In an effort to enrich and modernize education, the United States government has invested billions of dollars to provide schools with modern technical equipment. For these investments to pay off, future teachers must be able to use these learning tools to improve education. With a three-year Catalyst grant from the Preparing Tomorrows Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) program, Technology Based Learning and Research (TBLR) is creating an online Digital Video Library (DVL), targeting teacher candidates and methods professors. This digital library will be based on the National Education Technology Standards (NETS) developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and will contain footage of teachers modeling lesson activities that incorporate the NETS. The content of the DVL will also integrate discussion from experts, resources for technology integration and listings of NETS for Teachers and Students.
The NETS Digital Video Library was developed to provide video samples of real teachers implementing the National Educational Technology Standards. The complete library includes video segments related to both Student NETS and Teacher NETS. The video segments, along with related lesson plans and other artifacts, provide rich fodder for individual or group reflection and critique in the course of preservice and inservice professional development.
The DVL will provide on-demand support for educators, helping them to introduce preservice teachers to a wide range of technological tools and resources. Through this project TBLR hopes to impact the national educational system by providing an online digital video collection of exemplary technology-using teachers and teacher education faculty effectively integrating technology. The online collection of digital models provides preservice teachers and teacher education faculty with specific strategies on how to organize and manage technology-based learning environments.
This DVL lesson is taught by Pam Nicholson, a 7th grade science teacher from S.J. Welsh Middle School in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The lesson activity Bird Rap: A Guide to Local Birds is an inquiry-based lesson, which introduces 7th grade students to Louisiana songbirds. Constructed science centers in the classroom allow the students to focus and inquire about specific elements of ornithology, including bird calls, migration patterns, eating habits, and nest construction. The class takes a field trip to a local park to gather data with hand-held PCs, digital and video cameras, and binoculars. Students model cooperative learning and each group creates an online field guide to local birds.