Along with the goals of self-confidence and follow through, another goal is to become immersed in as much information as I can surrounding Virtual Education. I want to be able to be a meaningful contributor at CPS. I just found out recently that while there are a couple policies regarding virtual education, there still needs to be a full policy written regarding the ins and outs of virtual education at CPS and how it is to be operated and run. Without these policies in place, I imagine the schools who have yet to try their hand in the online courses feel a little lost as to how to begin. My hope this year is to be able to assist those schools is understanding how the process works. Who knows, maybe I will even be able to help assist writing the policies surrounding virtual education by the end of my ten months here.
While a majority of the work I have been doing is research based, I do feel like this past month was quite a conductive one. I managed to compile 30-40 documents consisting of articles, policies, rules and regulations for various virtual schools, and documents which talk in detail about what other virtual schools/programs are up to. From these articles, I have managed to write or create a number of Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents which go over best practices, implementation ideas, Twitter information, a list of useful websites, and a list of virtual programs organized by state. I have also watched and written notes on a webcast of a 2003 panel on Virtual Education put on by the US Department of Education, three PBS programs on Virtual Education and the online world's impact on youth, and numberous blogs/videos posted on MSNBC's Education Nation. All of this information has helped me begin to piece together a foundation for what I am hoping to accomplish over the year at CPS. I also assisted with editing the best practices guide which mentors will be using at CPS.
My current projects I am working on include summarizing the local, state, and national policies surrounding virtual learning, adding more content to the intranet website, preparing to work with the continuing education department at CPS, and preparing materials to send out for various schools. Future projects that I am looking forward to include: working on the newsletters, going out to the schools to view the online courses in action, helping to organize and facilitate the three trainings during the year, and building a substantial website for the mentors to utilize. I am also hoping that I will be able to assist in creating resources for onsite teachers to help make their classes blended.
By the end of this month placement wise, I am hoping to add at least two more resources (one resource does not equal one content piece added, it is more like a section of content added.) I am also hoping to have a firm grasp of what the policies are currently in the US, Illinois, and Chicago regarding Virtual Learning. I would like to have worked with at least one other department. Finally, I would like to have visited at least two or three schools. We will see where my actual progress lands in terms of these goals.
In terms of my TSP, I am really excited to find out where my group will be working with. It is pretty amazing that we only have one more month before we have to have our contract and research completed. Fingers crosssed that we know our communities by Friday. Once we find out, I plan to venture out and see what assets and needs I discover about the said community. My TSP group seems pretty great. I am hoping the project we implement makes a positive impact in the community we go into. I am looking forward to assisting a community or organization accomplish something they have been wanting to do but have not had the manpower to make happen. My goal with the group is to make sure that I keep my mind focused on what the community/organization really wants to happen. I just hope that wherever we go, said organization/community will be open to our suggestions and project ideas. I think the hardest part of the TSP experience will be to organize a time we can all meet. Due to the nature of Public Allies, we are all quite busy with our placements and with training. There are only so many hours in a day sadly. I am considering compiling a list of possible ideas for various types of findings my group may come across, but I am hesitant to do this idea as well because I really want to put first what the community wants first. There is a lot of work to be done with the TSP over the next nine months.
Well that is all for now. Next post: Communication? What is that?
No comments:
Post a Comment