an ongoing conversation among educators and school technology leaders across the state about the important need to balance Internet safety and Internet access for legitimate educational purposes. We have, for example, invited IT leaders from our participating districts to take part in discussions around these issues. And we frequently share useful information about effective policies among district administrators, principals, and IT leaders.

What do I do if I have more questions?

Please contact the Alabama Best Practices Center. Send and email to 21st Century project coordinator Cathy Gassenheimer at cathy@aplusala.org. Or call (334) 279-1886.