Effective Online Learning Communities eMINTS: enhancing Missouris Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies

Overview of eMINTS i3 Grant Studying impact of eMINTS professional development and technologies on 7 th and 8 th grade teachers and their students in small rural Missouri districts RCT study with three groups of schools: Group 1 (30 schools) get eMINTS technology and intensive 2-year professional development Group 2 (30 schools) get eMINTS and intensive 2-year professional development plus a third year of PD using Intel Teach® Elements courses Group 3 (30 schools) wait until Group 1 and 2 are finished but provides data for comparison Schools in all 3 groups get eMINTS technology and professional development

School Assignments Group 1 eMINTS Year 1 eMINTS Year 2 No PD eMINTS + Intel Teach© No PD Group 2 eMINTS Year 1 eMINTS Year 2 eMINTS + Intel Teach© No PD Group 3No PD eMINTS Year 1 eMINTS Year 2 Randomly assigned schools

eMINTS Equipment Hardware includes Teacher laptop with docking station SMART Board and projector 1 laptop for every student in 7 th and 8 th grade Laptop charging carts Printer and digital camera Software and learning resources Productivity software Concept-mapping software BrainPOP! online animated content

Comprehensive eMINTS includes: Year hours + 4 full days + 9 classroom visits Year hours + 2 full days + 9 classroom visits New Year hours (f2f) + 30 hours (online) classroom visits Creates communities of practice to model and facilitate communities of learners in classrooms Other eMINTS professional development programs include: eMINTS4Administrators, eMINTS4Techs, train-the-trainer, and eLearning for Educators (short online courses) eMINTS Professional Development

eMINTS Communication Needs eMINTS Staff – distributed around Missouri Sharing of information across organization Accessing materials and resources Collaboration among staff on various tasks Program participants – distributed around Missouri, nationally and internationally Accessing materials and resources Attending training webinars Communicating with cohort group

Tools

Lessons Learned Strongest online communities are formed when participants have some face-to-face interaction in addition to online Community needs to be facilitated Community needs to be continually refreshed with new information and resources Strongest online communities have a clear shared purpose and timeframe for participation

eMINTS National Center Monica Beglau Lorie Kaplan (573) Clark Hall Columbia, MO Experience Unlimited Possibilities for Learning