Online Professional Development Proposal in Deafness
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Last Updated: July 23, 2002
Major Project – Stage 1
EdPsy 487
Jill McCue
Online Professional Development
Request for Proposals
http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy487/uiuc_glef.htm
To allow K-12 teachers to earn 3 CEUs in the state priority area of special education, a one-semester professional development activity focusing on hearing loss, its educational ramifications and communication modes is being proposed. This activity would be especially valuable to teachers who have mainstreamed or included students with hearing losses who wish to fulfill the Illinois State Board of Education Certificate Renewal Plan, Purpose B, to develop knowledge and skills in special education.
Teachers in this PDA would participate in online weekly activities intended to increase their knowledge of sign language, hearing losses and assistive technology that benefits students in the classrooms. Following streamed video lessons in sign language, research on sign language on the Internet, and instruction in lesson adaptations and interpreter use, teachers would culminate by presenting at a face-to-face meeting a signed story/experience in a lesson designed to benefit all students in a classroom as well as demonstrating teaching adaptations necessary to meet the students’ needs with hearing losses. This final face-to-face meeting will have a 30-minute “silent” component, meaning that only sign language, lip reading and note writing would be allowed.
References
Certificate Renewal Manual
http://www.isbe.net/recertification/crmanual.htm
Deb Schmalholz, U-46 Professional Growth and Development Coordinator, interview June 14, 2001
Fingerspelling – A site that allows persons to practice receptive and expressive fingerspelling
http://where.com/scott.net/asl/
Handspeak – A site designed to teach sign language and facts about deafness
Illinois State Board of Education- this lists professional development activities and their CPDU points
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/recertification/Default.htm
Jim Ege, U-46 Instructional Technology Coordinator, interview June 14, 2001
Northwestern Illinois Association web site-This PDA would be announced in this page.
U-46 web site – This PDA would be of special interest to teachers at Parkwood Elementary School, Tefft Middle School and Streamwood High School
Major Project Stage 2
http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy487/uiuc_glef.htm
I. Abstract - To allow K-12 teachers to earn 3 CEUs in the state priority area of special education, a one-semester professional development activity focusing on hearing loss, its educational ramifications and communication modes is being proposed. This activity would be especially valuable to teachers who have mainstreamed or included students with hearing losses who wish to fulfill the Illinois State Board of Education Certificate Renewal Plan, Purpose B, to develop knowledge and skills in special education.
II. Justification
A. Purpose – Teachers participating in the PDA will be able to earn CEUs to assist in their fulfillment of Illinois Certificate Renewal Plan.
B. ISBE recertification – This PDA will address the Illinois state priority of special education for any teacher K-12 who wish to improve their knowledge and skills that are critical to student performance of students with hearing losses who are mainstreamed or included in regular education classes.
III. Implementation (draft)
This PDA will specifically target teachers in K-12 classrooms who have or who will have students with hearing losses in their regular education classroom. During the first module, teachers at Parkwood Elementary School, Tefft Middle School and Streamwood High School would be given enrollment priority because the Northwestern Illinois Association Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program is housed in these buildings, and these mainstream teachers are in daily contact with students with hearing losses. Completion of this PDA would also be beneficial to any educator wishing to increase their knowledge of sign language, hearing loss and adaptations necessary to successfully include a student with a hearing loss and who would like to use these new skills to address Purpose B of their Certificate Renewal Plan. Community employers from our NIA Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program would benefit from the content of this PDA and could enroll as space allows.
Each semester 30 participants could enroll in this PDA. This number is derived from the number of final projects that could feasibly be presented at the semester end face-to-face meeting. Because the class work would be asynchronous, computer lab space limits are not a concern. Participants in each building may wish to be online synchronously and access the information in order to practice their signing skills together. Teachers in this PDA could access the online classes from home computers, classroom computers that are networked to the district server and computer labs in any district building.
Participants would need basic computer knowledge. The facilitator would send a mailing to all participants explaining the process for the online PDA. Teachers in this PDA will access lessons/activities through the online syllabus. WebBoard will be used for office chats, reflections and major project questions. Instructional sign language videos will be streamed from University of Illinois’ server. Participants will have technical support in this program. Questions and concerns could be emailed to this tech support person or during established hours calls could be made.
One face-to-face meeting will be held at the end of this PDA. U-46 Professional Growth and Development personnel have given permission for a room to be used in our district. Participants will meet at the specified time and date to share their final projects. An interpreter and student along with the facilitator will be present to assist the participants in their final lessons.
The facilitator needs to be a person trained in Deaf Education, working for Northwestern Illinois Association and familiar with online environments. A CTER student or other teacher who has extensive technology experience or a degree along with experience in teaching NIA students would be an ideal candidate.
An online syllabus would be given. Teachers would complete weekly online activities that include viewing streamed sign language videos, reading about assistive technology that aids the students with hearing losses, reading about hearing loss and its educational ramifications and reflecting on their learning of these issues. A final project will be presented at the end of the semester in which participants meet face-to-face to share a lesson which they have adapted to meet the needs of all students in their classroom assuming that includes at least one student with a hearing loss. A sign language interpreter and a student will attend to assist in this presentation. Thirty minutes of the face-to-face meeting will be silent. This means that all participants will exchange ideas through sign language or note writing as the facilitator assesses every participants’ feelings about the PDA and its effectiveness. This “silent” component will give participants a clearer understanding of sign language and the disability of deafness.
At this time no additional series of PDA modules would be available. Teachers who have completed this PDA could become part of the facilitating team for future modules allowing the sharing of experiences and frustrations.
This PDA would be given 3 CEUs equivalent to a 1-semester hour course.
IV. Timeline
A. This PDA would begin in the fall semester during the first full week of September and continue for 13 weeks. The 2-hour face-to-face meeting would be held the last week of November. These online and face-to-face sessions would total 15 hours of instruction during one semester. This PDA would be repeated in the spring semester beginning the last week of January and continuing through the second week of May, which would be the face-to-face meeting. No new instruction would be given for Spring Break week in March.
B. This PDA would be repeated as often as necessary to satisfy enrollment lists.
V. Budget – Total = $14,245 + costs to be determined by the University of Illinois
A. Personnel – Total per semester = $7645.00
1. Facilitator Team
a. Lead facilitator – One facilitator would develop, coordinate and implement the lessons and evaluate the teachers’ presentations in the PDA. For the 13 weeks of one-hour lessons and office chat time the facilitator would be paid for 3 hours of work time per week at $45.00/ hour. The face-to-face meeting would involve 2 hours of preparation, 2 hours of presentations and feedback and 5 hours of evaluations for the participants’ projects. Set up of this online PDA would require 20 hours for digitizing videos, setting up WebBoard, This is a total of 68 hours at $45.00/hour = $3060.00/semester
b. Interpreter – The interpreter and student would only assist in the planning and implementation of the face-to-face meeting. An hourly stipend of $25.00 would be given for preparation and presentation time. $25.00 X 3 hours = $75.00/semester
c. Student – The student would assist in the presentations at the face-to-face meeting. An hourly stipend of $10.00 would be given for presentation time. $10.00 X 3 hours = $ 30.00/semester
2. Secretary – 1/8 time position to support the lead facilitator in office duties. $14.00/hr X 5 hours/week = $70.00 X 14 weeks = $980.00/semester
3. Technology Support Person – ¼ time person to support the lead facilitator in technological issues. $25.00/hr X 10 hours/week = $250.00 X 14 weeks = $3500.00/semester
B. Equipment – Total per semester = $7,500.00 plus costs determined by University of Illinois
1. Computers – Teachers could use district computers or their home computer to access this class. The facilitator could use the district computers to present the class.
2. Video streaming equipment is in place at U-46, however additional hard drive storage would be required. Digitizing equipment and software is in place, and could be used by facilitator. $7,000.00 would buy storage as stated by Jim Ege head of Instructional Technology for U-46. This would be a one-time cost.
3. Access to WebBoard – cost to be determined University of Illinois
4. Video streaming server space at University of Illinois - $500.00/semester
5. Face-to-face meeting room at Streamwood High School provided by U-46 free of charge
C. Supplies – Total per semester = $100.00
1. Sign language videos – The NIA Program has these, and they could be used free of charge.
2. Paper supplies - $100.00/semester
3. Teletypewriter – The NIA Program has one that could be used free of charge.
4. Television with closed captioning – Streamwood High School has one that could be used free of charge.
5. Hearing aid and listening device – The NIA Program has these that could be used free of charge.
VI. Resources
Certificate Renewal Manual
http://www.isbe.net/recertification/crmanual.htm
Deb Schmalholz, U-46 Professional Growth and Development Coordinator, interview June 14, 2001
Fingerspeller – A site that allows persons to practice receptive and expressive fingerspelling
http://members.iquest.net/~powers/speller/speller.html
Handspeak – A site designed to teach sign language and facts about deafness
Illinois State Board of Education- this lists professional development activities and their CPDU points
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/recertification/Default.htm
Jim Ege, U-46 Instructional Technology Coordinator, interview June 14, 2001
Northwestern Illinois Association web site-This PDA would be announced in this page.
U-46 web site – This PDA would be of special interest to teachers at Parkwood Elementary School, Tefft Middle School and Streamwood High School
VII. Syllabus for PDA module
VIII. Conclusion
A. Deafness is a low incidence disability so many teachers faced with the inclusion or mainstreaming of a student with a hearing loss may have no prior experience with this disability and its ramifications on learning.
B. As inclusion becomes more widely used teachers will have contact with students with hearing losses.
C. In Illinois teachers must submit their certificate renewal plan every five years detailing what they will do the meet the requirements of certification. This PDA will foster an understanding of how to present knowledge that is critical to improving students’ performance. It will develop knowledge and skills in the state priority area of special education.
D. As teachers seek out activities to include in their renewal plans online professional development activities such as this one will be in high demand as few schools have self contained programs for deaf and hard of hearing students that could be tapped as a resource.
E. New research suggests that sign language is beneficial to language development of ALL children.