July 20, 2008
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The Collaboratory Project Brings Teachers Together
Collaboration. That’s a fancy word for “sharing”—and the teachers who visit The Collaboratory Project at Northwestern University do a lot of sharing.
The Collaboratory is funded by federal, state, and foundation grants and is managed by the Information Technology group at Northwestern. It is an easy-to-use Web-based collaborative environment that supports teachers and students, primarily in K–12 settings. All activities available at The Collaboratory are linked to the Illinois Learning Standards, and all materials are free to teachers. Most important: It is a safe and secure online environment that teachers and students can utilize without fear.
To begin, a teacher needs a computer with a standard Web browser and any Internet connection and should access the How to Participate section of The Collaboratory. From there, the teacher applies for an account and, upon verification of his or her employment as a teacher, can begin to use the online databases and communications systems to build project-based lessons for the classroom.
Curricular scaffolding is built in to The Collaboratory and its Resources. The teacher decides what methodology to use and what the curriculum will be, based on the projects that he or she devises for the students. Some projects are sponsored by the funding entities—such as the science Spider Study and the Frog and Toad Study sponsored by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. But The Collaboratory seeks to support any innovative and meaningful project developed by teachers that establish models for replication. In fact, the collegial atmosphere of The Collaboratory encourages teachers to “share and steal” each other’s projects—the only caveats are that proper credit be given to the originator and that the materials not be sold.
Communication services include messaging, conferencing, discussion forums, invitations, announcements, and calendars for teachers and students. Automatic alerts and notifications keep participants up-to-date about what’s going on at The Collaboratory; search capabilities make it easy to find other people and projects.
Many resources are made available at The Collaboratory that support the development of innovative project-based curricular activities. The Cybrary (basically, an online library), the Internet Book Club, the Survey Studio (online data collection forms), ePortfolios (where students create and share their work), and the Nexus (interactive online communities).
During this Presidential Election year, the iVote!08 project is getting a lot of attention. “iVOTE! is a major initiative going on now to get kids to connect civic engagement with democratic participation, so they understand that they do have a voice and that they can actually help to make changes, regardless of voting age,” says Roxana Hadad, instructional designer for The Collaboratory. “Kids can then get other people learning more about their issues that concern youth. Just because you’re not of voting age doesn’t mean that you don’t have an issue that might be of concern.”
Technos spoke with Ms. Hadad and with Bob Davis, the director of The Collaboratory in this month’s Featured Interview. They may be reached at their email addresses: b-davis@northwestern.edu and r-hadad@northwestern.edu.
If you’re a teacher who would like to join The Collaboratory, you’re welcome to apply for an account online any time. There is no charge, and you don’t have to be a resident of the State of Illinois to participate. For more information, go to The Collaboratory Project Web site.