Alan Buss

A Delphi Study of Educational Telecollaborative Projects: Identifying Critical Elements and Obstacles

The purpose of this study was to collect the knowledge and opinions held by a Delphi panel of leaders and researchers of successful educational telecommunications projects requiring collaboration across multiple sites. A parallel objective was to synthesize and analyze this knowledge and to communicate the results as a resource for people who are interested in creating similar learning environments. The Delphi technique was used to gather information from a panel of seven experts in educational telecollaborative projects about successful elements of these projects as well as obstacles to success. Thirty-one items received high ratings from the panelists and had a high consensus level among the panel. These critical items included 25 essential elements and six highly detrimental obstacles. The conclusions provide guidelines for teachers, students, and project leaders and designers.

Teacher Transformations in Developing Computational Thinking: Gaming and Robotics Use in After-School Settings

The challenges of addressing increasing calls for the inclusion of computational thinking skills in K-12 education in the midst of crowded school curricula can be mitigated, in part, by promoting STEM learning in after-school settings. The Visualization Basics: Using Gaming to Improve Computational Thinking project provided opportunities for middle school students to participate in after-school clubs focused on game development and LEGO robotics in an effort to increase computational thinking skills. Club leaders and teachers, however, first needed to develop proficiency with the computational tools and their understanding of computational thinking. To achieve these goals, teachers participated in two online professional development courses. After participating in the courses, teachers’ understanding of and attitudes toward computational thinking skills were mostly positive. Observations of club sessions revealed that teachers provided a mix of structured and open-ended instruction. Guided instruction, such as using detailed tutorials for initial exposure to a concept or process, was most commonly observed. One area identified for improvement was the duration of the courses, which provided limited time for teachers to develop deep and robust computational thinking skills. Despite this limitation, the data collected thus far suggest that teachers’ understanding of and attitudes toward computational thinking skills improved.

Chapter 13 Soothing Cerberus: The Wyoming Odyssey

This chapter primarily describes the tensions the University of Wyoming College of Education experienced as preparations were made for the undergraduate portion of the NCATE review, as well as lessons learned from the experience. Three tensions are explored using the themes of: (a) knowing your context, (b) time and prior planning, and (c) flexibility. The experiences of the latest accreditation process are explored with suggestions to be savvy about your setting, plan for surprises, be flexible, know your limits, and have a good strategy for data collection. Ongoing challenges including NCLB, future accreditation requirements, and faculty awareness are examined.