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Contact:
Dave Bartlett
to Web Master
DIAL Consortium Distance Learning Award Winning Projects
DIAL Consortium a group of ten Schools in South Central Indiana participating in the Vision Athena Project. Listed Below is just a few of the innovative projects that are supported by grants issued by the Corporation for Educational Communications.
Project: Sharing Perspectives
Award: Cultural Impact
Sharing Perspectives is a distance learning program that links two Indiana
schools that are culturally very different. Through interactive video, fifth and
sixth grade students from Harmony school in Bloomington communicate with fifth
graders from Carrie Gosch school in East Chicago. Harmony students are
predominately Caucasian and from middle class families where parents tend to be
college educated. Carrie Gosch students are predominantly African American and
from low-income families in which few parents have attended college.
The goal is to get the children together through interactive video to share meaningful learning experiences and support them in creating meaningful relationships with each other. They will be reading critically as they share books that deal with important issues through literature discussions, research career possibilities, and share the results in interesting presentations through distance learning. Most importantly, they will be given opportunities to work with students who come from a different culture, speak in a different dialect, and possibly hold different beliefs and have different ideas. This will culminate in mutual student visits. They will work and eventually socialize side by side and experience the joy of diversity.
Project: Keiko Kasza Project
Award: Parent Involvement
Author/illustrator Keiko Kasza is a parent at University Elementary school who is offering a program on May 10th, 2000 about her process of writing
children's books. The titles of the books include Mother for Choco, Wolf's
Chicken Stew, Don't Laugh, Joe, and The Pig's Picnic. Keiko is volunteering her
services for the benefit of the schools around Indiana through a connection at
University Elementary school. During the distance learning event Keiko will read
from her books, explain with visuals the process of making a book, and
demonstrate how she converts a photograph of children or people into an
illustration of animals. Keiko also showed foreign editions of her books
which show the uniqueness of the culture of the publication. Please contact
Karen Boswell at University Elementary (812-330-7753 x272) by May 1st if you are
interested in this program.
Project: A Tale of Two States
Award: Cultural Collaboration
A Tale of Two States is a distance learning unit that links fifth and sixth
grade students from an independent school in Indiana with sixth graders from a
traditional school in Hawaii. The yearlong thematic unit uses experts from both
Hawaii and Indiana to relate the geological, ecological and cultural histories
of these two unique territories through two-way interactive video. Both classes
use research skills, field experience, data collection, and field trips to
explore the uniqueness of their state history. The intended outcome of this unit
is to give both classes a better understanding of who they are by looking at the
past. Although both groups of children are demographically diverse, through
shared responsibility, they can realize how much they have in common. Through
two-way interactive video, these children collaborate efficiently and
effectively. A Tale of Two States is a model of how classrooms can establish
distant relationships regardless of where their walls reside.
Project: Virtual Indiana Elementary School
Network (VIESN)
Award: School Networking
VIESN is a model of distance learning for elementary schools in Indiana.
Eight schools collaborate via a distance learning network that brings students
together to enrich their experiences and share their work.. Partnerships between
the member schools have facilitated classroom to classroom connections where
students share joint experiences in literature, science, and thematic studies.
Teachers meet via distance learning for planning the collaborative skills. VIESN
schools include Southern Wells Jr.-Sr. and Kokomo High School in the north;
Fishback Creek Public Academy, Eagle Creek and Indian Creek Elementary, and
Eastern Hancock in central and east central Indiana; Eastern Greene County and
Gosport Elementary in the south central region. The VIESN project is funded by a
grant from the Corporation for Educational Communications.
Project: The Solar-Powered Car Project
Award: Technology Impact
The Solar Powered Car Project increases awareness of solar car technology for
students around the state and promotes students learning from students as well
as instructors. This project uses distance learning technologies such as
satellite, fiberoptic, ISDN, and Internet web resources to expose schools to the
work of The Solar Car Team from Columbus North High School. This
interdisciplinary program has value for many areas of learning including
mathematics, geography, physics, and business as it pertains to the solar car
team. Emphasis is placed on higher order thinking skills and problem solving
strategies.
Project: Stranded: But SOARing Beyond
Award: Elementary Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Stranded: But SOARing Beyond is an innovative literature-based
interdisciplinary unit developed to complement the book Stranded by Ben
Mikaelsen. This project brings students from Scottsburg and Spencer Elementary
together through video distance learning. Our goal for this grant is to provide
the participating students with a rich background of information that increases
their understanding of the book through state-of-the-art distance learning
technologies. Components include:
- Testing our own local rivers and streams and examining the aquatic life existing in that habitat and sharing those results in a distance learning event between schools
- Exploring larger freshwater habitats such as Lake Michigan through a distance learning event from Aquatic Research Institute
- A distance learning event with Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida about the study of saltwater environments. It focused on the rescue and rehabilitation of marine mammals in addition to an event with Ben Mikaelsen talking about writing the book Stranded. The students created scenes from the book and were provided with games and other activities that are based on the book.
For more information on Read-and-Feeds check the Spencer-Owen site: http//www.socs.k12.in.us/schools/ovms/read_and_feed/default.html.
Project: Marketing: School to Work
Award: Interschool Business Class
For the past three years, two classes have met between Columbus North and
East High Schools three days a week sharing curriculum and guest speakers. This model class will be utilized for other applications in the business curriculum as more C-4 schools as Hauser High School join the network. We acknowledge Mike Hackman and Matt Hankins for their leadership in developing
classroom applications in distance learning.
Project: Mooresville High School
Award: Network Consolidation Model
Mooresville School receives this award for their organizational structure in
coordinating the use between the consolidated high school, middle school, and
surrounding elementary schools. We have found that this model of organization is
very useful and that other consolidated schools might consider adopting it.
Project: Langston Hughes
Award: Community Arts Project
The Langston Hughes Project is a series of presentations and performances
directed by Dr. Jon Wright of the University of Minnesota on the life and times
of Langston Hughes. It involves an auditorium lecture, a student workshop on
literature and jazz, and a community performance. The Columbus Arts Council
collaborated with the Langston Hughes Project to adapt the literature workshop
into a distance learning event involving Columbus North and East high schools in
addition to high schools from Ohio and Texas. This project is a model of
integrating community projects into schools.
Project: German 3 class
Award: Foreign Language Application
Ramona Winter-Leigh's German 3 class is taught daily from Edgewood High
School to Southern Wells Jr.-Sr. High School. This distance learning opportunity
allows the students at Southern Wells to complete their foreign language
requirements. This is the second class taught by distance learning.
Updated: Apr.19.01
Created: Apr.24.99
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