Info Update

• Dr. Z-Coe's Corner
• Happy Belated Teacher Appreciation Week!
• Additions to FOR-PD Course
• Facilitator Training and Certification Course Registration Info
• New Topic in For Facilitator Only Course
• Stenhouse Newslinks Feature FOR-PD
• Summer 2005 Session Underway!
• NEW Summer FOR-PD Helpdesk Hours
• New FOR-PD Website Launched!
• Fall 2005 Registration Information
• Bi-monthly Discussion Topics

ABC's of Facilitation

• Facilitation Resource of the Month
• What's My Role?
• Dear Felicity,

Chatterbox

• Community Comments
• Monthly Online Chat

Dr. Z-Coe's Corner

Dear FOR-PD Facilitator:

Greetings! I hope that this note finds all of you well. FOR-PD is continuing to grow. We have closed the open enrollment for summer 2005 and are about ready to begin our summer sections. Summer 2005 looks very busy for us. Thank you to all of you who will be facilitating courses for us this summer. May 1-7 was National Teacher Appreciation Week. On behalf of the FOR-PD team, allow me to thank you for what you do daily to reach and teach Florida's students. Thank you for your dedication, services, time, and commitment to education and the success of all students.

I hope that you enjoy and benefit from this newsletter—it is a very valuable resource for facilitators. Thank you for all of your help with the monitoring of our participants' progress. As some of you are approaching the end of the semester, please keep in mind all of the end of the course reminders and thank you for continuing to remind your participants of deadlines and your course schedule.

This month we are focusing on collaboration. We are highlighting many resources that will help improve collaboration among participants and also between participants and facilitators. I recently read an article entitled Building community in an online learning environment: communication, cooperation and collaboration by Misanchuk & Anderson. In this article, the authors discussed the importance of communication, cooperation, and collaboration. I selected the following that apply to our FOR-PD project.

The 3 C's of building an online learning community:

Communication: Communication refers to the basic level of discussion in an online format. Students must participate in a discussion to have any kind of presence in the class. Communication can be focused around lesson readings and resources based on course content or course implementation. Communication can occur asynchronously or via e-mail, or synchronously via chat rooms or telephone.

Cooperation: Cooperation involves students working in groups. For example, students may divide up an assignment, but are eventually assigned individual grades for their work.

Collaboration: Collaboration is the most integrated form of group work, the most difficult one, but also the most rewarding. In the case of collaboration, the group members work toward a common goal.

The three types of interactions bring about three different types of learning; for example,  information transmission (Communication), knowledge transmission (Cooperation), and knowledge generation (Collaboration). I encourage you to reflect upon how you and your participants collaborate, how you collaborate with the FOR-PD office, and how your participants collaborate with each other. Are we looking to merely have these teachers pass the course by doing the bare minimum or are we taking about preparing inservice teachers to provide effective reading instruction that will help bring about positive results in student achievement? The way you answer this question will reflect the quality of your facilitation and what you see your role to be in this course.

Knowledge generation will be produced by you and participants interacting with text and with each other meaningfully—when teachers are encouraged to reflect on their own practice, read about research, make instructional accommodations, and critically reflect on colleagues' ideas and work knowledge generation occurs. If teachers take the quiz (maybe not even pass it the first time but look at the feedback and just go back and take it again after they copied the right answers) and do the discussion posting without studying the material, without responding to colleagues' work, and try to complete 4-5 lessons in a week, can we actually say that any learning is taking place? What kind of reading instruction will these teachers deliver in their classrooms? We need you to be collaborating with us in terms of policies, expectations and your facilitation, and we also expect you to be encouraging collaborations with your students. Characteristics of successful collaborations include:

• Mutual self-interest and common goals
• Mutual trust and respect
• Clear focus
• Manageable agenda
• Long-term commitment from top leadership
• Adequate resources
• Information sharing

If we can achieve and sustain effective collaboration with you and you can achieve and maintain effective collaboration with your participants, we can significantly improve our capacity to meet the needs of teachers and their students.

Many of our Spring 2005 sections have closed and many more are continuing into July. Thank you for continuing to provide effective facilitation to our teachers. You are the key to their success in the course! Through our Quality Assurance Checks, ongoing communication with FOR-PD facilitators, and with you, we have been assisting many participants with the course. Periodic reports from our office are sent out to participants and facilitators about teachers' needs in the course. We do not want teachers to stay behind. We are here to assist you and your participants and help them learn and succeed.

Thank you for continuing to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with your participants and with the FOR-PD office. We are here to support you and help you and your teachers succeed. Please let us know how we can better support you and help you grow professionally, as well. Thank you again, for all of your work. Thank you for your time, efforts, and leadership with the FOR-PD course. I wish you continued success. Please feel free to contact me in case you have any comments or questions at vzygouri@mail.ucf.edu or (407) 207-7296.

Regards,

Vicky Zygouris-Coe, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, FOR-PD
vzygouri@mail.ucf.edu

Happy Belated Teacher Appreciation Week!

Since 1984, the National PTA has encouraged everyone to show their appreciation for teachers during the annual National PTA Teacher Appreciation Week. This year, National Teacher Appreciation Week was May 1 - 7, 2005. Below is a copy of a letter from Linda Hodge, National PTA President. Thank you, Florida teachers, for all you do! We appreciate you and your efforts to educate our future leaders!

As we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, May 1-7, 2005, we honor the dedication, passion, and caring nature of teachers. Not only are teachers the backbone of our nation's education system, they are a guiding force in helping our children develop into healthy, happy, and successful adults.

We pause to reflect on all that teachers do every day, and designate this week in appreciation and celebration of their service. Please join the six million members of PTA in thanking teachers during this week, your kindness will be appreciated, and it's important that we show educators how much they mean to us.

Thank you, teachers!

Linda Hodge
National PTA President

New Topic in For Facilitator Only Course

We have added another topic to the For Facilitator Only Course discussion area. There have been many questions about where to find forms related to facilitating (invoices, etc.) and where to view the various policies (facilitator expectations, etc.). To address these questions, we have created a new topic area called Policies and Procedures. In this area, you can find links to the invoice, the condition of service, and view several policies. We hope this area will help facilitate your search for important documents related to facilitating the FOR-PD course. If you have any questions or have additional documents you would like to see posted, please send an email to Wendy at forpdfac@mail.ucf.edu.

FOR-PD in the News

The FOR-PD course was mentioned in the Stenhouse Newslinks. This is the Stenhouse Publishing Group's newsletter for K-12 educators.

Additionally, there is a nice article about FOR-PD in the Middle School Diaries from MiddleWeb. MiddleWeb was established in 1996 with grant support from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation's Program for Student Achievement, which focused its grant making on middle school improvement.

This article highlights the reading strategy of the month, the reading strategy of the month archive, and our publications page. These are all great resources to share with your participants! Refer them to the article or simply point them to our website.

Summer 2005 Courses Underway!

Our summer session has begun! We already have 10 sections underway with nearly 280 students. There are more than 45 open enrollment sections starting on Monday, May 16 and we have another additional 14 district sections starting throughout the rest of this month. That means we will have well over 1500 participants in FOR-PD classes over the summer!

As mentioned in previous editions of the FFF, the FOR-PD course has been listed as an option in the Alternatively Certified Teachers and REESOL programs. Some of the courses included in our numbers above are ACP or ESOL only classes. We are very excited about the direction of the program and look forward to a wonderful summer!

NEW Summer FOR-PD Help Desk Hours

FOR-PD has new summer Help Desk hours! Please pass these new hours along to your students and post in the discussion area of your courses.

Monday - Friday:	9am - 4pm
Monday, Tuesday and Friday:	6pm - 10pm
Saturday:	10am - 3pm

There are still a variety of ways to reach the Help Desk. Your participants can use any of these methods during regular Help Desk hours. Please remember to refer your participants directly to the Help Desk if they are having trouble.

Phone Support
866-863-READ (866-863-7323): Toll Free, Florida Calls Only
407-249-4702: Non Florida Calls Only

Email Support
helpdesk@orion.itrc.ucf.edu

AOL Instant Messenger© Support
Screen Name "forpdhelp"

New FOR-PD Website Launched!

On May 4, 2005 FOR-PD launched its newly redesigned website in a continuing effort to provide quality reading resources to educators and to support students enrolled in the FOR-PD course. The FOR-PD website received more than 17,000 hits in April with more visitors coming every month.

We have changed our design and streamlined how we store information. Please enjoy the new design and let us know if you have any comments!

Fall 2005 Registration Information

Fall registration is almost upon us—mark your calendars! Teachers wishing to register for fall courses will be able to do so from the FOR-PD Homepage. Look for the registration link during the enrollment dates.

Richard Scott, in the FOR-PD office, is responsible for assisting districts with setting up registrations and collecting the registration files. For assistance, please contact Richard through email (richard@orion.itrc.ucf.edu) or by phone (407-207-4940).

Bi-Monthly Facilitator Discussion Topics

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Facilitation Resource of the Month

We are continuing our focus on the NSDC Standards. Below are excerpts from the NSDC website regarding the Process Standard on Collaboration For more information about the NSDC standards, please visit the NSDC homepage.

Let's look at this standard and the rationale in terms of the FOR-PD course.

The Standard

Staff development that improves the learning of all students provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate.

The Rationale

Some of the most important forms of professional learning and problem solving occur in group settings within schools and school districts. Organized groups provide the social interaction that often deepens learning and the interpersonal support and synergy necessary for creatively solving the complex problems of teaching and learning. And because many of the recommendations contained in these standards advocate for increased teamwork among teachers and administrators in designing lessons, critiquing student work, and analyzing various types of data, among other tasks, it is imperative that professional learning be directed at improving the quality of collaborative work.

Staff development provides teachers and administrators with appropriate knowledge and skills regarding group processes to ensure various teams, committees, and departments within schools achieve their goals and provide satisfying and rewarding experiences for participants. Because acquisition of this knowledge and skill has not typically been a part of educators' professional preparation and because leaders often underestimate its importance, it is essential that professional learning focused on helping educators work together successfully be given a high priority. Organized groups usually go through several stages in their development as participants come together, begin to know one another at deeper levels, get clear about the group's purpose and ground rules, surface and address the inevitable conflict that such work elicits, and become effective at performing the group's work in a manner that satisfies both the task and interpersonal expectations of participants. It is important that participants understand that these phases are a natural part of group development and that they be given opportunities to learn strategies for addressing problems that arise along the way. Outside facilitators can be helpful to groups as they navigate these unfamiliar waters.

One of the most difficult tasks of such groups is constructively managing the conflict that inevitably arises when participants discuss their fundamental beliefs about teaching and learning and seek the best ways to improve student achievement. Some schools have managed conflict by steering away from controversial issues or pretending that significant disagreements do not exist. Such "pseudo community" or "contrived collegiality" is a barrier that inhibits educators from speaking honestly with one another about their views on important issues, which is a critical first step in conflict resolution. These candid conversations are essential in reaching consensus on long-term goals and strategies and in finding solutions to the perennial problems of teaching and school leadership.

While collaborative, face-to-face professional learning and work are the hallmarks of a school culture that assumes collective responsibility for student learning, technology will increasingly provide a means for new and different forms of collaboration. Technology will enable teachers and administrators from around the country and world to share ideas, strategies, and tools with one another in ways that will dramatically increase the number of collaborative links among educators. But electronic forms of such work will also present teachers and administrators with new challenges whose outlines are only becoming dimly visible as larger numbers of educators begin to use these processes to strengthen their teaching and leadership practices.

Below are several questions. Think about what you have just read and post your thoughts to the FFF* Discussions topic "NSDC Standard: Collaboration." When you think about this, remember what we have discussed in terms of creating a sense of community in your course.

• How is this applicable to FOR-PD?
• How does this relate to creating a sense of community?
• What are some things you can do as a facilitator to help FOR-PD meet this standard?

For an additional resource on collaboration and using Online Learning Environments (our course is an example), please see the following article by Jim Clark: Collaboration Tools in Online Learning Environments. Specifically, look at section "VI. Fostering Collaboration in OLE's" and "VII. Recommendations." What are your thoughts regarding Jim Clark's views?

Jim Clark is an Instructor with the Accounting and Computer Systems Division of Champlain College. His short article is published in the ALN Magazine, a publication of the Sloan Consortium.

What's My Role?

We have many courses closing now and many more starting! In light of this fact, below are reminders about course closing procedures in addition to a list of important tasks when a course begins. Please follow each step below carefully. All are required for successful facilitation of a FOR-PD course. Starting and ending courses are VERY important tasks and completion of these tasks really reflect how the FOR-PD project runs. Your efforts on our behalf are critical to the success of our project and the participants who enroll in the FOR-PD course.

Course Closing Procedures

Students will be denied access to the course the next business day following the course closing date listed in the FOR-PD database. After the students have been denied access, you will need to do some wrap-up activities. You will have 2 weeks to accomplish all of these tasks, as all facilitators will be denied access to the courses 2 weeks after the course closing date.

1. Finish grading all assignments. Your progress report should have helped students see what they needed to turn in. Make sure you review ALL discussion areas for any discussions you may have missed. If any students have requested a copy of their grades, be sure to send them a copy of the final grades if you posted anything after students were denied access
2. Post grades to the gradebook.
3. Send FOR-PD a list of students who successfully completed the course. Request any certificates of completion for participants who needed them (within 1 week of course closing).
4. Email the students in the class who completed, congratulating them on a job well done (using outside email).
5. Send your invoice to FOR-PD (within 2 weeks of course closing).
   

Course Opening Tasks

Your role during this period deals with course preparation. The FOR-PD office typically creates the course and gives the facilitator access on a Friday. Participants are notified on the day classes begin, which is typically a Monday. That means facilitators have the weekend to prepare the class. There are a few things that need to be done to prepare the course for students.

1. Post a welcome message for students in the main discussion area. Welcome them to the class and let them know the first week is simply familiarizing themselves with the course structure and layout. Indicate when you will be available online, how much time they should expect for you to respond to them (should be around 24 hours), and when you plan to grade (should grade at least weekly).
2. Post your "Meet Me Here" message introducing yourself to the students. Remember, they will model their posting after your own, so spend some time creating a good posting and use the rubric to ensure you make a 20 point post!
3. Review the lessons. We update content frequently, add new items, and move things based on participant feedback.  You need to be familiar with the course so you can respond to participant questions in a timely fashion.
4. Post a course schedule in the Calendar. Indicate the start and end date of class (sent to you in your Welcome email from FOR-PD). You can choose to post all assignment due dates right away or wait and post on a weekly basis.

Dear Felicity,

Dear Felicity,
My course was scheduled to close on Monday, May 9. I realized my participants needed extra time, so I posted a note to all of them saying we would have until Thursday, May 12. On Tuesday, May 10, I received several ANGRY messages from my participants saying they were denied access to the course. How did this happen? What can I do? PLEASE HELP!!

- Course Closing Critic

"Thanks you for being so prompt in grading and responding to our discussion postings; you gave great advice and information.  I have enjoyed this course. . . ."

-- Sandi

The above quote was posted to one of our facilitators, Linda Janney. Congratulations Linda! I wanted to post this particular comment because it brings forth a very good point. Prompt grading and response to participant questions really go a long way in making your course a success. Remember you are working with adult learners. Everyone's time is valuable and the more you can respect them, the more they will respect you. This is an important step in creating a sense of community within your course!

Do you have comments about the course or about facilitation? Have you received any comments from participants? We always look for feedback, so send it our way. Email forpdfac@mail.ucf.edu with your stories!