Expanding Web partnership with UAlbany

helps enhance student learning

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 19, 2009) -- An expanding partnership between the City School District of Albany and the University at Albany's School of Information Studies is providing powerful new teaching and learning resources to district teachers and students.

The multimedia collaborative development model, now in its seventh year, engages district teachers with UAlbany graduate students in library media and undergraduate students in Web design to develop exciting new lessons for students. The program has evolved from a single project team in 2003 to nine teams this spring.

The teams, representing five district schools, reviewed their most recent work and shared their final projects during a May 5 event at Harriet Gibbons High School (pictured above). Along with Harriet Gibbons, which had three teams, district schools represented were Abrookin Vocational-Technical Center, Montessori Magnet School (three teams), Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School and Thomas O'Brien Academy of Science and Technology.

How does the program work? Teachers identify critical areas of learning that are challenging their students, and then work with the university design team to develop instructionally relevant and effective Web lessons, along with appropriate pre-and post-assessments to use with the lessons. 

During the course of the development the Web prototypes are used in the classroom with students, and the design teams then use feedback from the students to modify and redesign the lessons to make them more interesting and effective.

Who benefits? In this trans-generational Web development approach, everyone who is involved benefits.

Albany students have the opportunity to learn important content using 21^st century multimedia Web materials that incorporate video, text and sound in engaging lessons. Teachers benefit by having additional learning resources available that are specifically targeted to the curriculum areas and topics that they want.

In addition, because projects that are developed each year are saved on the district’s instruction Web site, they can continue to be used by the teacher along with other teachers across the district. The university students benefit by learning and working in a real-world environment with the demanding requirement of satisfying real world “customers” -- teachers and, ultimately, K-12 students.

Learning to work together toward a common goal -- the process of collaboration -- as the project is developed between and among all the team members is another significant benefit of this experience.

Following is a list of schools and projects developed this semester:

• Abrookin -- African-American Culture

• Harriet Gibbons -- Do Knights Wear Spandex?

• Harriet Gibbons -- Immigration

• Harriet Gibbons -- Mythology: The Greek Gods

• Montessori -- American Revolution

• Montessori -- The Continents

• Montessori -- Math

• Myers -- Computers and Technology

• TOAST -- I Can Choose: Healthy Habits

During the May 5 presentations, the feedback from teachers and students about the Web lessons was incredibly positive. Teachers said their students were more motivated and engaged in learning because of the Web lessons, and students said they wanted to learn more -- a critical sign of success.

Leadership and support for the program came from Joette Stefl-Mabry, Ph.D., and William E. J. Doane, Ph.D., both from UAlbany, and from district instructional technology specialists Sandy Paben and Jim Lovett.

Teachers who are interested in volunteering to participate on a project team in the fall semester should contact Sandy at spaben@albany.k12.ny.us. Participation involves committing to 2-3 meetings with university students to discuss content and design and mentoring pre-service school library media students in your classroom.

Take a look at the many interesting projects that have been developed through this unique program, including the nine from this semester. They are located on the district’s instruction Web resources at http://webhelp.albany.k12.ny.us/instructional/projects.htm

The City School District of Albany serves approximately 8,300 students in 18 elementary, middle and high schools. In addition to neighborhood schools, the district includes several magnet schools and programs, as well as other innovative academic opportunities for students. The district is nearing completion of its comprehensive facilities project to newly build or renovate nearly all of its elementary and middle schools. The ultimate goal of the facilities project is to provide schools with the resources necessary to help students succeed in the 21st century.