INTERSCHOOL WEB-BASED CURRICULUM PROJECTS

Barbara Shelly, School of Education, Syracuse University
Susan Lowes, Institute for Learning Technologies, Columbia University
[32nd Annual NYSC&TE Conference, Buffalo, NY, November 10, 1997]

There are many wonderful telecommunications projects that have been developed over the past few years and choosing among them can be difficult. Many are excellent learning projects that use the WWW to get timely information to students and teachers. But they do not necessarily use the technology to develop the many kinds of collaborations, interactions, and activities that are possible.

What are the attributes or characteristics of an interschool web-based project that foster the constructivist pedagogical goals that many of us are working toward? We have both worked on a number of interschool projects and have come up with a list of characteristics that help you make instructional decisions about projects that you are considering for use in your classrooms.

1. OVERALL
   • What kind of learning environment do these projects create?
   
   
2. NATURE OF THE TASKS
   • What instructional tasks will the project require and/or foster?
   • How many tasks that involve technological literacy are involved?
   
   
3. EQUITY AND ACCESSIBILITY
   • Are my students at an educational level that they can participate in all aspects of the project?
   • Do my students have the technology to participate fully in the project?
   
   
4. ROLES OF THE PARTICIPANTS
   • What role will my student-participants play?
   • What role will I as teacher play?
   • What roles will others (experts, mentors, parents...) play?
   
   
5. LEVEL OF COLLABORATION
   • Who will my students collaborate with?
   • What is the nature and degree of collaboration?
   • How am I as teacher involved as a collaborator?
   • Is there a community that develops from sharing the work?
   • How does the technology amplify the collaboration?
   
   
6. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL AWARENESS
   • Is the final product of value to the wider community?
   • Does the project help students see themselves differently?
   
   
7. THE WHOLE IS > THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS
   • Does the project's work, when shared, add up to more than any one piece?
   • Is it cumulative?
   • Does it enable participants to see a pattern that they would not otherwise be able to see?