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Editor's Note: This is the third of four reports on a collaborative distance learning program involving Duquesne University in the United States and University of Ulster in Ireland. These two articles by Richard Wallace and Mary Mallon continue the documentation, initiated in USDLA Journal June Issue, of implementation of this extraordinary International Distance Learning program. The web site listed by Ms. Mallon is representative of resourses now available.

Part of Dr. Wojnar's Introduction for the June Issue is repeated below to provide context for these excellent contributions to the understanding and implementation of complex, successful International Distance Learning.The fourth and final report will be published in the August Issue of USDLA Journal.

Setting Everyone Up for Success - Part III

International Program: Duquesne University and University of Ulster
Linda Wojnar

Our focus here continues to be toward the middle phase of the International Masters in Instructional Technology Program: Distance Learning Strand that partners Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA with the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland.

The courses that will be discussed in this Issue are:

1.  Technology and Education, which was taught in a weekend face-to-face format by Duquesne University faculty and covers integrating technology into the classroom,
2. Management of Instructional Technology- taught jointly between Duquesne University faculty and Northern Ireland administration, and
3. Multimedia Literacy-taught in Northern Ireland by University of Ulster faculty

Two tutors, Mary Mallon and Richard Wallace from the University will share their experiences, culminating in the summer visit to Pittsburgh. Since the focus of the programme was distance learning, the International Masters was intentionally designed so that the location of the courses would rotate between Northern Ireland and Pittsburgh. The programme was also designed to demonstrate teaching using a variety of teaching technologies and methodologies:

1. Face-to-face,
2. Hybrid (a combination of classes taught on-site and online),
3. Totally online using learning management systems that supported asynchronous (participants responding at different times) and synchronous platforms (everyone online at the same time),
4. Videoconferencing,
5. Individual and Team Teaching

Only by participants experiencing these instructional technologies and methodologies first-hand as participants and as end-users will they know which ones to select for their own teaching.

The August Issue will discuss:

6. The holistic approach to the instructional design of the Distance Learning programme,
7. The social planning before and during the summer residential by the Ireland Institute,
8. The Pittsburgh residential component,
9. The culminating stages of the programme highlighting excerpts of all participant course work, transcript dialogues, case stories, photos, graduation, and
10. The final programme assessment and evaluation by Duquesne University, the University of Ulster, and the Northern Ireland Government. Consider the high stakes for every person involved in this innovative initiative:
11. Designing a programme’s framework and instruction that passes the test of quality content in distance and online learning and context relevance adapted to a specific country and evaluated by three stakeholders: Duquesne University, the University of Ulster, and the Northern Ireland Government, and
12. Projects that need to be created by each participant that will move their country forward in ICT

If they are fortunate, educators will experience this magnitude of instructional design, pedagogy, and participation found in our experiences at least once in their lifetime. As the programme and the process progress, the emerging spirit of the experience is life changing.

Preparing for Pittsburgh

Richard Wallace

Two weekends were set aside for GITED 511, the unit on Technology and Education delivered by Dr Larry Tomei. For me, this was the ‘real’ beginning of the course. We met as a group in the Quality Inn at Carrickfergus and so we had time to get to know each other as we travelled back and forward to the University of Ulster at Jordanstown. We were united in our aspirations to make the whole scheme a success and were not disappointed by Larry. I used the word delivered deliberately since Larry was more than just our teacher or lecturer. He soon became our facilitator and had actually done some preparation … and it was on-line, boy, was it online! There were so many articles and relevant sites in the 59 sites he gave us in the introduction.

We were introduced to WebCT and found our syllabus, assignments and schedule of Activities there on the Duquesne Site. It is probably true to say that we greeted this with a mixture of admiration, relief and desperation. Larry had posted at least 24 online articles and references and that was only the beginning. I was in a dilemma since I was unsure if I meant to read these onscreen or print them out for later. I suppose too I was wondering just how long this rich source of information would remain available. In the end I went for the print option and so I have amassed a number of huge lever arch files for this and every other unit. I could not have managed without the facilities in school and my newly created study at home.

I have already mentioned the fact that conferencing on NINE died at an early stage in unit 1. I do think that the lack of proper, fully paid for, communications facilities for each participant would have helped and should have been provided as part of the package. It would have cost relatively little more to have done this and would have helped create our virtual learning community so much earlier. I also appreciated the use of the facilities in school. Printing hundreds of sheets on an inkjet printer at home is not much fun!

The first weekend really brought the group together. Of course we went though all the introductions again but this time there was a marked change in what people said about themselves. At an earlier stage many people were setting out their stalls, now they had much more of a respect for each other. We spent a lot of time looking at the references and trying to find our way around WebCT. I suppose we were all struck by the convenience of this medium. We had access to some of the finest research articles from the comfort of a computer chair. The course was well designed and had the course expectations and learning outcomes clearly identified. I’m not sure if Larry ever knew just how much we had appreciated his efforts and I do know that by this stage of the course the group was already getting a reputation for ‘taking no prisoners’!

Another pleasing aspect of Larry’s style was his belief in Executive Summaries and flexible deadlines. He treated us like the professionals we were. After all we were group that had been selected, as we have often been told, from the ‘best of the best’ and for our abilities to take risks. The Executive Summary, which was often all that he required from us, removed a lot of the pressure but the fact that the unit was basically delivered in 4 days meant that, for the first time, we began to realise just how stressful the whole course might be. All of the participants were involved in fairly high-powered day jobs and to give up two consecutive weekends meant that the month of March went by in what could only be described as a blur! Larry moved the deadlines to accommodate our needs and so, for the first time, many of us began to see the fundamental difference in the assessment techniques of the universities of the two countries. There has certainly been a narrowing of that gap as the course has progressed but, sadly, little or no let up in the pressure to meet one deadline after another, no matter how flexible they seem.

The assessment rubric presented by Larry on the course was an eye opener for me. We were being given marks to attend! This actually cost me a ‘free lunch’ with the BBC. I was invited to join a group that would advice the BBC on the proposed digital curriculum but, because it feel on one our days away and also because of these 200 point for attendance I declined. And then there was the amount of marks required to attain ‘outstanding work’. While we all knew that our work was outstanding, few of us had really expected to be able to reach 96%. This was outside my experience either as a teacher or a pupil. I have been chief examiner for Computer Studies in the past and have seen some ‘outstanding’ work in both theory and written papers but have not seen anyone reach 96% or above.

Larry described his unit as being a ‘hands on’ course and we were not disappointed. The course book was his draft of the ‘Technology Façade’ and this really started many of us thinking along new lines. For years we had seen huge sums of money being poured into technology and training but hadn’t really seen any evidence of accountability from those who provided it. People probably felt that technology does make a difference to teaching and learning but, as this is too hard to measure, then it was best being ignored. It is interesting for me to note that one of the many issues that is being addressed by Government is this very one of accountability. Some members of the group took Larry’s ideas and personalised them for the Northern Ireland audience.

The vast amount of current and relevant on-line material really whetted my appetite for reading and for sharing this research with my Headmaster and other interested colleagues in school. I was also encouraged to look for other material that was more pertinent to the Northern Ireland or British Isles situation. I found so much information on the British Educational communications and Technology agency (BECTa) site (www.becta.org.uk) and on the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) sites. The one piece of material that I most appreciated was the ‘Guidebook for Developing an Effective Technology Plan by the Graduate Students of Mississippi State University under the direction of Dr Larry Anderson. I remember writing at the end of it ‘Larry, this must have been written for me, thank you for sharing it!’

These materials were a more than adequate preparation for my submission to BECTa to be considered in the Management section of their ICT in Practice Awards. Linda Wojnar was one of my proposers and eventually in January I was one of the winners of this Award. It was a tremendously proud moment for me to be there in London with my Headmaster, David Knox, to receive the cheque for £2500GBP and another for a similar amount for the school. My only regret was that Linda was not there with me to share in this success. Two further prestigious awards came my way this year and they are due in no small measure to the inspiration I received from Larry and Linda as well as many of my colleagues on the course and in school.

Many other aspects of the two weekends strike me as I reflect on them. One was the wide range of demonstrations that people put together for their unit on technology in the classroom. We had not been used to relating technology to pedagogical foundations nor to an in depth study of Bloom’s taxonomy, or at least I had not and so we were being faced with the need to justify all that we said. We looked at Larry’s paper on ‘Using a Taxonomy for the Technological Domain’.

At the Technology in the Classroom presentation session I still remember Mary’s demonstration of her cordless mouse and how useful she had found it for Primary schools when there was only one laptop and a data projector available. Siobhann Matthewson, a member of the cohort, painted a tremendous picture of her classroom as she struggled to introduce her children to chatting as a learning medium. Richard Hanna, another member of the cohort, and I presented our Intranet as an example of how we were using technology in school. It was clear from the reaction that people actually needed to see it and not just be told about it. We did this during the second weekend and won many converts to its potential and usefulness.

The Intranet in Ballyclare is a measure of our success and we have evaluated our technology through Larry’s façade rubric before using it as a means of gaining success in national IT competitions. We saw all kinds of hardware and software and, I know, many of us went away from the University of Ulster at Jordanstown after those weeks feeling quite inspired and ready for the challenges of Pittsburgh. We had, however, begun to see and identify those who were really prepared in their work and attitude and those who hoped they could get by with all their prior knowledge without any serious work or study.

We did experience interactive synchronous chatting in one of the follow-up sessions but a combination of a lack of a real topic for discussion and a number of unresolved technical problems meant that it was largely irrelevant to our needs. We had missed its real potential as a learning tool and it was not until we met it again in Pittsburgh under the direction of an expert that we began to appreciate its usefulness.

I have often wondered how Larry felt about us after those hectic weekends and did he feel the same degree of threat that had been evident towards the tutor in the first unit. He promise that we would all see a ball game while we were in America and went home with an Ireland rugby shirt as a token of our appreciation. He also took with him the problem of how to resolve the accommodation issue we had raised, an issue that would rear its head each time we met and one which vexed many people.

The Pittsburgh Experience

At the same time as I have studying for this Masters I have found time to be involved as the co-writer of a new General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) Information Communication Technology (ICT) syllabus for Northern Ireland’s Examinations and Assessment Council (CCEA). I did most of the research and the actual writing of this course which has been well received by the Qualifications Curriculum Authority (QCA) and by the various groups of teachers who have seen it.

I wrote all the specimen questions and exemplar materials for the scheme. There are two versions of the course, a ‘short’ course and a ‘full’ course. It struck me that an online version of the ‘short’ course would have a ready market. The short course is not half as easy as the ordinary GCSE course – it just has half the content. Many schools will not be able to offer it because of timetabling restrictions but, there are so many people, both of school age and beyond who would benefit from it that it could turn out to be a ‘best seller’ –that is in my humble opinion!

I submitted the original proposal and report about my intention to make a start on developing this course in Pittsburgh to Linda who responded almost immediately in a most positive manner. This is the way I like to work. Obviously I am flattered if people appreciate what I write but I do like them to challenge me and not just pretend my work is good so that no further effort is required on their behalf.

Linda and I communicated back and forth a few times about this idea – this was the start of a unique friendship. There are many aspects and different levels to the course and, while I have many ideas myself, I will need a great deal of help before I can continue. At that stage I hoped to include a Case Study on the use of ICT in a Garden Centre. Since my return I have completed this in the multimedia module. I hope that someone will buy the rights to my ‘Virtual Education Tour (the VET). The concept of the VET is that it is a multimedia visit starting at the ‘City Hall’ (of any place) and, as it proceeds will visit a large clothes retailer, a pharmaceutical chain, a Travel Agent, a computer store, a Fast Food outlet, a Theatre and so on. In each of these places different aspects of ICT will be examined. Pupils will learn by doing. I hope to develop this in partnership with a software company.

Pittsburgh came at the end of an extremely busy period for me. I work hard. There were days when I was working for 16-18 hours just to keep up with all my responsibilities in school and beyond. I was determined to do as much preparation before I left for the States. My reasons were twofold. First of all I wanted to get as much benefit as possible and secondly I wanted to give my colleagues on the course as much help and support as I could by providing them with chapter summaries and questions in advance of our trip. I also had a job to do in school.

I guess I was slightly disappointed, on Linda’s behalf, with some of the other participants, many of whom declared that they were ‘too busy’. I’m sure they weren’t moderating IT @ KS3 for CCEA, finishing off preparations for my own GCSE and Advanced level pupils as well as creating the school timetable (for 1220 pupils and 83 staff!) One day I was so exhausted that David Knox, my Headmaster, invited me into his office for lunch and told me that I had to relax otherwise I would be of no use to anyone!

I liked Blackboard as soon as I saw it – the asynchronous discussion board for the readings, questions and answers were fascinating. I showed them to David and he immediately saw an application in school for A level English teaching. I have been pursuing this since I got back to school. One of my regrets, though, is that we never really got a series of lessons or lectures on the actual package in Pittsburgh so that we could exploit its full potential.

I got all my readings, summaries and the questions as well as the first research article (516) done before I left. Linda has probably no idea how encouraged I was by her responses – and I was not the only one she was encouraging at the same time. This encouragement was like a breath of fresh air – I had found someone who appreciated my writing and, at the same time, was stretching me to think deeper and deeper about the topics. The topic I chose for 516 was ‘The Internet and Literacy’. This is the article to which I referred in Issue 1. A ‘thank you’ to Linda for that early encouragement seems inadequate but it is sincere.

At that stage I started to realize the two things that would bring success. One was that teachers must ‘know their audience’ and the other is that timely positive feedback brings out the best in people.

I couldn’t wait to leave and on Tuesday 12th June, with the timetable almost (about 96%) finished I focused solely on Pittsburgh and made my final preparations for leaving. My journey was eventful as usual. The plane was delayed because of the storms over Boston both before it came over to Shannon and then on the way back to Baltimore. I was forced to stay overnight in a hotel there and this was without my case; it had gone on to New York! Two dear old ladies from Pittsburgh who were also stranded allowed me to ‘look after them’. One of them contacted me during the last week to check that I was OK – I must have made an impression on them.

At an early stage of planning for the trip I decided not to bring my laptop. My reasoning was that I would work all 24 hours in the day if I had it with me. If I had no machine I would have to relax. Many times over the four weeks, I regretted that decision. I missed it most for downloading the digital photos. While I took a lot of pictures and hope to distribute these on a CD, I would probably have taken 2 or 3 times the number if I had had an easier way of downloading them. I think I have enough.

Not having the machine for the reports and the other work increased my stress level at times since I was always under pressure to do my work before 8:30am or after hours in the University library. Not having a machine was good in other ways. I was able to do a lot of thinking and ‘ordinary’ writing – that was good for me and I think the quality of my work improved. Towards the end when others were showing signs of stress I was one of a small number who were still able to cope without having the worry about leaving the work behind.

The four weeks in Pittsburgh were just incredible. Everyone in the group had something to give and most gave it without reserve. As the time progressed and, as we got to know each others’ strengths we realised that what we were about to create was not 17 different projects or online courses but several that are cleverly intertwined that illustrate true collaborative learning. We needed Paddy Mackey , the Senior Adviser from the Western Education and Library Board (WELB), with us at the start to look after our non-academic welfare and it would have been good if he had been able to stay with us for the whole time. The arrival of Joe and his wife Marie Martin along with John Anderson’s party was much appreciated. Joe is the Chief Executive of the Western Education and Library Board and, as such, had the responsibility for overseeing the project. John Anderson is Northern Ireland’s Educational Technology Strategy Co-ordinator and has already contributed an article in this issue.

I think it was the friendship, encouragement and collaboration that meant the most to me. I remember at the start deliberating over my ‘teaching and learning’ philosophy. I like to tell things as they are – with no veneer- but wondered if people would accept what I had written in the spirit in which it was written. I wrote and rewrote that crucial first piece by hand and in the end told it as I saw it. In the end I was moved by two emails I received a few days later saying how much they had appreciated what I had written,

I am not arrogant but I didn’t think I needed to change the way I taught. When we started looking at learning styles, multiple intelligences, the De Bono hats and the ‘He said, She said’ video of Dr. Pat Heim, I thought that this was a bit irrelevant. I had this simple thought in my mind ‘I teach, the pupils learn’! This is what I have done for years. How foolish of me!

I found this whole aspect so fascinating that I propose having the learning styles as an integral part of my course. I still hope to work with Heather and Vivien on this so that I can produce the very best course for my online pupils. Even my ordinary teaching will not be the same again! Heather and Vivien, also participants in the course, have extended their work to move forward with learning styles and multiple intelligences for pupils in schools.

The first few days eased us gently into the work and to Blackboard. We had an open invitation to the 519 presentations (Globalisation of Educational Technology and Human Interaction course as part of the requirements of the Master’s Programme at Duquesne University) by the members of one of Linda’s other classes. I remember going to the first of these on Monday 18th June and being asked to introduce our selves to the group. I’m afraid I was still at the ‘scoring points’ stage. One of my colleagues took a long time explaining to the group just how influential he had been in the NI Education set up. Few of us on the panel were aware of this but each of us seemed to be determined not to be outdone. I was encouraged by colleague on my left to tell them all that I was involved with – that was a mistake and one which I have regretted since. It is always better to tell people just enough to keep their interest. By the time we got to the end of the line no one was hearing what was being said even if they looked politely as if they were listening. Sorry, folks I got that one wrong!

The feedback from our postings continued as people caught up on the readings and set questions for Dr. Susan Ko and Dr. Ken White the authors of our two compulsory books. This was a nice feature and one for which, once again, we want to thank Linda. I was particularly encouraged by the series of postings (17 in total) in one thread discussing Chapter 9 of White and Weight’s book. I had written the summary, contextualised it within the Northern Ireland situation and posed my questions. The to-ing and fro-ing engendered by that discussion made me realise just how powerful timely feedback can be.

Everyone was brought to life by the first synchronous chat! Jackie Lambe talks about us ‘bumbling’ our way through this in the small groups that Linda had initially set up. Simplistic as that first chat was, it was the transcripts that helped us see its potential. To have a detailed copy of everything that is being written raises many interesting educational issues.

It was amazing to see the difference in the chat the next time we discussed the ‘He Said, She Said’ video. By the end of the 4 weeks we became good ‘chatters’ and have been convinced of its use in the classroom and other situations. During my own lesson I found it an invaluable resource for teaching or interacting with 5 groups at once. That would never be possible in a group situation in an ordinary classroom. The transcripts were fascinating. I studied a few of the earlier ones from the first lessons and, from these, and from the hints in the workbook, I was able to attempt to write a rubric for actually assessing both the individual and the group contributions in these synchronous chat sessions. This will need some further piloting and work done on it before it is a working model – the idea has been started and the groundwork done.

We had a fairly abortive attempt at joining an e-learning class. The network in Rockwell prevented full access to the materials and had to be abandoned after a few minutes before we saw any of its real potential.

One of the exercises in 516 was the joining of listservs. NINE/Dialnet prevented many of us from joining the ones that were given in the manual but we soon overcame that by using one from another source that Mary had discovered. I don’t think I fully understood the purpose of these listservs and, as the seemingly, irrelevant emails kept piling in, I realised that I needed to be a little bit more proactive in my approach. I had struggled for weeks before I went to Duquesne to find some articles for the 517 research on Learning Technologies. I thought I might highlight this on the listserv and kill two birds with the one stone. I wrote my little piece about the type of research I was looking for and off it went. I suppose I didn’t really believe that it would work. That door had been shut for so long but within days, or even hours, the door opened.

The first offer I had was for a poster and then the really interesting postings started. Like many others in the group I became amazed at the offers of help from the growing body of online learners and teachers. My listservs on Blackboard document my most significant postings. I think I was most impressed by Regina Schoenfeld-Tacher who (physically) posted her paper ‘Do No Harm’ to my hotel room. It is a fascinating topic and one that concerned me. I had highlighted this aspect of online learning in each of my questions to the textbook authors. I am concerned that some of my pupils may be disadvantaged in an online environment. Regina’s ‘Do No Harm’ reassured me somewhat. I will always bear it in mind as I progress.

I do try to be polite at all times. There are always the down sides to this – one of the subscribers to the listserv told me off for wasting his time reading all my thankyous to those who had helped me.

As the first week came to an end we were gelling as a group. New friendships were forming but, sadly for me, old ones were breaking down. I spent a long time in the University Library because I had no machine of my own. This was both rewarding and frustrating. I had brought all my data on CD format but the library only used floppies. No disk management was possible either – once a floppy was full there was no alternative but to buy another.

Our visits to the Ireland Institute were always welcome and the new friends from the Pittsburgh and District education world will remain as good contacts as the years progress. As one person wrote, it’s true that we’re ‘Reaching for Moon and making it to the stars’ at the moment. I was fascinated by Dr. Mary Catherine Conroy Hayden and the Learning Portal she and Dr. Jaime Harker are intending to set up. I had arranged an extra meeting with her to discuss the whole concept and how it might impinge on the new NINE and, indeed, on the work I hope to do in Ballyclare High. I will have to get back in touch.

There was a perception that I know everything about almost all software packages – this is just not true. I have not used Dreamweaver at all, and, in reality, have not had the need to learn about any web creation package. I have a team around me in school and we play to each other’s strengths. I tend to be the strategic planner and the Desk Top Publisher while others look after the web site and the Intranet. After the planning session and the lesson by Dawn De Francesco (and Steven Hardesty) I started to do my site for the Pittsburgh course. It was a struggle but with the help of others it came good in the end. This was one of the best features of the Pittsburgh experience – the fact that one could ask for and receive help from any and every quarter.

The three days in the third week will live in my memory for a long time. We collaborated with each other in a way that I couldn’t have imagined to be possible. The trading of ideas, the helpful hints, the encouraging words combined with the telling and doing brought so many people together in a most educationally productive way.

Those three days of sheer learning pleasure came after a very long weekend for me. A large group had gone to Washington and only a few of us, Anne, Colin and Brian, Byron and I were left. I spent most of my time in the library and on the laptop I had borrowed. It was during this time that I got my own lesson prepared and the website created.

I do recall Thursday 28th for two reasons. One was the hard time which the group gave to the two University of Ulster Lecturers by videoconference. I’m surprised that they came to visit us later but by the end of their time we all realised the value of the face to face meetings we had with them to plan the next parts of the course. The other reason was the very calming De Bono discussion in the afternoon about our way forward with the units they were teaching. Linda, and research literature, maintains that at some stage (probably this one) 75% of the class should run itself. I found it hard not to be the teacher and the exercise gave some of us the chance to have an input to the discussions about the future. That discussion turned a vindictive disaster into a very positive realisation that some good can come from everything.

John Anderson also arrived later that day and so I took some time with him the next day in the University library. This helped to bring him up to speed with what we had achieved. I also did this for Linda Clarke and Victor McNair when they arrived. It was time well spent and, I believe, was essential for the success of the autumn and spring modules. I am glad I did it even though it meant putting some of my own work on hold. I don’t think that ‘looking’ at the course is ever a substitute for actually doing it but I do believe that those few hours and the days that followed allowed all three to get a much better appreciation of what our group had achieved as a unit.

I learned so much from the first lessons on Thursday. I observed how Heather and Vivien, Geraldine, Mary, Anne and Fiona had coped under the pressure of their first online teaching. I know that Mary sat with her feet up on the desk, but I think that was only for show – I’m sure that underneath her heart was thumping like all the others! I made copious notes and the ideas and possibilities that their efforts threw up remained in my head for days. Some of them are still there and will have to be recorded before they are lost.

I suppose, if I’m honest, I was a bit disappointed that some who were presenting on the same day as me did not appear to learn to the same extent and adjust their lessons or pre-tests in the light of others’ experience. I also began to appreciate the feelings of others and their great need for support from the rest of the group. Some of them were down and took a long time to recover. What struck me on that day was how with greater collaboration and with our enthusiasm and expertise channelled in the right direction we could change the education world (in Northern Ireland, anyway!). There are still some cynics in the group but there are enough who want to make it succeed. We will win in the end. I was particularly impressed with the PowerPoint displays and, while I learnt something from all, I could see the potential for me to use some of the techniques and ideas from Angela’s Internet searching, Colin’s hardware and Heather and Vivien’s learning styles. I did resolve at that stage to include learning styles as a subset of my own online course. This would have a twoway effect. My ‘pupils’ could benefit and their scheme would be grounded in a subject specific context. I know that Fiona and Geraldine have a few minor changes to make before they go forward but they will do it – of that I’m sure. Each person who presented a lesson has a responsibility to take his or her ideas forward. I know that they inspired me. I even made a point of visiting an Art Gallery in Washington on Jackie Lambe’s suggestion, instead of having a cup of coffee!

I’m sure we would want to record our thanks to Ryan, the Instructional Technology Programme’s graduate assistant who helped us all so much during our stay.

I also experienced ‘flaming’ at first hand in a synchronous chat. Part of it may even have been my fault – for some time I tried to get the discussion process back on track but, in the end, gave up and just made some flippant (and probably unhelpful) comments in the chat room. I do think, however, that a lesson built on a half hour chat on a topic that was largely outside the participants’ experience doesn’t keep the group sufficiently focused and can lead to disaster. I do know that the transcripts were of some use to the person but I have certainly learnt to keep my chats well focused and on track.

The Ireland Institute’s invitation to Dinner on the Three Rivers of Pittsburgh in the Gateway Clipper came ‘just in time’. There are many other social aspects to which I could refer, a social meeting, a birthday party or even just a pleasant meal together. These helped us all remain sane as the ‘big brother’ syndrome took over. Many of the people who had been ‘too busy’ before we came found it difficult to keep up. Some didn’t even try and this became a bone of contention among other members of the group. They felt that there was an element of unfairness creeping in with the ‘set them all up for success’ syndrome. I had many conversations with people about this – was it fair that everyone got an ‘A’ if they didn’t put in the same effort as others. We are all different and come with vastly different amounts of expertise. Surely it was the new learning that was being assessed. I knew that Linda, the course tutor, was in full control of the situation. While Linda and I exchanged many encouraging and challenging emails over the four weeks this topic was not discussed.

I did enjoy the group meals, chats over coffee in Canevin Hall, the long walks in the balmy evening sunshine, the baseball game, the welcoming atmosphere in 1st Pittsburgh Presbyterian Church, the outing to the play and the McAllister family leading us in some group singing on a couple of nights in the restaurants. Many friendships were formed – these will last long after the Master’s is finished.

As we entered the last week, it was my turn to teach and be in the hot seat. By that time I certainly ‘knew my audience’. We had spent so much time together. I was conscious that I wanted to choose a topic in ICT that was meaningful and accessible to the others. The last thing I wanted was a ‘techie’ or ‘tacky’ one! Twice in the three weeks I changed my mind before settling on ‘IT’s only Data’. The pun was wasted on most of the participants, but as far as I could tell, the lesson was well received by all concerned. It was really an awareness-creating topic and was designed to let them see the importance of their own personal data. Next to a person’s integrity it should be their most treasured possession. I had learned from others the importance of appropriate content and that the timing of the lesson was crucial. In the end, I decided that ‘simplest is best’ and that good clear instructions combined with a realistic topic would bring success.

I posted the first copies only 10 minutes before I was ready to go live. Those people who jumped the gun suffered since their Excel spreadsheet didn’t work as well as the others who waited for the latest version. I appreciated others’ help in ensuring that it all worked as I intended. It is too easy for the person doing all the creating to assume that everyone has the same level of expertise or that their machines work the same. Others could have learnt from this example.

I now realise the amount of time that has to be invested and also the amount of testing and revision that must take place before any course goes live and also that all links must be kept live at all times. I am determined to succeed and will have to find the time, energy and encouragement from somewhere. Two items had to crystallise on my return. The Garden Centre Case Study did, in fact, occupy my time during Victor’s module. I had all the digital photographs taken and the ideas in my head. I have come to the conclusion that my Virtual Education Tour (the VET) must go out to a commercial source for production.

I think that the VET has potential and could attract both interest and sponsorship from the various companies I would propose to use. It would be accessible to the target age range of the audience than many of the materials that is currently in production.

Many people sent me emails, posted messages or just told me how much they had enjoyed the experience of my lesson. I was greatly encouraged by them at that time. It looks as though I will need more encouragement as I go on. I suppose the ultimate was when Marie Martin approached me a few days later to say how impressed she had been with the way I had controlled the groups in the chat – just like a real teacher but in 5 groups at once. I further appreciated Geraldine’s request at the final dinner in Le Mont that ‘the best teacher in Northern Ireland should give our group’s present to Linda, the best teacher in Pittsburgh (or was it America, I ask?)’. It was humbling and left me, for once, speechless. I had a speech prepared for that presentation Linda, but it will have to wait for another day or occasion.

I have always been an encourager. I believe that we only get the very best out of our friends and colleagues if we build up their self-esteem. That is not to say that should always agree with them. A word in season, an email, anything that makes people feel good. I saw this very evidently from Linda Wojnar and I would like to pass it on to my children and my pupils. Do not miss the window of opportunity to do some good in life – that is why you are here. This has been my philosophy for some time – occasionally one gets misunderstood or is taken as a ‘soft touch’ but the risk is always worth taking and we are risk takers, John Anderson said. Everyone we meet has a story to tell and some useful information to impart. I never have a problem sharing my ideas, expertise, time, money, enthusiasm and anything else that I reasonably can.

I invested a lot of time during the last week trying to lift morale. Four weeks is a long time to be away from home and it takes a strong willed person to find that inner strength to keep going. We all identified ourselves in the Myers Briggs test. For me they got it almost spot on when I was placed as an ‘ISTJ’. I recognised myself as a quiet, serious, complex man who thrives, like everyone else, on encouragement. Many reverted ‘to type’ when the stress came but we have all made it through to the next stage. I have made many new friends and so we can all build certainly build on ‘The Pittsburgh Experience’.

During my time in Duquesne I read Dr. Bonita Wilcox’s and Linda’s ‘Best Practice Goes Online’ paper for a second or third time but this time it was through fresh eyes. I was not alone in this, many people read documents again with new meaning and relevance for their situation. Many phrases now jump out at me and I understand why they were written: ‘doing technology’; ‘content-rich syllabus’; ‘the concept of integrating literacies’; students making their own meaning and deepening their understanding through reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing and thinking’. I will revisit the paper as I progress. My first exercise was to storyboard my way forward and circulate this for wider discussion among the group. People don’t need to be ICT experts before they can recognise what will work and what will not. I want my online course to maintain ‘the components of a best practice model found in any traditional course’ I now see the relevance of these very powerful words. I will work to make it ‘student centred, authentically assessed (if Richard Hanna and I can persuade CCEA!) and delivered in a workshop style where students construct their own knowledge’.

For the course to go online in Northern Ireland, ‘integration technology’ would be vital. I have made many comments about the necessity of Classroom 2000 (C2K) delivering soon. If we are serious about the digital curriculum then this must become a reality in the very near future. I have almost had my fingers burnt in school by proposing that we make the huge investment of almost a quarter of a million pounds in anticipation of a seamless transition to a new scheme. This was 3 years ago and I am increasingly being faced with the problems of legacy machines. But I have won the battle for the minds of my colleagues in school. C2K, please hurry up and make my dream a reality before I retire! Ballyclare High School is waiting patiently and this course will only be a success when and if there is connectivity.

I have mentioned the time and energy needed to take this forward. The Pittsburgh Experience can never be repeated but the lesson learned from giving people time must be taken on board. Ideally I would like to stay in school and be seconded to stay and work there. This would be a new concept but it makes sense to me since I would have a ready made audience in a place where I have a great deal of influence. I could retain some of my Vice-Principal duties but be released from some of the other teaching responsibilities. This would allow me to write, test and evaluate the units in a real life situation. Perhaps someone reading this will make my dream a reality. If I don’t have time then haste will only be made slowly. A Vice-Principal in a large selective school has many responsibilities – adding extra hours to an already heavy schedule will never allow me to produce the best quality work.

Irrespective of writing a full online course, my teaching will change. ‘Build them up for success’ will be my motto – whether they are 18 year olds leaving for university or fresh new children starting out on their journey with me. I am determined that the pupils of Ballyclare High School get a ‘quality assured’ ICT entitlement. David Knox, my headmaster, and I have already agreed that ‘quality assurance’ will be a feature of this year’s ICT aspect of the school development plans. It has already been agreed by the Board of Governors and I will be seeking to put it into practice. I am hoping that I can start looking at this with Vivien, Heather and Mary as part of the research for 514 (Management of IT). I invite any or all members of our group to visit us and help us, in Ballyclare, to become a ‘Centre of Excellence’. In the end it is the learning experience of the children in our care that is the most important aspect of our school’s function.

Many will ask if we needed to spend all that time, money and effort going to Pittsburgh for four weeks and if we needed to stay in the Ramada Plaza Suites when we were there. The answer to both of these has to be a resounding yes! It was an unbelievable time of concentrated learning. My only regret is that I had to wait until I had completed 32 years of teaching before getting the opportunity.

Although I have been involved in cross-community work for over 10 years with School Aid Romania, this gave many of us an experience of a real cross-community co-operation and collaboration. I want to pay tribute to Sister Michelle O’Leary and the other members of the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh for all that they have done to make the visit a success. We were met at the airport, had some groceries left in our hotel rooms, welcomed before the course actually started as well as treating us to two marvellous evenings on the Three Rivers and at the final reception in the Le Mont restaurant. I hope this is the start of a long, happy and fruitful relationship and that a space can be found for Sister O’Leary to be among the representatives at our graduation. I probably felt more ‘Irish’ than I had done at any other time in my life … being Irish felt good but I just couldn’t get my tongue around the letter ‘haich’!

Larry Tomei made so much happen for us both when he was in Jordanstown and in Duquesne. He dropped in to class or met us with his colleagues in Canevin, he organised and took us to the ball game and even ensured that the Pirates won that one. I enjoyed the 4th of July celebrations. It was a poignant moment as Anne and I stood together for the playing of the American National Anthem and under the one flag … that might not happen as easily at home. Perhaps a spin off from the course is that we can start some real (online) ‘Education for Mutual Understanding’!

It is hard to describe the whole Pittsburgh experience to someone who has not been there. For the most part we were on a ‘high’. We were always ‘built up for success’ by Linda and as that took effect so our expectations and efforts rose to meet the challenge. As a group we have changed mindsets already – one only has to look at the ‘new’, barely recognisable, University of Ulster modules and the seismic shift in 514. This group has the potential to change the whole face of education in Northern Ireland. We have a belief in ourselves and we have the backing of Joe Martin, Paddy Mackey and John Anderson. How can we fail if we work together at this?

Finally I want to pay tribute to Linda and Richard Wojnar. There is no disputing that he was definitely Richard the First. The other three Richards were only pretenders. He looked after us so well in the four weeks and was always on call if we needed him. He was so supportive of Linda and allowed her to give us so much of her time, energy, expertise and enthusiasm for many, many hours over the four weeks. She had told us in Coleraine how we would feel after the four weeks but I’m not sure how much all of us believed her. On the first night in Duquesne at the 519 presentations we began to get a flavour for the regard in which her pupils held her. All that we heard that night and more is true. She has been an inspiration to me. An exceptionally gifted teacher, she has been a role model for each one of us every hour of the course. Never once did she lose control of the situation. She alone knew how to get the very best from us and we all received so much feedback and encouragement for our work over the four weeks of this incredible experience. I felt so privileged to be there with my friends. I only hope that they all realise how fortunate they were to be part of this group.

I would not have missed the Pittsburgh Experience for anything and have so many happy memories of the time we spent together. The International MSc will have been hard earned and will be a worthwhile qualification but that will only be incidental to actual learning experience.

Bringing it all back home

It was seven weeks after we left Pittsburgh that we next met together as a group. While we had exchanged a few emails with each other it was good to be together again and find out what each person had been doing over what was left of the summer. On 13^th July I met my wife and my 24-year-old son in New York where we spent an enjoyable week before taking the train down to Washington. In total I had spent 6 weeks in America and enjoyed every moment of it. I suppose it was the fact that we had been up the Twin Towers and the Empire State Building that made September 11^th all the more poignant. Northern Ireland has known many acts of terrorism and barbarity over the last thirty or so years but none to compare with what happened on that day. I know that some good has come out of the atrocity and I do think our own peace process is the stronger because of the new philosophy and determination to beat this scourge on a world wide basis.

So it was at the ‘Joint Japan-Northern Ireland ICT Schools Policy Symposium’ that we met again as a group and reflected on our ‘big-brother’ experience in Pittsburgh. The first session by Professor Yasotaka Shimizu was largely wasted on us as we tried to catch up with each other. There were many other interesting presentations at the two day event. Probably the best and most relevant from our point of view were the presentations by Carmel Gallagher from the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) and John Anderson. Carmel talked about the effect that Educational Technology would have on the Curriculum Review and John shared his vision for Lifelong Learning with us. So many of the things that they and others said had new meaning for the 17 of us who had been steeped in such an invigorating educational experience with Linda. What we really missed was the chance to share what we had learned with the assembled body. It would have been good for us to talk and although some thought we should wait until the story is complete, I don’t think it is ever too early to share good news!

We were due to start Unit 514 with Jerry Slamecka and John Anderson at a residential on the following weekend at the end of August in Carrickfergus. For me this was the unit I was most looking forward to. It was about management, policy, strategy, planning and was to be based largely on a review of the Northern Ireland Educational Technology Strategy. As part of my preparation I had read this document again. This time it was definitely through new eyes and I realised just how much it was ahead of its time. The authors are to be congratulated and it is a pity that we have had to wait for almost 5 years before we can really begin to see it being implemented. Still, I suppose, it is never too late if it works and does make a difference to teaching and learning in the Province. There has probably never been a better time to implement it anyway. I was both thrilled and frustrated with this unit. For me it was an unbelievable combination of relevance and irrelevance. The two days residential were a bit of a waste of time. We either went over old ground or dealt with topics that were so far outside our experience that we left not really knowing how to take the whole thing forward. There had been a lot of ongoing discussion about this unit when we were in Pittsburgh and, in fairness to the writers, it had been shortened and shortened until it was barely recognisable as the same course. This should not have affected its relevancy.

As the weeks followed we were all busily engaged in the assessed assignment about the review of the NI ET Strategy. This really appealed to me and the group with which I was working set up our own course in Blackboard and, from that, enjoyed and gained so much from the experience. We drew on research from all over the world and presented John with so many ideas that, if the Strategy Group even takes on half of them, Northern Ireland’s place as a world leader in the use of ET in teaching and learning will be assured for a long time to come. At the same time we were all required to be engaged in what appeared to us to be a totally irrelevant exercise reading and commenting on Healy’s book about his musings on the use and abuse of ICT in schools. The book was neither a ‘wee story’ nor a research document and so we just went through the motions of posting our thoughts on the discussion board of WebCT. I suppose it was at this stage we all realised how important it was for the tutor to know his audience and to be sufficiently visible to keep everyone engaged in his or her own learning. It was our group feeling that the course we had set up on Blackboard was what Northern Ireland really needed.

For me the one significant difference about this period of time in the course was the amount of reading I was starting to do for pleasure or to increase my knowledge. I was encouraged to read more articles and books by various members of the course. These were books or articles that they had found useful and felt that they wanted to share with others. Often we would trade notes and thoughts about these. Mary had passed on Linda’s advice that we shouldn’t just read the books but keep a record of our ‘new learning’ or of the quotations that appealed to us. I have taken this on board and now highlight the quotations as I go through and then type these up at the end. I have shared these with others, some of whom found it hard to believe that I would willingly give away all my own hard work. I had already benefited from the exercise and there was little or no reason to keep these little treasures to myself. I know that it is much easier now when I come to write a report for any of the units since my quotations are all there in a well organised and usable fashion. I would recommend this to others.

It was at this time that I began thinking of further studies. I have really enjoyed this learning experience and, even at my age, I would like to continue the mental stimulation. I have investigated the possibility of doctoral studies with the University of Ulster and did consider the on-line course being offered by Duquesne. Cost is likely to be a big factor there and, while I would like to continue my involvement with the Pittsburgh team, I may have to settle for something here in Northern Ireland. I fully realise that it will be different since I am unlikely to have the support and collaboration of the colleagues I have at the moment. I have been involved with the Paperless Exam Project (PEP). This is a joint venture between two Examinations’ Boards in the British Isles. I firmly believe that the final piece in the online learning jigsaw is the assessment of high stakes courses. Phase two of the project involves the use of computers in the assessment of both Science and Geography at General Certificate of Education (GCSE) level. We allowed phase one to pass without any real research into the likely improvement to teaching and learning so there is a feeling that phase two will have a research budget, albeit a small one, built into it. Perhaps I can have the best of both worlds and have one of the Duquesne staff as my tutor as I further my studies and make a contribution to the educational system in Northern Ireland

The Multimedia Literacy Unit was always likely to cause problems just because the topic is so wide and the participants are so diverse in their IT experience. One of the benefits of having the two tutors from the University of Ulster with us in Pittsburgh was that we could get to know each other and make a realistic assessment of what was possible in this unit. I would have to say that Victor needn’t have worried about his course. It was well prepared, relevant and helpful and I know that I, for one, learnt a lot from it. It was my second real experience with web design using Dreamweaver and it was enjoyable and relevant to my online course. I believe that good, relevant, up-to-date content is the key to success in any website. Of course the navigation must be simple but the bells and whistles become less important and vital to pupils who use the site just to improve their learning, or their chances of success in the final assessment.

One of the assignments in the ICT course is about the use of a computer system in a Garden Centre. I used the Multimedia Literacy Unit to design a site around this theme. It was a tremendous opportunity to make a ‘container’ (no pun intended!) for many aspects of my course. I started to write a glossary of ICT terms so that I could reference the ‘story’ to these. That aspect just grew and grew and, in the end, I had over 11000 words alone in this one little bit of the site. I was also able to include a selection of digital photographs which I had taken in two local garden centres along with a number of images from Phipps conservatory in Pittsburgh. There are supplementary notes, assignment specifications from the actual course, mark schemes and exemplar materials. It was a labour of love and was very well received by both my tutor and the growing number of pupils in school who use it. It is available to them on our Internet site and so they can work away at home at this part of the course.

I think we overcame the lecturer’s greatest fears by huge amounts of private and public co-operation, collaboration and encouragement. He wrote to me after it to say ‘I have been the one who has learned most, I think, in all of this and much of the success that I felt was down to your support and encouragement.’ This is what has made this Masters so special for me!

I took a huge amount of digital pictures in Pittsburgh and have made some of these into collages. One is just a straightforward example with 40 or 50 pictures arranged asymmetrically around the page. The others are tiled versions that, when viewed from a distance, actually make up the face of one of the participants. We had Christmas dinner together and I was able to make a presentation of two of these collages to Joe Martin and to John Anderson for his daughter Sarah. I know they were appreciated as an unusual reminder of the time we spent together.

I have continued to write my course and have been piloting the use of a Blackboard and Granada’s Learnwise supplemented by my own Garden Centre. These have given me the opportunities to pilot the course with my own pupils. I have almost 70 pupils in 3 classes learning this way.

Geraldine Taggart and I were asked to accompany John Anderson to the National Association of Advisers in Computer Education (NAACE) Annual Conference in Torquay. There were about 600 delegates and we were presenting our experiences with online learning at one of the minor sessions. It was a thrill to see the hall packed with over 150 people before the doors closed and then to receive a warm, enthusiastic reception at the end of our 90 minute session. Speaking at the conference gave me a chance to reflect on and share with others what I had actually learnt over the past year and it is perhaps appropriate that I finish with that. I did involve some of my pupils, 9 in total, in an interactive online chat in front of all these delegates. The pupils were still in Ballyclare, John and Geraldine were in another part of the Conference building, Fiona was at home and I was in front of the audience controlling or facilitating the whole experience. This was the highlight for me and for all in that room. They saw, at first hand, how the seductiveness of the chat room could be transformed into a learning tool. I haven’t got it totally right yet, but I am getting there. I suppose one of my regrets is that I have not properly documented every aspect of this amazing journey since last February.

So what have we learnt? Here is just a small selection of the things that jump out at me. They are presented more as observations than properly researched topics but, then again, this is a story of success not an educational dissertation.

First and foremost is Linda’s maxim of ‘Setting your pupils up for success’ whether they are online or in an ordinary classroom as being the real key to successful teaching. This doesn’t mean agreeing with all that they do or saying that they are wonderful when they are not but it does mean recognizing that learning can, will and should take place every time you teach. You should always ‘know your audience’ and make realistic demands from them. A huge amount of time is needed to keep everyone on board at the level which is appropriate to their needs. Tutors should be visible without being obtrusive. I know this but I am still learning how to put it into practice. Pupils need support since many of them may be ‘only one click away from leaving’ your course no matter how well you think you have it organised.

Different topics require different approaches. There is a danger of ‘death by PowerPoint’ or by chatting just because it is convenient for the tutor. I know that occasionally I have used the chat facility to be the ‘sage on the stage’, albeit an electronic or virtual one. An awareness of different learning styles ensures greater success combined with using the computer to ‘tell the big’ picture is an asset … one that pupil’s really appreciate.

Assessment is a vital part of the process and should always be changing to meet differing circumstances. This is the part which requires the most work and it is with this topic that we are engaged at the moment. It is easy to assume that because the materials are available and accessible at all times and presented in an inviting way that pupils must learn. ‘You can take a pupil to a computer but you cannot make him or her learn’ is a good maxim to remember.

Another of the keys to success is the content creation. Linda advised me to keep it ‘asset’ independent. This means that it should be available to be used in a variety of mediums. It is good advice since my course ideas can be transferred to whichever medium is the most suitable at the time in question. They are not dependent on the school Intranet, Blackboard, Learnwise or any other Internet site. It takes time and patience to make it all fit together and to keep everything current and up-to-date. It is certainly not a ‘fit and forget’ scheme.

Knowing when to let go and allow your pupils to take over is a skill that I am still learning. It is knowing when to intervene and when to stand back. I am too impatient and want the learning to happen in my time scale, not in that of any others.

Above everything else I have learned that collaboration actually works and increases one own knowledge and understanding in a way that others cannot really comprehend. You have to do it to get the main benefit … reading, thinking about it, philosophizing are no substitutes for actual participation. Take a risk … I don’t think you will do any harm either to your pupils or to yourself!

This has been a year of great success for me and for the school in national competitions. I was the winner of the BECTa ICT in Practice Award for Management in Teaching. This was a cheque for £2500GBP for me and one for the same amount for the school. There has been a lot of publicity for this award, the latest of which is a CD which is being sent to every school in the British Isles to give credit to ‘exemplary school managers, inspirational teachers and inspired learners’. I suppose I might be regarded as being all three of these! I also attended a dinner in the Dorchester Hotel in London to receive an engraved crystal plaque on behalf of the school for ‘Educational Contribution of the Year’ from the Institute of IT Trainers. This was in recognition of the vast amount of support we have provided for our staff and pupils over the last academic year. Finally my wife and I were guests at a dinner in The Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham to receive two Award certificates from the Educational Management and Resources Association. The school was nominated in the ‘Educational Establishment of the Year’ and I was one of four ‘Highly Commended’ runners up in the ‘Leadership in Teaching’ Category. These were not IT Awards. In fact the winner in my category was a person who had turned round an inner city school. We have an ambition in school to become the best ICT school in Europe … a school where everyone is a lifelong learner and I am the person promoting that vision. The awards show that we are moving towards that position.

About the Author

Richard T Wallace is Vice-Principal in Ballyclare High School, 31 Rashee Road, Ballyclare, Co Antrim, BT39 9HJ, Northern Ireland. r.wallace@ballyclarehigh.co.uk

Larry and the Technological Façade

Mary Mallon

The second module saw the welcome introduction of the Duquesne staff into the Masters course. Several things contributed to a positive mood among many of us, not least of which was the fact that this module was delivered over three weekends on a residential basis. The location and logistics of this residential module meant that there was a chance to interact with Dr. Tomei and the rest of the cohort in a much more relaxed and informal way. It was during the first of these weekends that I felt the cohesiveness of the group beginning to be built as we took time to share a meal and enjoy the ‘craic’ after the meal (craic is relaxed chit-chat, banter and fun with friends). No longer was there a feeling of needing to rush off after lectures, to begin a long drive home and prepare for the coming days work. Instead, we were able to share our stories and reflections on the lessons of the day, with those who would be part of the ‘big brother’ experience that lay ahead.

This was my first introduction to a Virtual Learning Environment, in the form of WebCT and I was most impressed at the detailed planning that was evident in the highly structured course which Dr. Tomei had prepared for us. I responded well to having the ‘big picture’ laid out, with all the resources online and available at all times. A stark contrast to the 200 mile round trip needed to access the reference materials for the previous module. The flexible nature of the coursework which Dr Tomei designed also enabled us to tailor the coursework to our Northern Irish Education system so ensuring its relevance.  I carried out a review of the ICT provision in my previous school, St Joseph’s High School in Crossmaglen using a tool created by Dr. Tomei, ‘The Technological Façade’, which enabled the school to evaluate their ICT provision, set targets for improvement and more importantly put plans in place to achieve them.

However, by the end of the third weekend, we were all mentally and physically exhausted after the struggle of juggling our day job commitments, with that of the intensive demands of the course not to mention family life. But again timing is everything and Easter holidays were fast approaching.

Prior to our next modules which would see us all travelling to Pittsburgh and studying at Duquesne for a month, we were given books to read and at this point intensive collaborate online became the focus, in another new environment, Blackboard. I found this an excellent way of preparing myself for the Pittsburgh experience as it provided much of the background theory which would prove so valuable in creating a firm foundation for the learning ahead. Such was the volume of this preparatory work that the scheduling of one weeks annual leave, in a cottage in Donegal without a phone or television, proved invaluable in ensuring that I was able to fulfil these requirements of the Masters program. A luxury many others did not have. I must however add that preparations also included much discussion on NINE about our extra-curricular activities and the Ireland Institute were keen to ensure that all our needs were catered for.

Perhaps one of the most valuable preparations was Linda Wojnar’s visit to met each of us individually in Ireland. It was as a result of this visit that I began to try to plan the way forward for the online lesson I would teach in Pittsburgh and the course that would be my focus for the following year. I found it invaluable to have this face-to-face contact with our tutor as it opened the door to many transatlantic emails and even phone calls as I attempted to refine my thinking as I plotted the course ahead.

Big Brother for the Masters Participants in Pittsburgh

There are many words which would describe the four weeks in Pittsburgh, but for me it was a magical time. We created an alternative ‘Big Brother’ experience and many friendships were cemented as we supported and encouraged each other. It was a time of excitement…from my arrival in the airport where the beagle sniffer dogs ‘drew attention’ to my hand luggage…some around me looked on in amazement only to find that it was the illegal importation of an apple and orange that so interested the little cutie…to our first introduction to a structured online synchronous chat…something which I was immediately sold on and to this day see as a vital element to online learning. There was such a buzz of excitement in subsequent synchronous chats, a feeling of energetic, dynamic, vibrant learning…so different from the sometimes quite measured responses posted in an asynchronous discussions… to me one without the other  is like only half the picture.

As I learned more about online learning by conducting my own lesson and participating in others, I recalled something a colleague in the Southern Education and Library Board Maths team told me at the beginning of my secondment to the Curriculum Advisory and Support Service. Gerry Toal said in planning an in-service course he always focused on what the participants were going to do to construct their own knowledge. This is sound advice especially in an online environment. All the ‘words’ in the six books I had read about online learning, in rainy Donegal, seemed to flood back with real meaning; through the many online lessons in Pittsburgh they became embedded in authentic learning experiences.

My online lesson attempted to develop and extend the Online Mathematics quiz which was my focus in the first module. I set about developing a lesson which included the participants viewing a PowerPoint presentation outlining a variety of problem solving techniques and then required them to work synchronously in collaborative groups to solve some Mathematics problems. My lesson was very stressful for some in that they were not comfortable with the content but the most important lesson I learned was how vital it is to match activities to time available and for the future would endeavour to strike a better balance. Upon reflection, there was not enough time to absorb the strategies outlined in the lesson for them to be of any real benefit for the quiz, I had allowed insufficient time for the assimilation of the knowledge to take place before requiring the participants to make use of it.

There were more highs than lows during the 4 weeks…our first steps as online tutors...frustration at accidentally hitting the delete button and destroying rich archives generated by one of my online groups…being bombarded with Listserv messages…not wanting to unsubscribe in case the next message held some gem. Seeing the pieces of the jigsaw fit into place…the pre-reading…Linda’s insistence on meeting each of us on our home turf prior to the trip and not talking but listening to us individually to ensure she knew where our hopes and aspirations lay.  To say we learned a lot from Linda Wojnar in those four weeks is an understatement. Linda is a special person, without whom this whole program would just not have worked…to me she is most akin to the emperor in ‘The Empty Pot’ (if you have not read it you are in for a treat! http://pbskids.org/lions/seed/story8.html), who gently encourages people to do their best and indeed succeeded in drawing the best from us all…who have been described collectively as 17 captains on a single ship…Linda kept us afloat and threw us a life raft just when we each needed it, when some us really needed throwing over board! She well and truly set us all up for success.

We enjoyed many relaxed and happy moments in Pittsburgh thanks to the Ireland Institute…a baseball game…an evening on the river… fireworks like we’d never seen before…receptions…barbeques... a trip to Boston and one to Washington…all part of our magical memories.

I would add the one of my highs in Pittsburgh included being interviewed via video-conference for a new job. Never having spoken in a video-conference before I was concerned about the difficulty in conveying the real me through the limitations of the technology. This combined with the fact that I had only 3 hours notice of the interview, contributed to the drama of the whole experience. Here again, it was support and encouragement from my ‘Big Brother’ friends that helped to ensure that the result was to be a positive one which would bring new challenges. As the Granada Learning Consultant for Northern Ireland my focus throughout the remainder of the modules would see a shift in focus for my work, away from Numeracy to that of supporting the Classroom 2000 Schoolbox software.

Leadership and Management

August saw the resumption of the Masters program after our time spent at Duquesne. I spent some time in the six weeks from our return on the three R’s - recharging the batteries, readjusting to life outside the ‘big brother’ family and reflecting on the program so far. It was during this time that I began to source literature on a range of ICT topics from a range of authors and began my journal of notable quotes and reflections, another leaf out of Linda’s book. Since I am an optimist, Reingold (1996) struck home,

The age of the online pioneers will end soon, and the cyberspace settlers will come en-masse.’ p.415

This module was delivered jointly by Jerry Slamecka from Duquesne and our own John Anderson, Director of the Northern Ireland Educational Technology Strategy, using a face-to-face 2-day residential and collaborative learning in small groups for the remainder of the module. Looking back on it the two day residential  really could have been three, I feel we could have benefited from a day before the formal work beginning being given over to us to facilitate our catching up on al that we each had done since Pittsburgh, how out thinking had changed and how we each planned to proceed. Akin to giving over the first 5 – 10 minutes in a synchronous chat to the participants to say hi and chat informally before focusing in on the task at hand. Instead we talked into the wee small hours.

Our group of four decided we needed a vehicle to facilitate the collaboration which we planned for and Linda Wojnar arranged for a space on the Duquesne server using Blackboard. Although we found it necessary to collaborate extensively online throughout this module, it was not sufficient, and we found that face-to-face meetings were essential. Each of us generated and shared a huge bank of resources in terms of background reading and the difficulty came in the analysis and collation of the data for the purposes of the assignment for this module. We simply had too much – we could have written and entire book never mind an essay. During our time in Linda’s modules she had told us how some online classes almost run themselves, we felt that in this module we had achieved this, we had come along way from the teacher led module…a feature of more traditional masters courses. We took control, charted the course and arrived at our final destination using the hybrid model of face-to-face and online.

Multimedia Literacy

http://c2kschoolbox.granada-learning.com

Victor McNair from the University of Ulster facilitated our work for this module which focused on Multimedia Literacy and his time spent with us during our studies in Pittsburgh is evidence of his dedication. He was conscientious in his support of our individual needs and continued to ensure we were set up for success. I was really looking forward to getting started with this module as I had used Dreamweaver in the first module in the Masters and found it to be a very powerful tool. This module also offered me a chance to weave together my work in the Masters program with my new role as Granada Learning’s Northern Ireland Consultant. The background to my new role,

‘C2K has secured and innovative licensing agreement with Granada Learning to provide all primary schools, teacher education institutions and libraries with a comprehensive set of software. The C2K Schoolbox, which includes titles from BlackCat, Semerc and Anglia Multimedia, has a wide-ranging set of tools and applications as well as content rich CD-ROMs. Teachers have welcomed the regional licence negotiated by C2K which allows them to run the software on all school computers and laptops as well as their home computers for the purpose of lesson preparation. Popular titles include Counting Pictures 2, Pick A Picture, and Writer for KS1, whilst KS2 pupils will have opportunities to explore Pawprints, a brand new desktop publishing package, and Internet Odyssey 2, a new easy to use multimedia presentation package.’

ET Strategy for Northern Ireland Newsletter No. 5

The Classroom 2000 Schoolbox is just part of the Managed Service for primary schools which is currently being rolled out across all 5 Education and Library Boards.  Introduction of the Classroom 2000 Schoolbox into all primary schools in Northern Ireland represents a huge investment of public funds, and for the first time guarantees that all teachers and pupils aged 4 – 11 are offered access to the same set of software regardless of the size, location or financial situation which a school finds themselves in.  The Classroom 2000 Schoolbox comprises of 30 pieces of software and an accompanying set of manuals. My remit as the Granada Learning Classroom 2000 Consultant is to encourage and support the effective use of the software in Northern Ireland at all levels.

The idea to develop a website to support the Classroom 2000 Schoolbox seemed a natural extension of my face-to-face work, as well as the most efficient and effective way to disseminate information and provide an opportunity for all the stakeholders with a shared ownership of the project by encouraging them to contribute to the materials to be housed there.

A fellow IMSc participant writes,

‘Excellent idea for a website – very timely with the C2K roll-out about to begin. This will provide teachers with online support which will help them to consolidate their face to face training in the software.’ 18 October 2001

This ongoing needs analysis, conducted on two levels – content and site design, ensured that I was not risking developing a site that was unnecessary or inappropriate (Smith and Ragan, 1993). I was engaging in a process of generating and refining goals which acted as benchmarks, goals which were revised as the plan unfolded (Shambaugh and Magliaro, 1997). It was anticipated that the fact that all schools, irrespective of their size, were to be given only one set of manuals might be problematic and therefore online versions of the manuals seemed the logical solution. When this was suggested to Granada Learning they were fully supportive of the idea and provided them in PDF format.  From this initial idea of making the manuals available online, other ideas came to light after conversations with stakeholders including teachers, CASS, NINE consultants, IMSc participants and my line manager.

As a result of the ongoing needs analysis, it was decided that the website should house a help section to get teachers started with individual pieces of software that might be of interest to them. I would argue that the reality is that busy teachers often do not have time to wade their way through a software manual and so the ‘At a Glance’ section was planned. In addition to these two sections, I felt it was important to map out for teachers just how this software could be used to enhance topics within subjects currently being taught as part of the Northern Ireland Programme of Study in Key Stage 1 and 2, and where appropriate how this could be linked to the CCEA ICT Accreditation Scheme at KS2.

A website housing these three components has the potential to maximise the impact of the Classroom 2000 Schoolbox by allowing all educators including those students in Teacher Training to have access to the materials irrespective of the time of day or location.  A PGCE student from Coleraine writes:

‘I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am of the support website for the Classroom 2000 CD…I have already been using the Classroom 2000 CD during my teaching practice but I think this website will be of great benefit to me during my teaching career in either Key Stage 1 or 2 since it gives ideas on the programmes within Classroom 2000 which can be used within the subjects of Science, Geography, Numeracy, Literacy and History.’ 6 January 2002

From my past experience in designing and maintaining a site for the SELB I have learned that shared responsibility is essential if the site is to be a ‘living thing’ which grows and is refined over time -  it needs to be fed from many sources to ensure it does not stagnate and die. I am very committed to the idea of the Classroom 2000 Schoolbox site being a site made by teachers and not a site made for teachers, and this is true for all the stakeholders. My diary records my delight when at an early stage the ELB ICT teams offered their assistance in writing the ‘At a Glance’ section. 

‘The five Boards have offered to help write the ‘At a Glance’ sheets for the entire 30 programs, thus ensuring the site is populated quickly. This is a super development as it means that we are all working together to provide a resource to all of NI, with shared responsibility and shared ownership.’

19 October 2001

Initially I provided an example of a completed ‘At a Glance’ sheet for the teams to comment on and following that consultation a template was provided to ensure they would all have the same ‘look and feel’. Reactions to the ‘At a Glance’ sheets were very positive:

  ‘The document looks exactly like the sort of thing we were talking about – something which gives the main points at a glance and fully illustrated so that they can see exactly what they are looking for on their screen.’

Linda Archer, AAO ICT NEELB, 30 October 2001

‘The sheets look really clear and useful…great job…’

Doug Dickinson, Independent ICT Consultant, 2 November 2001

‘It looks good, Mary. Enough information to give them a taster of what each program can do without overload.’

Eleanore Thomas, NINE Consultant, 30 October 2001

These emails also highlight my commitment to consultation with many interested parties, as the content for the site was being written. This formative approach was vital in ensuring that the materials were authentic and written with the end user in mind. Although I personally wrote the ‘Key Stage 1 Ideas’ and ‘Key Stage 2 Ideas’ sections, based on the Programmes of Study, I forwarded the materials in draft form to individuals with specialist subject knowledge in order to refine the content. It was the feedback at an early stage in which proved most useful in improving the Key Stage 1 and 2 Ideas section and again it was from a wider variety of sources as these excerpts illustrate:

‘Thanks for the Geography PoS links document – it’s a great idea to place the various titles under the familiar headings from the PoS.’

Richard Greenwood, Senior Lecturer, Stranmillis University College

‘I’ve had a look at your science materials and I think that schools will find them extremely useful particularly since you’ve linked the activities directly to the level descriptors within each attainment target and you’ve divided the activities into Key Stages.’

Geraldine Timoney NINE Consultant

Where advice was given this is publicly acknowledged on this site, and each time a user prints of a document the name appears on the document.

Throughout the whole process I struggled with producing a quality product with meaningful content, I kept asking myself the question, ‘If I was a teacher and had been given this box of stuff what would I want to help me?’ This struggle was recognised by many around me and is recorded in many emails including the one below to my line manager,

‘They have grown…Generalities are of no use to teachers. I think we must be specific if we are talking about really impacting with real teachers and not just giving it lip service.’

His reply, ‘PoS suggestions are spot on. Definitely not lip service’ and encouragement from many other quarters spurred me on. I had originally set myself the goal of having 5 subjects ready across two Key Stages, this proved to be too ambitious and at the time of launching the site 3 were ready across the two Key Stages, with a new deadline of the end of January for the remaining ones.

Throughout this time a similar process was mirrored in the design issues with the site, and I was privileged to have Granada Learning web-designers to work with both electronically and face-to-face. As the site was to be housed on the Granada Learning server and had the full backing of the company it was essential that the finished product reflect the corporate look and feel of Granada. Since Granada Learning is made up of many different education companies I spent an entire day with a designer looking at the different options available. If a completely new design were to be made it would have to be scrutinised at different levels in the company and would not be authorised until the Managing Director had signed it off; a lengthy process. After much debate I decided to use the ‘Learnwise’ design as the template (www.learnwise.com).

By reflecting on the navigation and discussing it with critical friends and importantly my line manager, who knew both the software and the needs of teachers, I was able to clarify my thinking on the emerging issues. Upon reflection, I now view my initial plan for the navigation as being seriously flawed, as it was coming from my starting point, someone who had been immersed in the software for several months.  The needs analysis proved vitally important at this design stage and as I continued to learn more about my end users and incorporate this into my design I shifted the details of the site to fit the reality of where my end users were starting from. I would agree with Shambaugh and Magliaro (1997),

‘One of the realities of any kind of design work, including instructional design, is the need to revise what one has designed based on new understandings or trial runs or prototypes.’   p 81

Much of the guidance materials produced to assist in web-design emphasises navigation as being vitally important, something which I would echo from my previous experience working on the SELB website. Grey (2001) provides solid advice and outlines a Nine-Step Plan as a model for design which proved most useful. The purpose of the page design for the Classroom 2000 Schoolbox site was not just to look pretty or grab attention, but to help the user navigate easily around the site. Navigation is, in my opinion, vitally important and therefore I held at the heart of my design the idea of ‘insistence on consistency’ – so that every menu would look similar and at all times the user would know where they were (Levy, 1995). I was constantly striving for simplicity with consistent features.

I attempted to get two types of feedback on the site, qualitative and quantitative to enable me to make revisions to the site. The quantitative feedback will allow me to monitor the hits on the site so I can ascertain how widely and frequently the site is actually being used. Qualitative feedback has included:

‘Easy to load, easy to use, easy to understand unlike some other sites!’

Michael Montgomery AO BELB

‘Wow! Very slick job Mary! It’s concise and focused – the structure is nice and simple and the navigation is always visible since you’ve no long sections to scroll down; so the user should definitely be aware of their current position.’

Daniel Copley AAO SELB

‘Schoolbox is a great Web site!’              

 John Kennon P4 teacher

‘The site looks really well and is a really good resource.’

 Jacqueline Carlin Lecturer UUC

‘The site is extremely easy to use.’       

Colette Delargy AA0 SELB

It was also encouraging to received feedback via the form on the website, and I hope this continues. Qualitative feedback indicates that the site is being used by teachers with approximately 12,000 hits in the first five months and almost 80,000 page requests for the same period.

Part of the whole process was been ensuring my users know about the existence of the site, as Grey (2001) states, ‘You can’t just sit back and wait for the emails to flood in. You have to tell people its there.’ p132

 I have advertised the existence of the site in several ways:

• In face to face sessions I have demonstrated the site, given people a paper copy of an ‘At a Glance’ sheet to entice them to the site, and explicitly tied it into the NoF training tasks. By Feb 4^th 2002 I will have spoken to a representative from almost 90% of the primary and special schools in Northern Ireland.
• The address of the site is on the PowerPoint Presentation and Wall Planner which I have distributed to all schools.
• The site has links to and from each ELB, CCEA and NINE.

There have been positives and negatives in this journey – thankfully the positives outweigh the negatives. One negative which cannot be altered is the address of the site – it is rather long and unwieldy. On the positive side Granada Learning Professional Development division wish to use the ‘At a Glance’ section for their NoF training in England and Wales and therefore the materials will get a really wide audience, they are making a link to the site pending mirroring the content.

As I said at the beginning of this report I hope that the site will grow and people will continue to take ownership of it and provide resources which can be housed on it to share. For as Duncan Grey (2001) says,

 ‘It’s not enough to write a set of pages, then sit back and feel smug. Websites need constant maintenance … checking for broken links, updating content, adding new pages and erasing old ones.’ p 134

The work of Classroom 2000 and Granada Learning has been recognised nationally with an Education and Partnership award by the British Educational Suppliers Association in March of 2002.

So why not visit and take a look for yourself! http://c2kschoolbox.granada-learning.com

About the Author

Mary Mallon is Granada Learning C2k Consultant, Quay Street, Manchester, M60 9EA, England.

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