SUMMER 2007
New Staff and Changing Staff Roles
Making sense of changes underway within the Professional Development System
Surge Support Child Care Project Update
Sharing the Wisdom of Many Voices Conference
ETL Trainers
PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES::
Contact: Gail Mahr
651-290-9704 ext. 200
Not by Chance:
Contact: Gail Mahr
651-290-9704 ext. 200
Ounce Scale MN Child Care Project
Contact: Mary Scott
651-433-2182
Sharing the Wisdom of
Many Voices Conference
Contact: Julie Wasiluk
651-290-9704 ext. 119
Contact: Cory Woosley
651-746-4024
ETL Trainers
Thank you for attending the Instructor Professional Development Day we had a wonderful turnout between the face to face and online options!
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Welcome to those that have completed their mentorship!
Barb Wagner
Dianne Small
Kelly Painter
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Congratulations to those that taught their first class!
Katy Chase
Bev Herr
Karen Fogolin
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Welcome back after a break and a new job
Dawn Van Hees
Course Options:
Eager to Learn has been very successful with the current course format. We used the five week format after doing research into what constitutes quality online learning. As the program continues to evolve we are finding that we can meet even more learning needs by examining additional course options. As we expand on the options we will look at the courses in levels of Foundational/Awareness, Knowledge/Understanding, Application of Knowledge and Skill Development. The Eager to Learn Advisory will meet in June and discuss each of these levels and what will entail an applicable course. Within each of these we will examine learning objectives, readings, message board and chat room, assignments and assessment tools.
Our plan is to keep in the forefront of our work quality online learning, the changes we make are to meet the demands and needs of our students. However, shorter courses do not mean less quality they just provide a different function for students. A recent article* referred to the benefits of successful online learning as:
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Increased access to meet individual learning goals
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Use of rich multimedia and new technologies
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Ability to meet special needs
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Direst impact ob practice
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New opportunities for follow-up
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Collaborative learning opportunities
Looking at these and maintaining the current philosophy that we have regarding online learning, we should be able to extend the course offerings to link all Eager-to-Learn course offerings to quality learning.
As instructors, you will want to consider your current courses, think about how they can fit into the new course option structure. Do you have a course that could be an awareness course? Perhaps you have received feedback that your students just want essential concepts. On the flip side do you feel like your course needs more time to cover the concepts, are you wanting to take your students to a deeper level?
When thinking about changes to your material, explore ideas for content based on the discussions that we had at our instructor day. Consider the new activities and the new technologies that were introduced to enhance all of your courses.
We will be working on this project over the summer, as we proceed we will welcome your thoughts and ideas. It is important to us that those of you delivering the courses provide input on the process. To meet the needs diverse learning needs of all of our students courses at a variety of learning levels are needed. Eager to Learn is excited to bring these options to our students and to see us grow even more!!
*Treacy, B., Kleiman, G., & Peterson, K. (2002, September). Successful online professional development. Learning & Leading with Technology,
Inside ETL:
"Happiness comes when your work and words
are of benefit to yourself” ~ Buddha
Eager to Learn believes in utilizing research based best practices for delivering online education courses. As we travel throughout the state and the country this is the message that we prepare to send. Selling the convenience of online learning is easy, but at ETL we strive to do more than that. We believe that there are effective practices for online learning and they should be applied.
To bring you the most up to date information the Eager to Learn staff participates in state, national and international venues about online learning. Recently we attended a week long online discussion on Effective Practices for Teaching and Learning Online, moderated by Chip Donohue. Aside from general resource sharing, some of the highlights of this discussion were about the “generations” of learners and how we adapt to their unique needs, the benefits and challenges of new tech toys, and evaluating if online learning really works. To read more about this visit: http://cecl.nl.edu/discuss/archives.html
We have also been highlighted at the World Forum again, after the forum ends we will be able to review the findings at the e-teaching seminar and examine how online learning is working all over the world. To read more about the work at the forum visit: http://www.ecelearn.com/index.php?page=301
You can view all of the World Forum participants and program features at www.ecelern.com
In June we will be presenting with a panel at the Professional Development Institute in Pittsburgh. Our presentation will focus on intentional approaches, innovative models and effective practices. While we are thrilled to be included in all of these forums and regarded as a noteworthy example of online education, we also utilize these experiences to build Eager to Learn.
Our intent of participating in ongoing training and development is to bring this information back to our team. This happens via the formal instructor training days, chat and message board discussions, email updates and response to your questions and feedback. Aside from what we bring to you we want to open this to a reciprocal arrangement. When you come across items of interest please pass them on to us!!