Abstract
Staff development, embedded
in an electronic bulletin board environment, is both constructivist
and collaborative. The article describes how the authors use electronic
bulletin boards as a staff development tool. During staff development,
the bulletin board format provides scaffolded experiences, enabling
teachers to collaborate within a protected online, chat-room environment.
Within the bulletin board scenario, teachers experience problem-based
learning activities similar to those they will create for their own
students. During the sessions, teachers co-construct meanings from their
bulletin board experiences. They learn how to 1) work with technologists
to create bulletin boards, 2) register their students to use bulletin
boards, and 3) assess student work. Teachers have adapted and implemented
this model in their own classrooms.
Technology integration has
become a critical issue in professional development of teachers to enable
them to meet the demands of educating students in the 21st century.
When professional development scenarios are fun, compelling, and collaborative,
they allow teachers to unleash their creativity and to collaborate as
they expand their content and pedagogical knowledge in a relaxed environment.
Electronic Bulletin Boards (EBB) catalyze the growth of teachers’
pedagogical, technological, and content skills by connecting them to
other teachers and involving them in compelling, problem-solving scenarios.
For the purposes of our
professional development model, we define electronic bulletin boards
as password-protected environments where individuals can post and retrieve
messages, as well as collaborate and problem solve. In this type of
staff development, a group of teachers, work collaboratively to develop
and implement technology-integrated learning activities for students.
Choosing a constructivist model for staff development that parallels
the the classroom environment, promotes teacher partnerships. It encourages
adaptation and implementation of the model and brings into play teachers’
imagination, ingenuity, and inventiveness.
Behind the Scenes, Before the Teachers Arrive
Before teachers arrive for
EBB training staff developers:
- Create engaging problem-based
scenarios,
- Set up the electronic
bulletin board, and develop links and resources to assist the participants.
- Use a webquest like format,
where participants assume roles, engage in tasks, access resources,
and collaboratively respond to the problem.
To facilitate the communications
between the EBB participants, trainers set up the number and types of
electronic bulletin board rooms needed for the participants’ interactions.
In this scenario, there are ten rooms. Level-one rooms are committee
rooms, level-two rooms house liaison officials, and level-three rooms
are government offices as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Next, trainers post instructions
in the committee rooms and provide links to web pages and other resources.
These messages and web activities provide scaffolding for the sequence
of activities. As observed by Harris (2002) successful telecommunication/telecollaborative
projects require “interaction online between or among participating
classrooms, often over an extended period of time,” and they require
active and ongoing coordination to be successful (p. 5).
Preparing the WebQuest and Linking it to the EBB
The trainers prepare the
EBB up so that teachers can link to a WebQuest to solve a real world
problem. In the Statewide Emergency training scenario, the governor
asks community leaders to develop a plan for assessing the impact of
a recent outbreak of smallpox, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2.
