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Project Development Workshop Page


Resources for developing Curriculum Units that integrate the use of technology in the curriculum. Workshop Dates: Aug. 23-27, 1999

 


Object of Workshop:

  • To develop a unit of study which makes meaningful use of technology for use in your classroom. You may also choose to adapt and enrich a favorite existing unit to include the use of new technologies.

  • To share the units on the Technology Support Website to begin to build a rich resource for District teachers beginning to integrate computers and other technologies in their classrooms.

A Process for Developing Units of Study:

Experienced teachers have their own ways of working. The following process is offered as a suggestion to facilitate the shared and cooperative nature of the project. The steps rarely proceed in order. Instead developing one area of the unit often causes the author to revisit other areas and revise.

  1. Teachers usually begin with a topic from the district curriculum. Consult your curriculum documents to settle on a topic of interest. Your work will be easier if the topic is also of deep personal interest. The topic or essential question of the unit is the organizing element for tying together standards and activities.For a discussion of what constitutes important questions, see Jamie McKenzie's article in From Now On.

  2. Identify some standards that you want to address and assess through the unit of study. What do you want students to be able to do? View NYState standards to help define learning goals. Technology standards, which are addressed through the curriculum in all subject areas, can be found at the ISTE website. The International Society for Technology in Education has initiated the National Educational Technology Standards Project to define technology standards for K-12.

  3. The meat of the unit is, of course, the learning and teaching activities:

    • What culminating activity encompasses the targeted standards, and requires students to demonstrate their learning in relation to those standards?

    • What enabling activities ensure progress toward the standards?

    • What introductory activity can be used to motivate and engage students? What products and performances result from the activities?

  4. Gather resources. Once you have determined what activities you want students to engage in, you will want to gather resources. In this case, the WWW is an excellent resource. There are many sites for teachers both for deepening their own knowledge and to use as pre-selected resources for students.

  5. Assesssment.

    • How will students receive feedback on progress toward the attainment of standards?

    • What criteria are sufficient to determine progress? Consider multiple intelligences and special needs students

  6. Information on scoring rubrics can be found on Kathy Schrock's Guide

  7. Sample units can be viewed at the NETS/ISTE website. Another type of activity, Webquests which use primarily the Internet as a resource can be viewed as examples. Virtual Museums are another way to integrate Internet use in the curriculum.

  8. Worksheet for planning the Unit

More Websites for your units:

Based on Monday's workshop, here are some further websites to get you started:

PowerPoint ideas can be found on this multimedia project website.

Some great Shakespeare sites include