Volume 13, Number 1, 2004
An ongoing research project in CHEP's School of Education is examining the ways in which both schoolchildren and prospective teachers have benefited from an online partnership they established while 3,000 miles apart.
As the two researchers collect and analyze their data, they have the material and interview subjects they need close at hand: The youngsters who "traveled" electronically to Ireland early this year attend a school CHEP operates on the University campus, and they made their virtual trip in conjunction with a group of 24 UD elementary education students who were participating in a study-abroad program.
The long-distance collaboration was made possible by a multimedia web site designed by Ryan Arthurton, CHEP '99, '03MEd, now a graduate student in educational technology who traveled with the study-abroad group of undergraduates. Arthurton and Profs. Gwynne Ash and Gail Rys, who traveled with the group and taught classes while in Ireland, designed the site in a way that would enable the undergraduates to post daily updates of their trip, including written descriptions and photo slide shows with audio.
Back on campus, first- through eighth-graders attending The College School had the opportunity to access the site, interact with the UD students via e-mail and use the older students' experiences as the basis for a variety of classroom lessons.
"Ryan posted some sample lesson plans on the site, but each teacher at The College School incorporated the study-abroad trip into the curriculum in a different way," says Chrystalla Mouza, assistant professor of education, who is working with Arthurton to analyze the study-abroad partnership. "Some classes, as they followed the University students' activities, learned skills such as map reading. Other, older classes used the trip as a starting point to read about Irish history and literature."
After the group returned to Delaware, Mouza and Arthurton interviewed the participants--children, UD undergraduates and teachers at The College School--to learn how they made use of the partnership, how they communicated with one another and how it enhanced their own learning experiences. Those educational benefits seem to have flowed both ways, the researchers say.
"When we interviewed The College School kids, even a month later, they really remembered and retained a lot of information," Mouza says. "They were excited about being able to experience a trip abroad in a very authentic way from their own classroom."
As for the UD students, Arthurton says the daily communication with the children back home "kept them thinking about their experiences in a way they could explain to a 10-year-old. It was very interesting to me to watch them discussing how to formulate their answers in a way an elementary school student could understand and appreciate."
Mouza agrees, saying the interactive format "forced the University students to always keep their focus on child development. One of the undergraduates told us that she used The College School students as a lens for her own learning about Irish culture."
The project came about when Ash and Rys were planning the study-abroad program, which included courses in Irish children's literature and adolescent development and visits to Irish schools. They decided they wanted to use technology to enhance the program, and Arthurton developed a proposal. The postings can be viewed at [www.oet.udel.edu/Ireland].