World Bank Caribbean Learning Project

Bette Manchester and MICDL staff are working with World Bank staff to consult with 10 Caribbean countries on planning for improved use of technology in teaching and learning process. We will host a conference in Maine on July 18-22, 2011 for educational and governmental leaders from these countries. The World Bank is providing financial support for this project.

Study Visits

We host groups of visitors who want to learn about the MLTI project and visit model MLTI schools. Since December 2010 we've hosted study visits by educators from Argentina, Denmark, Chile, Australia, Canada, and Sweden. An additional study group visit from Europe is being planned for 2012.

Other International Activities

Since 2009 Bette Manchester has done consultation work with government and university leaders in Italy, Brazil, Chile, Austria and Canada. In June 2011, Bette Manchester attended the EDUsummIT in Paris. This invitation-only conference was organized by UNESCO (Teacher Policy and Development Section) and other partners, and brought together 120 distinguished policy makers, educators, researchers, journal editors and private sector leaders - those key to ICT in education - to build on the outcomes of EDUsummIT 2009.

Maine Virtual Learning Consortium

We are delighted to announce the creation of a Maine-based online learning consortium offering high quality, customized, and affordable online learning opportunities for Maine high school students starting in September 2012. The idea of creating this consortium was enthusiastically supported by numerous Maine schools and districts at a meeting hosted by the Maine International Center for Digital Learning (MICDL) in October 2011. After exploring various approaches, the Maine Virtual Learning Consortium was created in January 2012 by MICDL in conjunction with Regional School Union (RSU) 19.

We hope you will take a few minutes to explore the advantages of becoming one of the initial Partner Schools that will offer courses during the 2012-2013 school year. We believe becoming a Partner School will both serve your students well and give you more of a voice in shaping the future of online and blended learning in Maine. We realize, however, that at this point you may simply want to learn how your students can take courses without joining the Consortium as a full member, so we have information on that as well.

While Consortium courses will be comparable in many ways to the courses offered by current online course providers, we believe Consortium courses will offer superior value due to an emphasis on the following Five Key Features:

1) Frequent opportunities for high levels of Interactivity between and among students and teachers, such as small-group real-time video discussions.

2) Strong connections to Community (the online learning community created for each course, each student’s local community, and the broader global community.)

3) Continuous development of a Digital Portfolio for each student.

4) Extensive use of familiar open education resources (OER), such as the Google tool set.

5) A curriculum-embedded approach to teaching Media Literacy (reading, writing, speaking, listening, infographics, audio/video, Internet research, media analysis, and media ethics).

For more information, please visit MEVLC.org. Given that we are halfway through March, we will be moving very quickly to line up schools, teachers, and courses, so please contact us asap if you are interested or if you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!

John Newlin

jnewlin@mevlc.org

jnewlin@micdl.org

207-831-3259

Kern Kelley

kernkelley@gmail.com

207-518-8785

MEVLC.org

Digital Literacy Project

This project, initiated in 2009, helps students and teachers develop the online research skills they need in order to deal with the vast amounts of online information they encounter every day. These skills, which are listed in a taxonomy of skills called TICA, include locating, evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating information using the Internet, as well as the skills needed to engage in collaborative, cross-cultural, and problem-based learning. There is research evidence that the teaching strategies and practices that have been developed in tandem with this framework of skills lead to improvements in online reading comprehension, problem-solving and communication skills. Don Leu of the New Literacies Lab at the University of Connecticut leads this project; we provide coordination and facilitation support in Maine.

Google Geo Teachers Institute

We hosted a Google Geo Teachers Institute for educators led by national-level Google staff on Sept. 26-27, 2011 at USM LAC. This will be a free professional development experience designed to help educators get the most from Google's geo products and technologies. The Geo Teachers Institute is an intensive, two-day event where participants get hands-on experience using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google SketchUp, including a focus on features like Ocean, Mars, Moon and Sky in Google Earth. Attendees will learn about innovative instructional strategies and receive resources to share with colleagues. The Google Geo Education team hopes this event will empower educators to bring the world's geographic information to students in a compelling, fresh, and fun way. Since 2009 we have worked with Google to bring workshops and related opportunities to Maine educators. Google staff are providing their services for this institute at no charge.

See the following link to learn more about Google Geo Teachers Institute.

See Video from WCSH Ch6 Google Visits Maine to Teach Educators

More Resources: Google SketchUp Blog, Google Lat/Long Blog, GTI Links and Materials

Maine Cohort for Customized Learning

We provide support to a consortium of districts in Maine (12 districts and growing) that is working to implement a technology-rich and completely standards-based model for teaching and learning.

Mainely Digital Learning Video Project

This project supported the creation and dissemination of short (2-5 minute) videos of strong 1-to-1 teaching and learning practices that are occurring in Maine middle and high school classrooms. The intent is to provide teachers with more examples of good teaching in a 1-to-1 environment, particularly teachers who may not have had many good opportunities to see strong examples in the past. Submissions are no longer being accepted, but eight student-produced videos were selected from those that were submitted, and these videos continue to be available for viewing.

To view the videos and for more information, visit http://www.micdl.org/video_project

Acknowledgements: MICDL wishes to thank the many people who have supported the launch of this project, especially those at MLTI & ACTEM for sharing features of their WatchMECreate Project on which the design of this project is based.

Other Activities regarding Promising Educator Practices

In addition to those mentioned above, we are supporting numerous other efforts to identify, develop and disseminate promising educator practices related to digital learning: a) we are active in the STEM Collaborative, ACTEM, and other groups and organizations; and b) we are working with others to support the exploration of the use of digital technology to assist the learning of young children.

Field-Test the Immune Defense Game in Fall 2012

Immunology/Biochemistry Video Game

9th/10th grade Teachers Needed to Field Test in Fall 2012

In conjunction with the Federation of American Scientists, MICDL is helping develop a new online video game called "Immune Defense."

Immune Defense is designed to teach high school students about cell biology, biochemistry and immunology. More specifically, participation will help students learn about:

• proteins, receptors, cells, the immune system;
• how cells work together to track, destroy and warn other cells about pathogens;
• the affinity of molecules for their receptors;
• random diffusion of molecules in a space;
• how cells respond to signals, differentiation and gene regulation; and
• scientific investigation.

The game is still under development, but a beta version can be played now and throughout Summer 2012. For more information on playing the beta version, please check here.

More importantly, starting in Fall 2012 we will be conducting a 1 week Controlled Evaluation of the game in conjunction with high school science classes. This evaluation will require three class periods during the first half of the 2012-2013 school year. These three class periods could be considered a mini-unit for 9th or 10th grade high school science classes, and would involve students in a highly-engaging learning experience that teaches important content. It would also give students a meaningful experience as a reflective participant in a well-designed scientific investigation that will help determine the factors that impact the effectiveness of video games in learning. Some teachers may want to start the school year off this way. Others may want to carry-out this mini-unit as a short break between other units, or as activity just before the holiday break in December. The key stipulation is that students need to engage in this mini-unit prior to experiencing their usual high school “unit” on these concepts.

Educators who participate in the Controlled Evaluation will receive gift certificates. For general information about the game and mini-unit, including samples of game art, game mechanics, objectives, and content standards, please click here.

The specific protocol for the fall Controlled Evaluation will soon be finalized, so please check this page for updated information, or better yet, email us at jnewlin@micdl.org so we’ll know how to contact you when the protocol has been finalized.

If you have questions, please contact John Newlin, MICDL Executive Director, at jnewlin@micdl.org or 207-831-3259.

Beta-Test the Immune Defense Game in Spring/Summer 2012

Please encourage your students to play the beta test of the Immune Defense game now and throughout the summer! The game is still under development but we want your students' feedback on the game in order to improve it.

Before playing the game, players will need to install the Unity Plugin. Once they've done that, the most up-to-date beta version of the game can be accessed here. (Players need to turn the sound on.)

By the way, we also hope you'll be interested in the Controlled Evaluation of a mini-unit tha will include the Immune Defense game that will begin Fall 2012. For more information on the Controlled Evaluation please check here.

Accuplacer Project

The official title of this project is Supporting College Readiness with Online Resources. The Accuplacer Exam is the primary tool used in Maine to determine whether an incoming college freshman needs to take one or more remedial courses. This project is a collaboration with Walch Education to develop materials to improve students’ Accuplacer math scores and lessen the need for remediation. These materials are available free of charge to high school students and teachers in Maine (via their laptops and the web). The Davis Family Foundation has provided funding for this project.

On April 5, 2011 all the modules had been completed and the pilot with teachers was underway in the following MELMAC schools; Buckfield Jr-Sr School, Madison Memorial High School, Mt. Abram High School, Mt. Ararat High School, Nokomis Regional High School, Orono High School, Traip Academy, Winthrop High School, and York High School. These teachers piloted the materials in their senior designated math courses and provided written suggestions for changes. In addition, the project advisory team met with several of these teachers in May 2011 to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the materials. All of the pilot teachers expressed a positive view of the materials, and some collected detailed data that showed significant improvement in Accuplacer scores, which they attributed to their use of the materials.

Using this feedback, Walch Education made several changes to the materials, titled them Accuplacer College-Ready (ACR) Instructional Materials, published a final version, and in August 2011 mailed a CD of the materials to every high school in Maine.

Since then, efforts have been ongoing to get the word out that these materials are available, free of charge. After some delay, the ACR materials were posted on the Maine Department of Education’s iTunes U website. In addition, with the support of unspent project funds from the Davis Family Foundation grant, CDs of the materials were sent to Maine’s Community Colleges, and a presentation regarding these materials was created and delivered at the Association of Teacher of Mathematics in Maine (ATOMIM) Conference in March 2012. Finally, after three planning meetings, our project advisory team convened a meeting on March 26, 2012 that brought together a large group of people interested in expanding the use of both the Accuplacer test and the ACR materials, including Don Siviski, Maine’s Superintendent of Instruction, Dan Hupp, the Maine DOE Director of Assessment and Standards, David Connerty-Marin, the Maine DOE Communications Director, as well as representatives from Maine’s Career and Technical Education system and the College Board (the distributor of the Accuplacer test).

The discussion during this meeting was wide-ranging, but it was agreed that the Maine DOE would redouble its efforts to promote the Accuplacer test, and provide additional publicity about the availability of the ACR materials including press releases, DOE Newsroom features, posters for schools, and a separate link for Accuplacer on the DOE website. In addition, Jim Moulton of Apple shared the iOS iTunes U “course” he has created using the ACR materials and invited others to review and add to it.

The following links to ACR materials and information are active:

• iTunes U site for ACR materials: http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/accuplacer-college-ready-acr/id507428005

• Powerpoint presentation made at the March 2012 ATOMIM conference: http://www.micdl.org/resources/167

• iTunes U “course”, which can be experienced on an iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch once the iTunes U app has been installed: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itunes-u/id490217893?mt=8

We intend to monitor these efforts and the impact of the ACR materials before pursuing additional work or funding in this area.

Other Games and Simulations for Learning

In addition to those mentioned elsewhere under Digital Student Resources, we broadly support efforts to identify, develop and disseminate games and simulations for learning, such as the Newtonian physics video game, SURGE (led by Brian Nelson of Arizona State and Doug Clark of Vanderbilt).

Open Education Resources (OER)

We received one of the first K-12 grants for a research project on OER, which included collecting OER resources for Maine educators. We produced an "MICDL Brief" on this project that the Hewlett Foundation shared with its national and international partners as a model during the April 2011 Hewlett Foundation OER conference. We are currently exploring other OER projects.