Creating Curriculum Online : A Cross-Campus, Cross-Disciplinary Project for Preservice Teachers / Jeane Fullmore Copenhaver, Barbara Tobin and Linda Leonard Lamme.

This study examined processes through which two teacher educators and their students learned about online collaboration. Participants collaborated on a set of integrated units of curriculum design that would be relevant to what students in three different courses were studying and would show them the advantages of collaboration. Students selected topics of mutual interest, then over the semester built an interdisciplinary curriculum around their topic, drawing on the expertise of students in each course. Students communicated via electronic mail (e-mail). Results were posted on the World Wide Web. Researchers examined online communication between the teacher educators, between the educators and their students, and between students. Students reported the status of the projects weekly via e-mail and completed project evaluations at the conclusion. The professors reflected regularly on the project's progress and e-mailed those thoughts to one another, providing feedback to their students in individual and group e-mail messages. Telecommunications permitted an expanded team to come together online to pool their resources and expertise. The collaboration helped students build learning communities which fostered professional development; caused students to successfully overcome challenges they once considered insurmountable; and facilitated teachers' reflective instruction. (SM)

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