COURSE INFORMATION
Instructional and Technology Preparation for Fellows

In addition to hands-on experience working in secondary classrooms with teachers, Fellows will receive instructional and technical preparation at the University of Oklahoma.

Instructional Preparation
(Syllabus)

First-year Fellows Fall semester course & practicum

Each fall, a 3 credit hour course "Implementing Authentic Science and Mathematics Activities in Secondary Schools" consisting of two 50 minute sessions/discussions per week and a weekly practicum (e.g., ~ 10 hours/week in secondary classrooms observing, interacting with students & assisting teachers) will prepare first-year Fellows for effective teaching in the secondary classroom and teaching them how to develop effective and appropriate activities.

The general structure will consist of thirty sessions: ten sessions on educational concepts, theory, and assessment; ten sessions on design and implementation of science & math curricula with an emphasis on educational technology; and ten sessions on local, state and national curriculum standards, educational practices and methods, and pragmatic & logistical secondary education issues. Fellows will spend several hours per week outside of class researching, designing, and developing individual activities and projects.

The course will be team-taught by Drs. O'Hair, Rhoads, and Nanny, along with secondary administrators and secondary teachers. Teachers and administrators will provide instruction on state and national curriculum standards, good educational teaching practices and methods, classroom management practices, and school administration issues.

Spring seminar

A one-hour seminar will be held each week for the Fellows and teachers to present results and assessment of the development and implementation of their activities. Seminar will include presentations by faculty, secondary teachers, and educators of noted distinction on authentic learning and application of hands-on activities in the secondary science and math curriculum. During the spring semester, Fellows will be researching, designing, developing, and implementing activities and projects, as well as spending at least 10 hours/week in the secondary classroom. The spring seminar will provide general feedback on their experiences, in addition to a forum for them to ask questions and present ideas to the group as a whole.

Technology Preparation

Second-year Fellows Fall course

Second-year Fellows will take an advanced course in instructional technology, either ENGR 4613/5613 (undergraduates/graduates) "Multimedia Engineering" or EIPT 3043 "Learning with Educational Technologies." Dr. Kurt Gramoll, a leader in developing electronic multimedia educational tools, teaches "Multimedia Engineering".

ENGR 4613/5613 covers eight to nine major multimedia development tools including editing (Premiere), photo editing (Photoshop), drawing (Freehand), Web page and HTML (Dreamweaver), CD authoring and web interaction (Director), sound (Sound Forge), 3-D animation (Carrara), and server-side programming (Perl). The tools are presented in a way that promotes their effective use in creating electronic media. The course also illustrates how the results of these tools can be used in teaching and to communicate educational material.

"Learning with Educational Technologies" focuses on using computer and video-based learning environments to solve educational problems. It is taught by Dr. Amy Bradshaw of the Educational Psychology Department. Fellows enrolled in these courses will master contemporary software, but also learn how to effectively design educational web sites that are user-friendly and accessible.

eMet - "Electronic Media Education for Teachers"

eMet is an educational technology development web site (www.emet.ou.edu) designed especially for educators. Fellows, teachers, and faculty will use eMet as a starting point for building computer modules and virtual experiments that will enhance their activities. This site provides, free-of-charge, eight different kinds of multimedia development software and instruction for teachers, development methods, implementation techniques and uses. Specifically, the site contains: web boards for discussions and collaboration; short animations illustrating the use of the software, examples of completed courseware, reviews of the software by other multimedia development faculty, and project galleries to show case student work.

Other Educational Resources for Fellows

Secondary Instructors
Secondary instructors will act as mentors for the Fellows, providing direct teaching experience and application of good educational practices and methods. Under the teacher's guidance and direction, the Fellows will teach secondary students science and mathematics in an authentic style, using the inquiry-based activities they developed.

Secondary Students
Direct interactions with secondary students will give Fellows hands-on experience in teaching inquiry-based science and mathematics. The students will benefit by experiencing the interest and expertise of the Fellows in science and technology. This will undoubtedly result in an increased achievement of the students.

University Faculty
The university faculty will act as content and application providers. They will provide the technical and scientific expertise, assuring the Fellows that their activities are scientifically correct and current. As well, they will assist the Fellows in identifying current applications of the technology and science emphasized in the activities, thereby ensuring a link between the content and the real world.