eCommunicator for Faculty & Staff

2006 Faculty/Staff Edition - Volume 3 > Collaboratory Project

Collaboratory Project Offers Young Students "Virtually" Unlimited Possibilities

June 2006

Combine the imagination of over 300 Illinois grade school students with innovative projects such as "A Day in My School's Neighborhood" or "Nature Niches in My School's Backyard." Then provide collaborative documents online where those students can create, express themselves, and share with their peers.

The result? A successful recipe for creative learning, made possible by NUIT's Collaboratory Project and a $100,000 federal grant for the Improvement of Education distributed through the Illinois State Board of Education. Thanks to the grant, the Collaboratory was able to continue its role in the two-year-old Illinois Virtual School (IVS) project.

A Head Start with Technology
This year, 315 students and 20 teachers from three Chicago schools—the Edison Regional Gifted Center, Orozoco Community Academy, and F.W. Reilly School—participated through the Chicago Public Schools Office of eLearning.

"The IVS is preparing students to understand cutting-edge technology— electronic discussions, creating, sharing, and reviewing multimedia documents," said Sue Sherman-Martinez, curriculum coordinator for Reilly School. "This type of technology is used in many high school distance learning classes and in most college classes."

This year's IVS projects offered third, fourth, and fifth grade Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies students a chance to exercise their creativity with projects such as "Exploring Picture Books and their Authors," "Nature Niches in My School's Backyard," "Poet's Corner," and "A Day in My School's Neighborhood." Working with guidelines and overviews developed by their teachers, the students wrote essays, posted digital photos, learned to use survey tools, and used discussion boards to exchange comments and questions with peers at other participating schools.

"The Collaboratory is a good way to get to know what other kids our age are doing," said fifth-grader Yuriana. "It's also a good way to be confident about what you write, because kids get to read your writing and tell you what they think."

Another young participant, Marilou, agreed. "It's a great Web site for kids to learn about what's going on in their community. Kids can express how they feel and at the same time be learning about something new."

Earlier this year, Bonnie Thurber, coordinator of programs and professional development for the Collaboratory Project, led workshops and organized monthly meetings for teachers to help them use online tools effectively. When the school year ends, teachers will begin developing next year's projects on their own.

"Everyone really enjoyed working with the Collaboratory," Thurber said. "This was an especially motivated group."

The Collaboratory Project is a Northwestern University initiative that provides project consulting, training, and technical advice to K-12 teachers and their students who are interested in using the Collaboratory to advance education. The Collaboratory is an easy-to-use, Web-based collaborative learning environment that teachers use to develop project-based activities aligned to Illinois Learning Standards.

<< back