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The Potomac Highlands Watershed School eForum Teacher Information & Updates |
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If you have any problems, Neil Gillies (CI's Education Director) can be reached at home after hours at 304-897-6297.
Current eForum: Stream Cleaner Environmental Forum 2014
Oh Deer! Forum Section Worksheets It's Your eForum too - Teacher Suggestions. Please ask students to take the survey before they begin. Why we ask for Control Codes on forms When the eForums conclude . . . Thoughtful Discussions Form - Getting it Right. eForum Lesson Plan (you can also reach lesson plans through the Teacher's Room)
Our challenge. Cacapon Institute's challenge in conducting Environmental Forums and other Potomac Highlands Watershed School activities is to provide a setting where the content is highly relevant to the required curriculum, where everything a teacher needs can be readily found, and where everything works. Making everything work can be more difficult than it appears, because every school system installs filters on their computer networks to both prevent students from accessing inappropriate material, and to prevent harm to their computer system from accidental downloading of malicious software (viruses, spyware, malware, etc.). Because every school system, possibly even every school, does this differently, it is our challenge to develop content and processes that work everywhere. For example, we do not have a required "user name/password" system (the flash activities have a "visitor's" bypass), we do not post streaming video (although we would love to), and we take care that eForum activities do not "feel" like a chat room to school filters that would then kick them off.
How subtle can the problems be? Pretty subtle. For example, the original file names for our Flash activities (like Stream Cleaner) included the word "game." Some systems (one in a Missouri library, one in a WV school system) had filters that automatically kicked a user who tried to access these activities off the web because of the word "game" in the file name. We learned of the problem because people told us about it.
If you need something that you can't find, or if something doesn't work for you, we won't know unless you tell us. So, please, let us know – and we will do everything in our power to fix it.
It's Your eForum too - Teacher Suggestions. We really encourage participating teachers to share their experiences and offer suggestions. We do listen, and make every effort to respond in a substantive manner. After all, this is your eForum as much as it is CI's. Some examples of teacher comments helping shape the eForums:
These are instances where participating teachers have provided suggestions and examples of how they use the eForums that have made a material difference in the quality of the experience.
Please ask students to take the survey before they begin. The teacher code is optional, but we strongly encourage their use. You may assign a different code as an identifier if you have multiple classes participating.
Why we ask for the "Control Code" on forms? Control Codes are assigned by teachers, not CI. We do this to prevent mischief by students and by "unauthorized" users. The potential for mischief is vast, and one of our jobs is to make sure that none of it makes its way to your school computer screens. For example, the control code should help deter any temptation students might have to toy with the survey (for example sign on as a different school and answer all the questions “wrong”). " We also read every submittal before manually posting it on the website. With numerous classes participating, that will keep us plenty busy during the Thoughtful Questions period.
Crafting the Perfect POV. POVs should be crisp, concise, and persuasive. The optimum length for a POV is from 250 to 600 words. Too short and it cannot adequately cover the material it needs to address. Too long and it frightens other students away - and the dialogue suffers.
When the eForums conclude, we'll ask participating teachers to fill out a short survey to help us know what went right, what could use improvement, and how the experience impacted your view of the use of computers in the classroom. We'll also schedule a time for a conference call where we can all just informally talk about it. For example, a conference call following our 2006 Oh Deer! eForum led to a number of significant changes to the time frame and to the POV page format.
Thoughtful Discussions Form. While we have simplified the original Thoughtful Questions form for the SCE Forum 2010, this part of the forum has traditionally created some confusion among participants - with much resulting confusion on the receiving end here at CI. Please share the video at right with your students prior to the start of the Thoughtful Discussion phase.
Hands-on Projects. For schools in D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia the SCE Forum, coupled with a hands-on activity, meets the Meaningful Watershed Education Experience (MWEE) requirement. We can also support Oh Deer! related projects if they have a watershed component. The eForums also help meet 21st Century Learning guidelines. We offer technical and material resources to help participating schools continue the eForum lessons by implementing their own watershed stewardship project, projects like these. Classes might plant a riparian buffer, establish a watershed friendly schoolyard management plan, control erosion, or do any number of best management practices (BMP). Schools don’t need to be near a stream - terrestrial projects like controlling rooftop and parking lot runoff are also watershed BMPs. Education and community outreach are important BMPs too, so, if a class produces posters or flyers we can help with costs and materials.
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