I. Project Identification
Signed by: Kathy L. Coufal, Ph. D. - Project Director
II. Project Summary
The Community Discovered , currently in its first year of operation, is a
five-year project that links technology and the visual and performing
arts with other subject areas to transform the education of K-12
students in Nebraska and nationwide. A special emphasis has been
placed on serving disadvantaged students in rural and urban areas .
The focus of this project is to develop curriculum models of engaged
student learning using technology and resources of the Information
SuperHighway. Five art museums are currently involved: The National
Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; The John F. Kennedy
Center for Performing Arts; The Joslyn Art Museum; The Museum of
Nebraska Art; and The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture
Garden.
This project is being conducted by Westside
Community Schools in Omaha, Nebraska. The Community Discovered will expand on the mission of Prairie Visions: The
Nebraska Consortium for Discipline-Based Art Education, at the
Nebraska Department of Education. Prairie Visions is a consortium of
nearly 100 Nebraska school districts, the Nebraska Department of
Education, the Nebraska university system, three Nebraska art
museums, and other arts and education agencies. Prairie Visions is
sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Education, the Getty Center
for Education in the Arts, and the Nebraska Art Teachers
Association.
The Community Discovered builds upon and extends the impact of the initial pilot
project, The Art and Technology Integration (ATI) Project, conducted
by Westside Community Schools and Grand Island Public Schools in
Nebraska. The ATI project received a two-year grant from the
Excellence in Education Council, funded by Nebraska state lottery
proceeds.
The Community Discovered project has five goals:
To facilitate realization of the goals and evaluation of the project, a three-tiered advisory board has been created and will be utilized throughout the project. The members of these boards are asked to interact with project staff for the purpose of guiding the evolution of the project and providing feedback regarding the outcomes. The members of the boards and the descriptions of the purposes are provided in appendix A. The three tiers are defined as the Board of Advisors (BOA), a group of nationally respected professionals with connections to the goals and activities of the project; the Community of Friends (COF), a group of parents and community representatives who share an interest in the goals of the project and are vested in the success of the project as stakeholders in our communities; and the Council of Administrative Partners (CAP), representing individuals from each of the participating districts and partner agencies involved in the actual conduct of the projects activities. Each participating district has developed its own Community of Friends board and will be represented in the larger COF through annual meetings of these boards. Further, an on-line board of students will be developed and utilized as a student advisory body. This group, called the Student Advisory Partners (SAP) will include students across the K-12 continuum and from all participating districts. They will provide direction and feedback to project participants and the evaluation team through a listserv and focus group meetings. In this way they will provide a flow of information throughout the growth and development of the project. Participating students from each district are being identified this fall for inclusion during the ë96-'97 school year. The co-chairs of the advisory boards are Senator J. Robert Kerrey and Dr. Elizabeth Broun, Director of the NMAA.
III. Project Status
Within its first year of operation, the project
"The Community Discovered: The Search for Meaning Through the
Integration of Art and Technology in K-12 Education" is making
consistent
progress in its training, classroom integration, and evaluation
activities. As described in the Project Summary section, the project
focuses on enhancing education by developing interdisciplinary
constructivist curriculum units that deliver the arts and art
resources to the classrooms of Nebraska and the world via use of the
Internet. The project is a multi-element education program that:
brings the arts and art museums into classrooms electronically;
develops computer integration strategies; trains and supports
teachers; builds curriculum, instruction, and assessment strategies;
and seeks to build a nationwide community for the arts and technology
integration. Ongoing activities have been combined with activities
related to the Art and Technology Integration Project. The ATI
project has provided an initial mechanism for many of The Community Discovered start-up activities, and has provided a valuable link to
earlier success. ATI
teachers have created, taught, and submitted curricular units based
on the goals of the grant during the 1995-96 school year which will
be revised and enhanced by The Community Discovered project. Throughout the past year, these
teachers received training in creating integrated curriculum, various
technology/Internet skills, and how to utilize the Arts in an
interdisciplinary unit. Many of the skills learned in these training
sessions have been passed on by ATI participants to new Community
Discovered participant teachers. ATI participants have also broken
ground by taking part in evaluation activities. They have provided
samples of students' projects to the evaluation team, made students
available for interview sessions with the evaluation team, and
permitted access by the evaluation team to classroom projects and
activities that met the goals of the grant. District site
coordinators have also played an important role in providing both
technical and curricular support to participants. They have also
worked to maintain the enthusiasm of the participants by providing
help to teachers and students both in and out of the
classroom.
The Evaluation process for The Community Discovered project is well underway, with evaluation related data
being collected and systematically reviewed for formative input into
specific project objectives and related project activities. The
evaluation design is carefully matched to project activities, and
provides a five year plan for both formative and summative review
(see appendix B). The evaluation is essentially that of an "impact
analysis". In evaluation studies, impact analysis can be defined as
"determining the extent to which one set of directed human activities
affected the state of some objects or phenomena, and . . .
determining why the effects were as large or small as they turned out
to be" (Mohr, 1992, p.1). In this examination of the effectiveness of
The Community Discovered
project, the evaluation design is
focused on analyzing data related to each of the five goals and
related project objectives. The evaluation determines the general
impact of the project on K-12 education in the participating schools,
and includes a careful examination of the learning environments for
both students and teachers. The evaluation also examines the
potential use of the project as a model for replication by other
educational institutions and organizations.
The evaluation process uses multiple sources of
information, and includes a comprehensive approach to data collection
that is targeting information related to each project goal and
objective. These data types include: 1) teacher survey data, 2)
electronic data, such as listserv participation and electronic logs,
3) classroom observations and videotaping, 4) teacher and student
interviews, 5) student projects and portfolios, 6) teacher growth
plans, 7) focus groups, 8)standardized test data, 9) attendance
records, 10) trends in disciplinary actions, 11) stakeholder surveys,
and 12) changes in school structure. All data is summarized and
placed within a World Wide Web page format that is available for
review by the project staff, participants, and interested
stakeholders. An evaluation team derived from the Office of Internet
Studies (OIS) in the College of Education at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is coordinating the evaluation process with
assistance from West Ed Laboratories, an additional source of
external review.
The evaluation process emphasizes the blend of
both quantitative and qualitative data analysis, with conclusions and
implications for each reporting period based on multiple sources of
data. Reports such as this one, are being produced for each reporting
period, with additional formative feedback provided to the project
between reporting intervals (i.e. summaries of teacher survey data),
and through dissemination using the evaluation-related World Wide Web
page. The status of each project objective (along with organizational
goals and related evaluation activities) is summarized in the
following narrative.
It is important to note that the goals and
objectives have evolved slightly from their original format as
written in the original application. While the content/intent of the
original goals and objectives remains unchanged, the organization and
numbering of these objectives has been altered slightly (as per
progress report of 2/96). Minor modifications in wording and
expansions of activities are noted in appendix C for consideration
and approval of the funding agent.
Goal 1: To enable students to achieve high
academic standards in art and other core subject areas.
Objective 1.1 80% of students in classes
using the modules will show evidence of improved academic achievement
as indicated by: a) decline in absenteeism, b) increased student
self-concept as indicated by student attitude surveys and focus
groups, c) students performing at higher levels as determined by each
school's assessment of student progress and electronic portfolios
where used.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
The Community Discovered project is well underway for this first year of
activities, and participating teachers have started to develop and
initiate appropriate planning and delivery of curricular units. Each
of the participating teachers are building on the training they
received over the previous summer, which provided extensive
experiences in technology and discipline based art. Professional
development activities emphasizing constructivism, interdisciplinary
planning and teaching, and integration strategies are in progress.
Teachers are also preparing to periodically assess student
performance following relevant lessons using a World Wide Web page
journal/log process which is accessible over the Internet. In
addition, participating teachers have also selected individual
students to examine more extensively for a student case study
process. Teachers are also initiating work on their curriculum
modules/units, using a standard format which will be refined over
time based on participant input. These modules will be made available
over the project web page. Each unit will be linked to the National
Goals for Education, the National Standards for all disciplines, the
State Frameworks for all disciplines, District Outcomes for the
participating districts, teacher-learner outcomes identified by the
participating teachers, student-learner outcomes identified by the
participating teachers as related to their specific curricula, and
the goals of The Community Discovered. Using a centralized database,
these unit plans will be accessed by searches on any of those links
or by search parameters linked to artists, arts form, or a particular
teacher.
Student development work has also been
initiated. Some students have developed electronic products such as
HyperStudio stacks or other lesson-based electronic products
utilizing a variety of educational technology tools such as
Clarisworks. These electronic student products and multimedia
projects will eventually be used to help establish project-related
electronic portfolios, which will be examined for evidence of student
achievement. Student attitude surveys are currently being developed
by the evaluation team, and school related attendance and
standardized achievement data will be gathered and analyzed at the
end of the academic school year. Student focus groups are being
planned for the end of the academic year, and an interview protocol
is being developed. Within the population being served, subgroups of
students who are at-risk for academic failure or who have been
verified for special education services are being identified for
targeted evaluation activities. Specific evaluation plans related to
subgroups within the population (e.g. students with hearing loss,
students with language-learning disabilities) are being developed.
Working with other faculty within the University of Nebraska system,
the Project Director and the Evaluation Team are guiding these
research strands and directing the work of graduate students from the
related disciplines to conduct this line of investigation.
Goal 2: To provide students and educators in
rural and disadvantaged urban areas with equal access to the nation's
information and art museum resources.
Activity I: The Electronic Art Museum in the Classroom
Objective 2.1 A minimum of 750 art images
will be available through the Internet along with curriculum and
contextual information for use by educators and students. Images will
come from the collections of the Smithsonian NMAA; the Getty Museum;
the Joslyn; the Sheldon, and MONA.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
Community Discovered teachers participated in a
week long summer workshop at The National Museum of American Art
(NMAA), Smithsonian Institution, to review available works, learn
methods of integrating these images into various curriculum areas,
and plan for their classroom use. In addition, discipline based art
training was conducted in a two week workshop at the Prairie Visions
Institute. Following the summer training, project teachers are now in
the process of planning the integration of visual images into
classroom activities. Teachers are also linked to museum personnel
and educators by use of a project facilitated listserv, which
facilitates ongoing communication between project participants, and
provides additional information for the formative evaluation process.
Constructivist pedagogy requires holistic thinking and integration of
all disciplines. To promote such efforts and empower teachers to
employ interdisciplinary constructivist planing and teaching it was
necessary to include all art forms and not only the visual arts.
Therefore, project activities have been expanded to include the
performing arts, and the project is benefiting from direct
collaboration with The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and
statewide arts agencies. The NMAA has taken a strong leadership role
in initiating museum-related activities in the project, and has been
working through many technical and copyright constraints related to
image scanning and publishing. An electronic request form has been
established for use by teachers to facilitate planning for retrieval
of arts resources. Additional partner museums are now on-line and are
working towards establishing Internet connectivity to make some of
their works available electronically to the project. The formative
evaluation process has included a focus group analysis, questions on
stakeholder and teacher surveys, and electronic monitoring of web
site and listserv use. Additional surveys and interviews will
systematically examine museum related activities during the second
semester of each academic year. Site coordinators are actively meeting with teachers
to assist them in brainstorming ideas for upcoming units while also
assisting them in locating and integrating appropriate art images
into these units. Site Coordinators are also offering technical
assistance to teachers in their search for images and in the
utilization of these images in the classroom with students. A major
thrust of the site coordinators is to help the participants create a
classroom atmosphere in which students are utilizing the art
resources and technology to create their own learning
experiences.
The Project Director is working
with members of the BOA, COF, CAP and other experts to determine the
most effective architecture for videoconferencing and distance
education. Consistent with the original objectives of the project and
with the expanded view of the arts, it is increasingly important for
classrooms to be linked to outside resources in a way that promotes
interaction on-line. With rapid changes in telecommunications and
technology application t is incumbent on the leaders involved with
The Community Discovered
to explore and make
available the resources necessary for such access and connectivity.
To this end, the Project Director is working closely with
representatives from cable TV, satellite systems (i.e.: NebSat),
telephone companies and telecomputing agencies to determine the
optimal integration of resources and to develop the consortium
resources needed to make videoconferencing and distance education
available to participating sites.
Objective 2.2 Museum educators at the Joslyn
Art Museum, the Sheldon and MONA will each develop at least one
educational outreach program using appropriate technologies such as
the Internet, kiosk, and interactive multi-media.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
Museum educators are working hard to establish
full Internet connectivity and to establish a local process to gain
approval for digitizing and sharing images related to their local
collections. The Joslyn Art Museum is in the process of establishing
Internet connectivity, and the Sheldon Art Gallery has already
started to digitize images. These educators are contributing to
ongoing communication over the project listserv in order to help
share lesson ideas and provide periodic suggestions to teachers.
Participants and site
coordinators are also contributing information to museum educators
regarding images and art resources which would be highly desirable to
digitize. Site coordinators are working with museum educators to
provide participants access to educational packets and information
regarding new exhibits and shows. Each
participating museum is also establishing a project related plan for
developing kiosk, multimedia, and Internet-based outreach programs.
The evaluation process related to this objective has focused on a
stakeholder survey that included museum partners. It also included
the sharing of museum related written information and brochures, and
the monitoring of listserv dialogue. Structured interviews and
additional on-site visits are planned for the upcoming year as the
activities at each site expand with electronic connectivity.
One example of the use of such connectivity is
the collaborative efforts currently in progress associated with the
upcoming exhibit of the works of William H. Johnson, to be located at
the Joslyn museum this spring. These works are from the holdings of
the NMAA and will be the centerpiece for a number of curricular units
being constructed by participating teachers. In conjunction with this
exhibit there are plans underway for students to work with docents
from both the local and national museums via e-mail and desktop
conferencing in pursuing their classroom work, to develop and conduct
student-docent tours of the exhibit both at the Joslyn and using
virtual tours for those students not able to visit the museum; for
collaboration between docents at both museums in helping teachers and
students utilize the educational packets prepared in conjunction with
the exhibit, and for integration of important performing arts works
available from the Kennedy Center and local artists.
Goal 3: To enable educators to effectively
use appropriate technologies for teaching and learning in art and
other core subject areas.
Activity II: Computer-Based Educational Strategies
Activity III: Professional Development and
Support for Educators
Objective 3.1 Through collaboration with
private companies, project educators will test and evaluate five
commercial technology tools (i.e. software packages) per year for
applicability to classroom settings and instructional objectives.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
Working closely with the Apple Computer
Corporation, the project has purchased curriculum based computer
software bundles for Community Discovered teachers. These bundles
included resources related to elementary, secondary, writing and
publishing, mathematics, multimedia, and biology (with probes). In
addition, participants in the ATI pilot project have reviewed
approximately 45 different software programs that were made available
for review on January 31, 1996. The NMAA is continuing to refine an
institutional CD-ROM which will include selected works and will be
distributed to interested teachers. An interactive video-conference
meeting was held on September 26, 1996, which overviewed suggested
uses of the computer bundles and revisited project goals and the
evaluation process. A
software evaluation tool is being developed by The Community Discovered
staff for teacher use
in evaluating this new software. The evaluation team has
monitored the distribution of computer bundles, the software review
process, and initial video-conferencing activities as part of the
formative evaluation process related to project-based teacher
training and support.
Objective 3.2 By 1996, each school site in
participating districts will have access to a technology resource
person available to assist teachers in evaluating and selecting
appropriate technologies.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
Nineteen Nebraska Educational Service Units
(ESU's) have been informed of The
Community Discovered project and have
offered their support and participation. As part of building this
technical support network, a database which includes names,
addresses, phone numbers, and electronic mail addresses of 30 support
personnel across the state has been distributed to teacher
participants. Each ESU related to the project sites is working with
the districts to ensure a direct connection of district buildings and
classrooms to the Internet. In addition, the Winnebago School
District (an Indian reservation) is receiving some networking support
directly from U.S. West. Site coordinators are also currently providing
technical assistance with hardware and software to teachers and their
students. The site coordinators are offering personal training
sessions on utilizing new software and hardware to participants.
These sessions are being held at individual schools with participants
who request the extra help. To enhance the
formative evaluation process related to technical support, the
evaluation team is working closely with the Educational Service Units
to blend state-wide evaluation tasks with those of The Community Discovered project. This includes the modification of a state
distributed survey to include questions regarding The Community Discovered project, and the modification of a structured interview
protocol already being used in debriefing technology resource persons
in the state.
Objective 3.3 By 2000, 300 Nebraska
educators, including 60 educators of rural and urban disadvantaged
students, will be trained on computer-based educational strategies
and integrated constructivist curriculum to effectively integrate art
and technology.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
The participants for year one of
The Community Discovered
project were selected from formal
applications and resulted in nine (9) teachers from Westside
Community Schools, ten (10) teachers from Grand Island Public
Schools, five (5) teachers from Lexington Public Schools and four (4)
teachers from Winnebago Public Schools. All applicants were notified
by early March of their status, and those selected began project
related professional development with an orientation meeting on April
19 that included introduction to on-line resources related to the
project, an overview of the project goals and objectives and an
introduction to the evaluation process. This was followed by a
full-day staff development experience on April 24 conducted by staff
from the NMAA, introducing participants to resources and on-line
search strategies for accessing these resources. Intensive training
activities began during the summer of 1996 at The Prairie Visions
Institute and at The National Museum of American Art. Including the
teachers already involved in the Art and Technology Integration pilot
project, a total of 45 teachers have now participated in training
activities directly associated with the integration of art,
technology, and constructivism to support curricular goals in
The Community Discovered
project. These teachers are also
working as mentors for numerous other teachers at their local sites
and districts. Teachers
within the project have identified partners with whom they will team
in constructing and teaching units throughout the year. Site
coordinators are maintaining communications with these participants
and their partners and assisting them in reviewing, analyzing, and
integrating the Arts into their units. Site coordinators have also
met with participants on an individual basis to assist in completing
personalized growth plans. These growth plans have been collected and
copies have been turned in to the evaluation team. Base line
videotapes have been made of new participants and these have been
submitted to the evaluation team for use in analyzing teacher
behaviors associated with the qualities of constructivist teachers.
Changes in teacher behaviors will be identified by comparing the
base-line videos to tapes of teachers t the end of the first year and
each subsequent year of the project.
The evaluation team has initiated a World Wide
Web based teacher log process, which asks teachers to answer prompted
assessment questions at the end of every curriculum integration
activity which is a direct result of The
Community Discovered project. Teachers
received training in this log process at a video-conference on
September 26th, 1996. A focus group protocol has also been developed
and refined with feedback from teachers involved in the ATI project.
A baseline teacher survey for The
Community Discovered project has been
analyzed and representatives of the evaluation team have visited (and
often videotaped) selected summer training activities, as well as
ongoing activities in the classroom. Teacher case study subjects will
eventually be selected upon further analysis of videotaped baseline
lessons submitted by teachers.
Objective 3.4 By 2000, 90% of project
participants will demonstrate an increase in skills and knowledge in:
a) use of computer-based educational strategies and resources, b)
constructivism, c) curricula integrating art and other core subjects,
d) use of electronic portfolios and other appropriate assessment
strategies.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
Teacher participants have received considerable
in-service education so far, including two orientation days in April,
ten days at the summer Prairie Visions Institute, five days at the
summer NMAA workshop, and one follow-up day in September 1996 via
video-conference. To date, the in-service education process has
focused on a baseline orientation to the goals of the project, the
theoretical foundation in constructivist educational philosophy,
discipline-based art training, and the technical skills necessary for
using the Internet and the World Wide Web. A tutorial videotape on
the creation and use of bookmarks has been developed and distributed
to each site as a follow-up to "hands-on" training. Additionally,
resources texts on constructivist teaching, use of technology-based
visual tools associated with the constructivist approach, museum
catalogs and other reference materials for professional development
have been purchased and distributed to each site. Abstracts of
related professionals resources are being prepared and made available
on the web site. These will be linked to particular teacher's
contributions and to other Internet resources as this
ëcyberlibrary' evolves. Site coordinators have also established
local support activities including local workshops for invited
colleagues, informal brainstorming meetings, and individual question
and answer sessions. The project in-service education process and
site support activities will continue throughout the academic year
and will focus on reinforcing classroom integration strategies.
The evaluation team has already surveyed the
participating teachers for baseline information related to each of
the areas of art, technology, constructivism, and teaching philosophy
as well as obtained a videotaped sample of their teaching. In
addition, surveys acquiring teacher feedback related to the summer
training activities have also been summarized and teachers continue
to share their ideas and suggestions spontaneously over the project
listserv. In addition, teachers from the pilot Art and Technology
Integration project continue to share their experiences and
suggestions over the listserv with current participants. The teachers
from this earlier pilot project have also been formally debriefed by
individual interview, and have participated in several focus groups
relative to providing constructive input and formative evaluation for
the current Community Discovered project. More complete summaries of
these activities will be included in the report submitted at the end
of this funding period.
Objective 3.5 90% of project participants
will successfully complete a minimum of 80% of the professional
development activities they choose in their Professional Growth
Plans.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
The Community Discovered project has established a Teacher Growth Plan form that
all teachers in the project have completed relative to their initial
personal goals for the project. This Growth Plan form includes
personal goal setting related to the areas of 1) tentative action
plans, 2) data collection, 3) artifacts, 4) timelines, and 5)
personal support needed. These growth plans are being reviewed by the
school administrators, project staff, and the evaluation team for the
purposes of formative evaluation and for providing individual
assistance to current participants in the project.
Objective 3.6 90% of project participants
will report positive attitudes towards the use of technology as an
educational tool.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
Participating teachers in The Community Discovered project have been surveyed for their baseline attitudes
and practices related to technology use. The attitudes of these
teachers were already quite positive before entering the project.
This high initial attitude was indicated by their responses to the
survey statement of "computers can play an important role in the
instruction of my discipline", where 71% strongly agreed with the
statement, and the remaining 29% indicated that they agreed with it.
The use of technology by these teachers previous to the project was
also quite high, with 58% saying that they frequently used computer
technology, 25% saying that they often used it, 13% that they
sometimes used it, and 4% saying that they rarely or never used
computer technology.
Teachers from the pilot Art and Technology
Integration project, reporting on past experiences similar to those
planned for The Community Discovered, also suggested that not only
their own but their student interest improved in the project with 43%
rating the interest of their students as "much improved", and 47%
identifying student interest as "improved". Evaluation work will
follow-up this initial survey process and will examine additional
teacher interviews, surveys, and focus groups to gather more specific
information related to both teacher and student attitudes.
Objective 3.7 An additional 200 Nebraska educators, alumni in the Prairie Vision Consortium, will participate in at least one project-sponsored workshop session per year.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
Teachers in The
Community Discovered project
participated in a two week summer workshop at The Prairie Visions
Institute and received training related to Discipline Based Art
Education. The Prairie Vision Consortium helps support the summer
institute and was initially established by the Nebraska Art Teachers
Association and the Nebraska Department of Education, with support
from the Getty Center for Education in the Arts. It includes over 90
public and private school districts in Nebraska. Related to the goals
of The Community Discovered
project, the consortium has also
developed a computer assisted process for keeping track of alumni and
has helped partners in The Community
Discovered project link with each other
in some of the initial project activities. Site coordinators are also keeping participants
informed of workshops available to them which would enhance their
skills and goals of the project.
The Community Discovered
supports Prairie Visions by serving on
the Advisory Council, employing an Art and Technology Coordinator and
a Computer Specialist to maintain the ARTnet web site, and by
providing fiscal support for planning, operation, faculty resources
and professional development activities.
Goal 4. To enable educators to implement
effective integrated curricula incorporating art and other core
subjects.
Activity IV: Integrated Curriculum,
Instruction, and Assessment Strategies
Objective 4.1 A minimum of 632
constructivist curriculum modules will be developed and implemented
incorporating one or more of the following a) Internet digitized
images and museum resources, b) other Internet resources, c)
multi-media projects, d) electronic portfolios, e) other computer
applications. (Goals 1-4)
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
Teachers in The
Community Discovered project are
beginning to plan their curriculum units and refine their lessons
based on classroom use. A standardized format has been developed
collaboratively in the project and will provide consistency in unit
organization and presentation. Unit plans for the school year will be completed by
the end of April of each year with summer writing time to be spent on
the revision and refining of these plans and the planning for
upcoming units.
These constructivist curriculum modules
will be stored on the project World Wide Web site for retrieval and
use by interested educators from around the world; linked to the
National Goals for Education, the National Standards for all
disciplines, the State Frameworks for all disciplines, District
Outcomes for the participating districts, teacher-learner outcomes
identified by the participating teachers, student-learner outcomes
identified by the participating teachers as related to their specific
curricula, and the goals of The Community Discovered. Using a
centralized relational database, this structure allows visitors to
the web site to search according to any of these goals, artists'
names, arts form, curricular area, grade level or theme.
Some example constructivist curriculum modules have already been developed and made available by the teachers in the initial pilot ATI project. These earlier units and lessons are now being used as models for the current Community Discovered project, as well as for formative review in the evaluation process. They are all multi-disciplinary in nature and include a wide variety of individual topics including:
Objective 4.2 90% of participating teachers
will effectively use one or more computer-based education strategies
in their classrooms. Strategies will include Internet resources,
electronic portfolios, Hypertext, multimedia, and others.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
Initial training, including summer workshops at
The Prairie Vision Institute and The NMAA, has been conducted for
participating teachers in The Community
Discovered project. Previous training
has included fundamental training in technology, art, and
constructivism topics, and future training will now focus on
supporting the overall integration goals of the project. Project
teachers have also received equipment and computer software bundles
related to the project and are beginning to plan and develop their
particular curriculum modules. The site coordinators are also
beginning to provide additional individual training and mentoring
activities at each site as necessary. Site coordinators are meeting with participants and
their partners to help develop and implement the unit plans. Through
use of the listserv, teachers are maintaining communications links
with not only other teachers in the project but also with the museum
contact people. Site coordinators are assisting to videotape
constructivist lessons and capture archival data from these
lessons.
The evaluation team has already surveyed the
teachers for baseline information on their backgrounds and teaching
philosophy and obtained a 10 minute videotaped sample of the teachers
involved in the teaching process. Site visits have also occurred with
some teachers, and teachers in the pilot ATI project have
participated in structured interviews and focus groups relative to
the formative evaluation process. A formal evaluation report has been
completed with respect to the pilot ATI project and is being reviewed
for implications related to the current Community Discovered
project.
Objective 4.3 By 2000, the project will
produce a comprehensive system of world wide web pages containing
links to art resources and sample lessons developed by participating
schools and available to Prairie Visions Consortium members through
ARTnet.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
The project has established its own
comprehensive World Wide Web page, which is available at the address
of:
http://nde4.nde.state.ne.us/ARTnet/cd/
The project World Wide Web page is evolving and
eventually will include access to all the project curriculum modules,
general project information, samples of student work, and will link
to a World Wide Web page related to evaluation information. In
addition to access from a link on the general Community Discovered
project page, the evaluation information for the project can also be
accessed directly at:
http://omahafreenet.org/cd/
This page includes links to all of the
evaluation information, including the evaluation design, sample
instrumentation, analysis of various data sets, and formal evaluation
reports (such as this one).
In addition to the World Wide Web pages focused
directly on The Community Discovered
project, the project has also worked
closely with ARTnet, where a more general list of resources and links
is being maintained and can be accessed at:
URL:
http://www.nde.state.ne.us/ARTnet/ARTnethome.html
The ARTnet is an on-line resource maintained by
the Art and Technology Coordinator and Computer Specialist employed
by The Community Discovered
and in cooperation with the Nebraska
Department of Education, Prairie Visions, to help support the arts as
a core subject in the K-12 curriculum, and it is an important link in
The Community Discovered
project's web page system. The current
ARTnet web page has also been updated to include links to The Getty
Center for Education in the Arts and the Kennedy Center's ARTSEDGE,
which provide not only general lesson plans and other curriculum
resources, but also a working model for The Community Discovered teachers.
Goal 5: To create a national network of
educators to support the development and implementation of
appropriate learning strategies integrating art and technology with
other core subject areas.
Activity V: Nationwide Community for Art and
Technology Integration
Objective 5.1 ARTnet will be in place to
provide curriculum models, museum resources, and continuing
opportunities for information sharing, collaboration and support
among educators.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
This outreach goal for the project is primarily being developed through an ongoing collaboration with ARTnet, which is the electronic network created by Prairie Visions and The Nebraska Department of Education. This network is already operating successfully as a listserv, and World Wide Web site with electronic links to and from The Community Discovered Web page. The web site currently receives more than 1500 visitors to the home page each month, and initial work is beginning on an on-line Student Art Gallery related to the project. ARTnet is also a useful source of technical assistance for participants in The Community Discovered project, and the evaluation team is documenting its use and effectiveness as a resource to project participants, through the use of both teacher survey and electronic data collection procedures.
Objective 5.2 Cross-state partnerships will
be in place to support replication of project activities.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
Although cross-state partnership activities are
not formally underway, relationships are already developing through
both electronic and personal communications between the project and
other interested individuals and institutions. As these personal
contacts expand, additional electronic conferencing activities will
be held to solidify the evolving partnerships. Electronic feedback
for use in the evaluation process will also be solicited through web
page forms, listserv participation, and electronic mail to document
the potential uses by other states. Participants within the project are currently
planning Internet projects which will link participating school
districts utilizing the William H. Johnson exhibit which will be
opening at the Joslyn in March of 1997.
Objective 5.3 As a pilot cross-state partnership, The Community Discovered project and the Ohio Partnership for the Visual Arts will collaborate to expand on an effective integrated project in which middle school students use computer networking and video technologies to teach other about their social, cultural, and physical environments.
Activities Timeline
Evaluation Plan
Status
As with all cross-state partnership activities,
to reduce costs, activities related to establishing an alliance with
the Ohio Partnership for the Visual Arts will focus primarily on the
use of electronic based collaborations using electronic mail,
listserv, and CUSeeMe based communication. A process for electronic
data collection, as well as a structured interview process related to
this objective, is being developed by the evaluation team.
Additional objectives related to cross-state partnerships from the original application, as expressed in the last formal report, have been embedded in the current objectives as a cost saving measure necessitated partially by budget reductions from the original application.
Summary
A successful beginning has taken place for the
project "The Community Discovered: The Search for Meaning Through the
Integration of Art and Technology in K-12 Education" and it is now
well underway in its first year of formal activities. The project has
continued to embrace advanced information-based technologies and has
refined its plans as technology-based applications continue to evolve
with emerging capabilities, such as new capabilities on the World
Wide Web. The project is building upon a strong organizational
foundation provided by the Art and Technology Integration project, a
state funded pilot project for the current The Community Discovered project.
The Community Discovered project has already provided substantial baseline
training in technology, the arts, and constructivism to its teachers
including extensive summer training at both The Prairie Visions
Institute and The National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian
Institution. The NMAA continues to provide solid leadership and
ongoing support to museum-related goals of the project, and the
ongoing work on electronic images by the project's group of museums
promises to provide a rich resource for the integration of art into
other disciplines via the Internet. In addition, the project is
drawing upon successful and extended collaboration with ARTnet, an
electronic communications network of discipline-based art educators,
and has established a new partnership with The Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts.
The evaluation process is also well underway,
and specific evaluation activities as related to each project
objective are being initiated. These evaluation activities draw upon
comprehensive data collection procedures that use both quantitative
and qualitative approaches. Initial evaluation work has focused on
providing careful baseline information and has included extensive
survey work with both teachers and other stakeholders. Teachers have
also submitted videotaped examples of their teaching and continue to
provide information over the listserv and in personal interviews.
Classroom visitations and observations are also underway. In
addition, the evaluation team has established a WWW page for use in
organizing and disseminating all the collected evaluation
information, including the evaluation plan, developed instruments,
data summaries, and electronic copies of formal reports. Work
continues on collecting the evaluation information needed for year
one of the evaluation process that will be used systematically in a
formative as well as longitudinal evaluation process.
As The Community
Discovered project continues to move
forward, perhaps most importantly, there is a real team effort
underway by all stakeholders in the project to positively effect the
learning environment for all students. As any project on the "cutting
edge", it is expected that The Community
Discovered project will continue to
evolve as the collaborative and organizational structure becomes more
refined and as new educational technologies become available. The
project is indeed a comprehensive one, and its use of a systematic
startup process and the implementation of a careful evaluation plan
are no doubt critical components in effectively moving the project
forward. The commitment by all participants to contribute to the
overall success of the project will no doubt provide a natural
catalyst for such success as the project continues to implement its
very aggressive set of goals and objectives.
IV. Supplemental Information
The Community Discovered project is committed to staying on the "cutting edge" of
educational technology use, and the project is evolving to take
greater advantage of the evolution of the Internet. In particular,
the project is making strong use of the World Wide Web for storage
and retrieval of images and lessons. The World Wide Web will also be
the basis for the evolving "portfolio" representing the project, so
that educators from around the world can share in the information,
knowledge, and resources generated by The Community Discovered project. Project activities will also make greater use
of video-conferencing, listservs, telecommunications available on the
Information SuperHighway, and other emerging delivery systems.
Although budget considerations caused restrictions in originally
planned cross-state partnerships, the evolution of technology (e.g.,
economical video-conferencing options) may allow for the pursuit of
some of those activities which were at risk due to funding
limitations. Also due to budget considerations, the project will be
making a closer connection with the ESU's to deliver some of the
technical support.
The National Museum of American Art has
exercised solid leadership in the project and communicates regularly
with many of the ATI participants and project staff. They have also
been instrumental in helping identify useful images for incorporation
in teacher lessons and units. The educational projects that have been
developed by the pilot Art and Technology Integration project are
multi-disciplinary in nature and cover a wide range of traditional
disciplines (i.e.: physics, history, writing) and are providing an
excellent initial model for both current and future participants of
The Community Discovered
project.
The evaluation process is also well underway,
with considerable information already summarized and available
through The Community Discovered
World Wide Web page. The evaluation
plan is an aggressive one, with both longitudinal and formative
components and includes multiple sources of information to target
each objective. Both qualitative and quantitative data is being
collected, and it will be triangulated into activities involving both
teachers and students in order to monitor and document the learning
process planned in the project.
As The
Community Discovered project moves
forward, the original goals, objectives, and activities of the
project have been examined and refined. Suggested revisions to these
are included in appendix C. With the approval of the ILTO and the
funding agent, these revisions will constitute the guiding practices
of The Community Discovered.
Rationale Statements for Recommended
Revisions of Goals and Objectives
The basis of the grant is an integration of art
and technology in all core subject areas. Previously, goal statements
reflected only the visual arts and art as a separate discipline from
other subject areas. The recommended language of the goal statements
indicates the integration of the arts and technology and explicitly
includes the arts as one of the core subject areas.
Revision statements of goals and objectives
includes the four strands we are developing in all areas of the
project. The four strands are: 1) the arts, 2) technology, 3)
constructivism, and 4) interdisciplinary planning and teaching. These
four strands will be addressed in the staff development activities
for our participants and will guide us in achieving the mission
statement of the grant.
Percentages in the following objectives: 3,4,
3.5, 3.6, and 4.2 were deleted because the objectives are qualitative
and not accurately reflected in such quantitative terms. Measurements
could be addressed through participants perceptions, observational
data, surveys, and matrixes such as Explanatory Effects and Case
Dynamics. Cause-Effect Loops and Causal Networks would be appropriate
designs as well to measure these objectives. Causal Networks link
particular instances to general principles which would connect to the
four strands being developed. Data collected will be triangulated
with benchmark scores, and other quantitative indicators and be
compiled in thick descriptions. The critical issue is the quality of
the data entered. This component brings meaning and depth to the
thick description methodology.
Recommended activity revisions regarding staff
involvement have evolved as the grant has progressed. Review of
essential functions for each position have proven beneficial in
understanding the focus for each staff member.
Language was broadened in some goals and
objectives, such as 5.3, to expand the opportunities for students. As
teacher/learners and student/learners grow the potential for
networking with a larger audience expands. The technology supports
the constructivist process, and in turn the development of
constructivist teaching networks, necessitates enhanced technological
connectivity.
V. Budget Report
Personnel
The Art & Technology Coordinator and Computer Specialist were hired April 1, 1996 and the Site Coordinator and Project Supervisor began working June 1, 1996. Salaries for the Site Coordinator and Project Supervisor were paid as summer stipends, since both of them had been on contract with the district as certificated staff through the school year, and were employed by the grant for only 20 days each during the summer months (paid as stipends). Salaries for the Art & Technology Coordinator and Computer Specialist are shared with the Department of Education contributing $25,000 toward those positions annually. The Art and Technology Integration Project pays one half the salary of the site coordinator for the '96-'97 school year (for this budget period this will be approximately $7500). With these positions filled, all project staff are in place. It is anticipated that salaries for the remaining four months will expend approximately $150,000 of the unexpended $311,600 in this line. It is requested that $150,000 be reallocated to "Supplies" to cover expenditures in that category (see "Supplies" category for further explanation).
Benefits
Benefit costs were predicted on the basis of
28% of salary. As personnel positions are filled, actual benefit
costs are more accurately reflected. Currently $26,142.00 have been
expended. With the additional staff beginning with this school year,
costs in this category will increase. The costs to be committed for
the current funding period are predicted to be approximately $50,000
for the remaining four months. It is requested that $50,000 be
reallocated to "Equipment" to cover expenditures in that category
(see "Equipment" category for further explanation).
Travel
Currently $36,242 have been expended. Anticipated travel during the remaining three months for 1996, is projected to be approximately an additional $2,000 for project staff. Participant travel for recent inservices and meetings have not yet been invoiced. Anticipated remaining unobligated funds, if they exist, will be carried forward to cover costs for travel or will be reprogrammed, if appropriate and upon approval.
Equipment
Currently all funds in this category have been obligated ($14,000). It is requested that $50,000 be reprogrammed from the benefits category to equipment. This will allow for taking advantage of available resources to provide equipment needed for use in creating multimedia resources and compact discs to be used by all participants in the project. Such equipment was planned for purchase at a later time. It is available currently at reasonable costs.
Supplies
Currently this category reflects obligated funds in excess of the projected budget of -$20,125. The funds to cover these obligations are to be reprogrammed from personnel. While this reallocation is within the allowable margin for reprogramming without prior approval, it is anticipated that additional expenditures in this category will require further reallocation of existing resources. To accommodate these anticipated needs, including purchase of software resources, memory upgrades, professional development resources, and equipment for use in videoconferencing and distance education, it is requested that $150,000 be reprogrammed from personnel.
Contractual
A contract with the University of Nebraska at Omaha for project evaluation has been agreed upon, for an annual amount of $75,000.00. Contractual agreements with FarWest Labs/West Ed, for their role as consultants/site evaluators obligates an additional $15,000. An additional contract with the University of Nebraska at Omaha for a graduate research assistant obligates $15.000. All or most of these contracted obligations have not yet been expended. Further, consultants related to videoconferencing and distance education are expected to meet in November and will require resources that have not yet been specified. Currently $13,775 has been obligated, leaving a balance of $137,055. It is anticipated that the costs for contracted services will obligated the balance of funds in this category.
Other
While only $13,332 have been obligated as of August, 1996, it is anticipated that costs for the remaining items in this category will be obligated before the close of the budget period. If unobligated funds remain, they will be identified for carry forward or reprogramming, as appropriate.