News – Page 2 – CEHS Curriculum Revision

NJEA Professional Development – Friday, April 11 – Mark Your Calendar

Mr. Michael Cohan, Director of Professional Development for NJEA, will be joining us here on campus in the fourth floor media lab. He will be providing CEHS, along with potentially some of our colleagues from Arts & Sciences, a 90 minute session on SGO’s in NJ. Topics to be covered inlcude what SGOs are, how they impact teachers in NJ, what the impact is on students and student learning and what it means for our faculty and student teachers in terms of preparing to teach in NJ’s schools.

The program will be on Friday, April 11th from 10:00 to 11:30am in the CEHS Media Lab on the fourth floor. We hope many of you will be able to join us for this event.

Meeting Notes from December 13, 2013 Curriculum Revision Meeting

At the last Curriculum Revision meeting, the focus continued to be on what we want students to be able to do and know by the end of their freshman year. The Secondary Education and Elementary Education/Special Education departments worked independently to identify key factors for their respective students. Based on the information that was covered, more time is needed to focus on moving through not only freshman year, but sophomore, junior and senior years as well.

The notes from the meeting are organized to identify the areas of common ground identified by both Secondary Education and Elementary Education/Special Education and then identifies those areas specific to each department. The notes are available here and also in the calendar section of the blog.

Welcome Back to the Spring Semester

We hope everyone had a great break. We have been very busy since the last Curriculum Revision meeting in December. The notes from that meeting will be posted shortly.

SHU also hosted a Technology Advisory Committee meeting on Wednesday, January 8th where technology coordinators, supervisors, principals and superintendents participated in a forum. They helped identify areas where CEHS can focus to better prepare our students in the area of technology. It as a very information and very helpful session. Those notes will also be posted soon.

All of the Curriculum Revision meetings and the EDST department meetings have been set and the calendar is available here.

We are looking forward to another exciting semester as we continue the work of evaluating and revising the curriculum.

Meeting Notes from November 22, 2013 Curriclum Revision Meeting

The curriculm revision meeting held on November 22nd focused on evaluating and discussing the freshman year course syllabi, content, assessments and learning outcomes. The primary objective was to discuss and outline what we want the freshmen students to be able to know and do by the time they complete their first year of courses.

The outline of the notes taken at the November meeting are available here, and are also linked to the meeting date in the Calendar section of this blog. Any comments, additions or corrections are welcome. We will be continuing the discussion at our next meeting on December 13th.

Education Week Article on EdTPA

On Monday, December 2, 2013, Education Week published an article on edTPA.

The article looks at the perspective of new teachers who completed the edTPA before becoming certified; the different state requirements, views and levels of a passing score; and differing perspectives on the use, value and any impact the administering and passing of the edTPA will have on student learning in classrooms.

It is important to keep in mind that NJDOE has mandated educator preparation programs (EPPs) use an evaluation tool but have not, at this time, mandated the use of a specific tool such as the edTPA.

The article is available here.

AACTE Commits to edTPA as Performance Assessment Tool

In early November 2013, AACTE the major professional association for teacher preparation, made an official commitment to use the edTPA as its official performance assessment tool for student teachers seeking certification. The sate of New Jersey has said it is ‘vendor’ neutral and will allow universities to pilot other tools, in addition to the edTPA, for performance assessments.

Hybrid Learning Workshop Series from TLTC

There are several Hybrid projects currently underway within CEHS. In addition, a main part of the CEHS Retreat on October 18, 2013 was focused on technology, terminology and different ways of integrating technology effectively. This series being offered by TLTC is an excellent opportunity to learn more about Hybrid Course Development. If you aren’t able to make a session, the presentations and recordings are available on this blog – http://blogs.shu.edu/ohcd/.

Hybrid courses carefully integrate online and face-to-face activities using the best aspects of both environments to meet the learning outcomes. Replacing seat time with online lectures and activities allows for more focused face-to-face interactions, not to mention freeing up classroom space. The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center is pleased to present the Hybrid Course Design Workshop Series.

The workshops will be held on Fridays beginning October 18 through November 22, 2013 from 12noon to 1:30pm in the Computer Training Classroom, Walsh Library.A light lunch will be served.

For the workshop description and to register, click “Register Here”

Communication and Feedback

November 1, 2013 – Register Here

Using Open Educational Resources (OER) to Enhance Content

November 8, 2013 – Register Here

Activities for Hybrid Courses

November 15, 2013 – Register Here

Rethinking Assessment Strategies for Hybrid Courses

November 22, 2013 – Register Here

For more information contact Renee Cicchino at renee.cicchino@shu.edu.

AACTE Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology

At the October 25, 2013 Curriculum Revision meeting, Dean May presented, as part of the curriculum revision work, the opportunity for EDST to consider applying for the AACTE Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology.

Information and application information are available at the link above. Once on the AACTE page, the award is listed and to find out more about it, you choose the ‘Find Out More About This Award Here’ link. This link is also available on the Resources page on this blog.

CR Meeting Notes from October, 25, 2013 Meeting

Thanks to all of our new subscribers!

The faculty of the EDST department met on Friday, October 25, 2013 for our second Curriculum Revision meeting. The primary focus of the meeting was to continue to look at the new CAEP Standards, the new NJ DOE regulations and determine how and where the CEHS could focus in order to better align with the new standards and regulations.

This document is the original CAEP and NJ DOE alignment and it also integrates all of the notes from both the September and October curriculum revision meetings.

The following are some of the key take aways or potential action items from the meetings and notes (in no particular order):

1. How does/can SHU differentiate from the other 23 EPPs (Education Preparation Providers) in the state of NJ? What can we do to make it more attractive financially? How can we increase retention? How can we identify grant funds for SHU Ed majors to help attract and retain students? Is there STEM funding for Ed Math & Science majors?

2. How, when and in what capacity is the best way to engage alumni to help improve the programs and gain better insight?

3. What is the best way to evaluate field placement schools and cooperating teachers to ensure the best field experiences for our students?

4. Is it possible for CEHS to develop a relationship with another PDS? Possible in an urban setting and potentially with a focus on STEM?

5. In an effort to better understand the effective integration of technology in K-12 schools and how to better prepare our students on the use of technology, CEHS is actively pursuing putting together a Tech Advisory Committee focus group. This group would consist of tech supervisors and coordinators at field placement schools and a few CEHS faculty and would seek to understand the possible gaps in what is happening in schools and how our students are prepared. The work following the focus group would be to develop strategies to close any gaps.

6. How and where can EDST work to better bridge the gap in technology within the syllabi and curriculum to ensure integration and continuity? The suggestion was made that we begin by looking at the freshman year courses’ syllabi, learning goals and assessments to assess alignments. During this process it is important to keep an eye on the technology components throughout the CAEP and InTASC standards.

7. Currently, the InTASC standards are presented to seniors in the EDST program. Do the standards need to be introduced to students earlier? Possibly as early as freshman year?

8. As a point of reference, the faculty recognized the need to show the students how to access and conduct research. Where and how can this be integrated in the curriculum?

9. With the new standards, there is a need to look at the current student teacher evaluation and consider changing it or adding to the current model. Some possible options are: a) add a video component to the current Teacher Work Sample evaluation, b) consider using EdTPA and c) look at the Critical Competence Inventory that was developed as a student teacher evaluation tool by a consortium of NJ colleges.

10. Considering the new state regulations for students to pass the Core Academic Test before being admitted into an education program, students would need to pass it by the Fall of their Sophomore year. This raised the possible need to develop an orientation for freshman to help align and prepare them for passing the Core Academic Test. This requirement is explained in more detail in this post.

11. In an effort to increase communication and learn from each other, it was suggested to look for opportunities to cross-teach and learn from colleagues in many different areas, but particularly in the area of technology. How and where can we provide opportunities for internal professional development and cross-teaching?

12. Continue work on aligning the SPA standards with the InTASC standards.

Technology Terminology and Integration – CEHS College Retreat

On Friday, October 18, 2013, the College of Education and Human Services had a college wide retreat. Dean May identified technology as the underlying theme for the retreat. Aspects of the retreat focused on faculty sharing success stories of online and hybrid courses versus their on ground/face-to-face courses; a review of end of course evaluations and how well our students perceive their courses as effectively integrating technology and preparing them to teach using technology; and setting a baseline of technology terminology, tools, pathways of learning and methods of engagement.

Mary Zedeck, Instructional Designer from the TLTC, created and shared her Prezi on technology terms with the faculty. In addition, she provided the faculty with the following document as a resource on terminology, tools and methods of engagement.

The retreat was an excellent opportunity for all of the faculty and administration to work from a common understanding. It was the kick off for creating a baseline and launching the conversation for driving change and effectively integrating technology during the curriculum revision process.