Copyright 1998 Miguel Guhlin (mguhlin@esc20.net )

"Let's just use the Internet Learning Institute model as the base for the C&I training," I muttered under my breath. My partner, Jim Baldoni (jim.baldoni@esc20.net ), got that pensive look on his face that signalled a brilliant, yet painfully

difficult to implement idea was about to be shared. "We need to make the classes more constructivist. This is what we're expecting them to do."

As I took a look at the work I'd done so far, I couldn't help but ask myself, "Does the TIF Board really expect quality training on how to use the Internet in the classroom in six days?" And, the answer isn't surprising. The real issue is HOW we are able to answer YES.

The Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF) Board provided a syllabus that served as a starting point for our work.. Six educators compose the TIFTECH Team. The syllabus reflects the division of responsibility that the 3 dyads in the TIFTECH Team have. The responsibility is divided into three strands: 1) Curriculum & Instruction, 2) Policy & Leadership, and, 3) Technical, with two people from each TIFTECH Team assigned to each strand. The TIF Board explains what these TIFTECH Trainees will be expected to do:

All TIFTECH Teams must attend a mandatory two-day session known as the Foundation Component. In this component, participants, regardless of their expertise, must learn how to use various Internet resources (i.e. browsers, downloading, working with graphics/text off the web, sending and receiving email) as well as become generally familiar with the three strands. How these goals are accomplished depends on the TIFTECH Training Facilitators. As facilitators, Jim Baldoni and I had the opportunity to structure the TIFTECH Training offered to school districts. It quickly became clear in our discussions and arguments that we were both committed to two principles:

2. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR KNOWLEDGE-BUILDING. Rather than lecture on the various topics, our participants, as adult learners, would take responsibility for their own learning. And, we, as facilitators, would not set ourselves up as the experts but would encourage peer mentoring and sharing.

As you can see from the Overview of Curriculum & Instruction (Table 1), each day is packed with activities that require teachers to not only listen to the facilitator, but to use what they learn from each other. This is critical to the learning process evident in the TIFTECH Training Program we designed. It allows teachers to respond to an important question as they develop skills that they expect they will use with their students.

Teachers’ own goals flow directly from the goals they hold for their students. They see that students are going to have to develop a set of understandings, skills, and pre-dispositions related to using the Internet. For many teachers, this forces them to ask, "What do WE need to know and be able to do to facilitate our students' realization of the outcomes we see for them?" Emails, such as the one below, hint at the exciting content of TIFTECH Training being offered across Texas for districts who received Round 3 of the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF) grant.

The format for the day focused on participants dividing up into dyads or triads to respond to the questions together. Each group would be assigned a question that they would be an expert at. The questions, listed below, address specific topics that involve the use of the Internet in educational settings:

1. What was the original purpose of the Internet? How did this purpose change over time and what were some of the benefits?

2.  What are the general and technology demographics of World Wide Web use? Also, how is the web used and how indispensible is it in the lives of Web users?  Provide brief summaries of your responses.

3. What are some of the main points regarding the impact of technology on student outcomes? On educators?

4. What are some of the ways in which the Internet has been used in the past to support communication projects and lessons?

5. As both adults learners and teachers of adult learners, what are some factors that we need to consider and how can we structure our staff development differently than the way we do for children?

6. What are some staff development models you could use in sharing what you know of the Internet and its use in the classroom?

7. What are some characteristics of adult learners?

8. What are the intentions of the TIFTECH Program Syllabus?

After a morning of discussion on these topics, participants return from lunch to the task of developing a PowerPoint presentation that targets subjects of their choice related to their strand (i.e. Curriculum & Instruction, Technical, etc.). For some, this is their first exposure to working with presentation software such as MS PowerPoint. You can see some of this work at:  http://www.mindwrite.cc/techserv/tiftech/#Participant Projects

At the end of the day, participants are asked to respond to the Treasure Hunt's Big Question:

Of course, these two days of preparation really fail to address the how of curriculum integration of Internet-based technologies into the curriculum except at a superficial level.

As a TIFTECH Training facilitator, a successful way of providing curriculum integration involving the Internet is to structure training as a recursive process.  Put simply, the skills participants learned in day 1 are used each day of the TIFTECH Curriculum and Instruction training.  This provides participants with the opportunity to use in real ways the skills that they have learned. The comments at the end of Day 1 demonstrate how overwhelmed,  yet exultant, educators are in learning how to use various peripherals and create web pages.    Describing Day One, a high school math teacher wrote:

Two broad approaches to designing Internet projects have emerged. Undoubtedly, as you design projects, you will think of others.  They are based on the work of Dr. Bernie Dodge, Tom March, and Dr. Judi Harris.  My understanding of these two approaches are that in March & Dodge's work, the teacher and her students are not dependent on other classes to collaborate with them, while many of the approaches under Dr. Judi Harris are dependent on collaborations with others.   In the past, especially when working with the Internet Learning Institute, the only approach shared was that of Dr. Judi Harris.  Unfortunately, sometimes, other collaborators aren't interested in working together on the particular project you may have developed.  It's like going fishing. Sometimes, your bait (i.e. call for collaboration) looks interesting; other times it doesn't.  That's why the work of Bernie Dodge and Tom March offers an alternative to using the Internet with student than that presented by Dr. Judi Harris' activity structures.

You can access the product of TIFTECH Participants work at:

As you may surmise, maintaining this type of effort over an extended period of time can be tough on TIFTECH Participants. Realizing the value of establishing and supporting online communities, TIFTECH Participants are enrolled in an electronic mail list. This list allows them to ask questions, find responses, as well as possibly collaborate on future Internet-based projects. Providing on-going support is also a goal, that while un-funded, may take the place of face to face visits on an annual basis. As one TIFTECH participant put it via the list:

The excitement of learning together, working together is the key to what TIFTECH is about. For, if we can say with the teacher above that there are others who can share via this new medium, certainly our students will learn how as their teachers model this behavior in the classroom.