We propose to use CK:P resources to develop a computer network at Colfax Elementary School that will link the classrooms together, to the Internet, and to the Pittsburgh community. We further propose to develop a small satellite network within the East Hills community, where a significant fraction of our students reside. Besides using the variety of educational resources available on the Internet, we will also work with several local community partners to develop new educational programs and activities that can be integrated, not only into the Colfax curriculum, but through the auspices of the Internet, into the curriculum of any elementary school.
Key members of the Project Team who will implement this proposal include:
Roseann Sullivan, Site Coordinator; Colfax teacher
Robert Schor, User Adminstrator; Colfax parent
Ann Gordon, Project Manager; Colfax teacher
Pat Severance; Colfax principal
Cheryl McLaughlin; Colfax Developmental Advisor
Donna McCartney; Colfax teacher
Janet Ocel; Colfax Parent School Community Council member
Nancy Bromberg; Colfax librarian
PROBLEM STATEMENT
A significant resource gap that exists among the students at Colfax can have consequences for their educational performance. Although Colfax is located in Squirrel Hill, 62% of our students come from the East Hills and other East End communities (Appendix L). Our communities are separated not only by geographical distance, but also by available resources, ideological differences and other factors. The Project Team believes that these inequalities contribute to the differences in performance of our students; they exhibit a reading racial achievement gap of 43%, and a mathematics racial achievement gap of 56% (Appendix L). In order to meet the needs of all of our students, we need to bridge the gap, making education more engaging and attractive to all children and families.
Our proposal is to use CK:P resources to develop a computer network at Colfax Elementary School. Specifically, we want the ability to eventually connect every classroom to the network. We will use these computer connections to establish communications (a) with educational resources available over the Internet, (b) with community partners who will work with us to create specific educational activities, (c) among Colfax educators, Colfax students, and Colfax parents, and (d) between the Squirrel Hill-based Colfax community and the East Hills-based community where a significant segment of our students and their families reside. We expect these additional CK:P resources will enable Colfax to be a more viable and effective educational institution that merges highly divergent communities.
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY
The focus of this proposal is to provide better computer access to communications networks for Colfax Elementary School and the communities it serves, especially East Hills. The educational resources of the Internet are numerous; Colfax teachers have already participated in several Internet projects. The Project Team learned about additional specific Internet educational projects that have proven successful at other CK:P sites (Appendix F), and will utilize these projects in our curriculum. However, we wish to go beyond the "global" reach of the Internet and to use the computer network to form educational ties within the Colfax communities, particularly with Squirrel Hill and East Hills. In doing so, we hope to eliminate some artificial boundaries (like classroom walls, the 8:152:30 "school day", the role of teacher and student) and engage a broader community in the process of educating our children.
A "Wired Colfax" facilitates communication and learning
We envision the creation of a computer communications network
based at Colfax Elementary School. This would consist of computer outlets
in all the classrooms, with computers distributed among the classes on a
flexible basis as resources and the needs of specific curriculum projects
allow. One use for the network is as a gateway to the Internet, with all
of the educational resources that it offers. However, an equally
important use is to provide a communication channel for sharing
information within the school, between students, and with the community.
For example, students will be encouraged to work together and exchange
information by electronic mail, by participation in Colfax "chat rooms",
and by creating and participating in discussions on electronic bulletin
boards. Rather than struggling for a brief time on an assignment, then
giving up, students will be encouraged to ask each other "how to", and to
offer help, thus becoming the "teacher", to each other.
Communication
via the computer can forge links between Colfax Elementary School and
educational resources within the community. We will describe below
several specific "partnerships" that we have established that rely on
computer communications to bridge the gap between the fairly structured
environment of the elementary school classroom and our partnership
institutions.
Wired Communities can work together
As outlined in the Problem Statement, the East Hills community, where a significant fraction of Colfax students reside, is somewhat geographically isolated and lacks some of the institutional resources (museums, libraries, concert halls) available in Squirrel Hill. We propose to "wire in" the East Hills community to the Colfax network by establishing a small sub-network at the East Hills Social Service Center.
Working with LaVerne Holliday, Program Coordinator and Director of Social Services, Florence Gandy, Computer Coordinator, and Mary Clark, Librarian at the Center, we will use CK:P funds to wire and further expand their small computer lab (six machines, only one with modem access to an outside network). The Center reports that, at present, 2030 children ask to use the computers each day; better access through our network would clearly benefit this community (Appendix H). The Colfax Project Team will help expand the after school program in operation at this time with hardware resources as well as technical resources. We thereby will provide, for this population of our students, not only access to the Internet for exploration and investigation, but also communication with their Squirrel Hill peers, who will have access to computers at Colfax after school, at libraries, or in their homes. We believe both our Colfax students and the East Hills community will benefit from this greater access to technology.
Local "partners" provide new educational opportunities
We have established a number of local partnerships with groups and institutions that can provide new and varied educational experiences for our students. All of these partnerships will utilize computer resources, either as a communication tool to bring people together without physical travel, as a "means in itself" (i.e. to learn together about computers, the Internet, etc.), or as a medium for developing new items for the curriculum. Letters of support are in Appendix B.
The OASIS Partnership
Colfax has a partnership with the Older Adult Services and Information System (OASIS) group. In return for working with groups of students after school, these "computing Seniors" will have access to the Colfax computer lab, and through it, to the Internet.
The Taylor Allderdice Partnership
Taylor Allderdice High School, which is within walking distance of Colfax, is the high school for the majority of our students. Ms. Susan Hirsch, CK:P Site Coordinator at Allderdice, will help us organize a program where Allderdice students work with Colfax students after school in both the Colfax computer lab and in the East Hills Social Service Center computer lab.
The Carnegie-Mellon University Partnership
We will continue and expand the already existing relationship we have with CMU student tutors through their East End Outreach Program. They will also provide a ready source of technical knowledge and specialized training in computers, going beyond the basic skill training provided by the Project Team.
The KurehaColfax Sister School Partnership
We will continue to develop our association with our sister school, Kureha Elementary School in Toyama City, Japan. Currently, we have a key pal (a computer e-mail pen pal) relationship involving students in our Japan Club, which we hope to expand and enhance with better Internet access.
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History Partnership
We will work with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to create a "Virtual Museum", a computer-based visit to the museum, complete with pictures, explanations, and links to further information for the curious student. Colfax students will go to the Carnegie, explore selected rooms, and interact with the museum staff in order to become "virtual docents" capable of guiding other students through the exhibit.
Carnegie Museum of Art
Colfax and the Carnegie Museum of Art will create an "ask the expert" linkage via E-mail and connected home pages. Students who have questions about art (through school activities, which will include visits to museums via the Internet) will be able to communicate with the staff at the Museum of Art. A culminating activity would be a real visit by the expert to the school, to meet with the students at the end of the school year.
The Phipps Conservatory Partnership
Colfax will link with Phipps via the Internet, enabling our students to communicate with horticulturists and do research projects on botanical subjects. Our students and project team will create and maintain a Phipps Conservatory Homepage for children.
The Colfax Computer Club will tie together these activities
The Colfax Computer Club, consisting of interested Colfax students from all grades, student tutors from CMU and Taylor Allderdice, and the OASIS computing seniors, will meet after school every Tuesday and Thursday at both the Colfax Computer Lab and at the East Hills satellite site. The Computer Club will implement several educational activities, one of which is creating the "Virtual Museum" described above. This will involve organizing the pictures, text, and audio gathers by the student "virtual docents", transferring this information into the computer, and making it available through links both to Colfax's Home Page and the Home Page of the Carnegie. Once the Virtual Museum is in place, Colfax teachers will take their home rooms on a "virtual field trip" to selected exhibits that tie in to their current curriculum. On a subsequent actual visit to the museum, the students will be better prepared to ask questions and learn more from the experience. Not only will the children involved in creating the Virtual Museum learn new information and skills, but all Colfax students (and students in other schools, because the information will be on the Internet) will benefit from this new educational experience.
Members of the Computer Club will assist Colfax students at the East Hills satellite in utilizing the resources of the Colfax network. They will demonstrate how students can solve problems and get information by using e-mail, the Colfax Homework Chat Room, and the tools of the Internet. Although members of the Computer Club will be at two quite separate physical sites, the links through the network will overcome the geographical distance and permit all members of the Club to work together on common goals.
A Wired Colfax helps meet Educational Goals
Our proposed educational activities address the Pittsburgh Public School
District's core curriculum framework. A wired Colfax will facilitate
communication skills, including research and information management, as
well as reading and writing abilities (Communications, 1, 2, 4 of Appendix
J); the citizenship skills of communication and working with others
(Citizenship, 7, 8); the science and technology skill of computer literacy
(Science and Technology, 3, 9).
Colfax Elementary School's
Comprehensive Educational Improvement Plan (CEIP) states that "the mission
of Colfax School is to provide an enriching educational experience for all
children regardless of race, gender, culture, nationality, or ability
within a safe caring atmosphere designed to nurture the spirit and
stimulate the intellect" (Appendix K). Part of Colfax's Action Plan
includes a list of strategies for bringing technology to Colfax. We
believe that the novel educational activities outlined above will further
the goals of this plan. We further believe that our specific allocation
of resources within our "Wired Community" is designed to help equalize the
educational experience for all of our children.
Project Team
The Project Team evolved from a group of faculty and parents, known as the Technology Committee, which has been meeting regularly for several years. We have worked together as a team to (a) upgrade and network three PC computers in the school's existing Computer Lab, (b) provide training for our colleagues in the school, particularly on the use of the resources of the Internet, and (c) to plan for the expansion of computers and other new technology into Colfax Elementary School.
The Project Team consists of Colfax faculty, staff members, and parents of Colfax students (Appendix A). All members of the Team are experienced computer users, and have used Internet resources as part of our educational or professional activities. We have also relied heavily on electronic mail and computer technology to facilitate the rapid development of this proposal (Appendix D).
Our proposal has the support of the school administration, teachers, parents, and members of the community (Appendix C). One measure of the enthusiasm with this proposal is that all of the Colfax teachers immediately signed up to request computers in their classroom (Appendix I).
We bring a variety of skills to ensure the success of this project. Some of us are experienced elementary school educators, well versed in "what works" for capturing a child's interest and attention. Others have experience designing and constructing Web pages, including the Colfax Home Page (Appendix G). Some team members have several decades of experience working with computers, while others bring the fresh enthusiasm of the novice.
We have chosen Roseann Sullivan, kindergarten teacher at Colfax, as the Site Coordinator. She has been a member of the Technology Committee and the Project Team from their inception. She has presented a workshop for teachers at the Pittsburgh Kindergarten Association on the use of the Internet. She has initiated several of our planned partnerships, and will work with our partners to assure that we meet the objectives set forth in this proposal. She will serve as the coordinating contact with CK:P in the planning for site implementation and CK:P training of the Project Team. She will also work with the PTO, Parent School Community Council and Colfax staff to encourage the use of the Colfax network as a tool for more effective communication.
Robert Schor, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh, will serve as the User Administrator to provide technical support of the project. Dr. Schor, who has one child in Colfax and two more slated to enter soon, has been a member of the Technology Committee for two years, and has helped expand and maintain our small collection of PCs that are currently our only access to the CK:P network. Dr. Schor's schedule permits him to devote the time needed to support this activity.
Ann Gordon, Speech and Language Class teacher at Colfax, will serve as the Project Manager, maintaining and coordinating the use of the computer lab and equipment as a center for information and project development. She will be the liaison between the teachers and the project team members, and will work closely with the project User Administrator who will provide technical support.
Pat Severance, principal at Colfax, has recommended that October, 1998 be officially declared "Internet Immersion Month" for faculty, staff, and students. During this month, grade level teams will meet, divide responsibilities, jointly prepare lesson plans, and have a culminating "end of the month" special activity to demonstrate what the children have accomplished. There will then be continued scheduled access to the lab and monthly meetings to ensure the successful continuation of the project.
Cheryl McLaughlin, Developmental Advisor, is a very experienced user of the Internet, and the creator and maintainer of the Colfax Home Page. She will serve as a resource for training staff, particularly in exploiting the resources of the Internet to create new educational experiences and uncover new knowledge, particularly in the areas of leadership development, social skill enhancement, and peace making/mediation endeavors.
Donna McCartney, science teacher at Colfax, is one of the founding members of the Technology Committee, and has largely recruited the Project Team. She is developing the partnership with Kureha Elementary School in Toyama City, Japan.
Janet Ocel, Ph.D., is a member of Colfax's Parent School Community Council and has been an elementary school teacher and administrator for twenty-six years.
Nancy Bromberg, Colfax librarian, will teach students the library skills associated with the Internet, including how to use the CAROLINE catalog system.
Members of the Project Team have, over the past two years, worked closely with each other to develop and enhance our computer and network skills. We will receive additional training from CK:P on the management of the specific network that they would install at Colfax. We will, in turn, train the Colfax staff in regular after-school training sessions.
In Kind Contribution
As outlined above, the Project Team, with some supplemental training by CK:P, has the resources and expertise to support the project at Colfax. Through our in-house training program, we will develop further expertise among the Colfax faculty and staff.
We plan to provide a satellite facility at the East Hills Social Service Center. Towards this end, Dr. Schor and Ms. McCartney have met several times with Ms. LaVerne Holliday and her staff at East Hills to discuss implementation. Dr. Schor will work with the Center to ensure their equipment is suitable for connecting to the Colfax network, and, along with CMU students, will help train Center staff as needed. The Center will provide after-school space, staff, and much of the computer equipment needed to accommodate the students. As noted above, currently 2030 students share 6 computers, only one of which has outside access. We hope to, collectively, upgrade this facility.
Our educational "partners" (see above) have all indicated their willingness to work with the Project Team to fulfill our educational objectives. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, besides helping with the creation of the Virtual Museum, will waive the admission charge for the subsequent real field trip. The Education Department at Phipps Conservatory will provide a small grant to Colfax for the creation and maintenance of a Phipps children's page for our students. CMU and Taylor Allderdice students who are especially skilled in Internet technology will work with the Colfax Computer Club and serve as a resource not only for our students, but for our staff and the Project Team.
As noted above, Dr. Schor has agreed to serve as User Administrator to provide technical support for the project. Dr. Schor has extensive experience with computers (both PC computers and larger machines), and has already been providing technical support for the Colfax computer lab.
Implementation and Evaluation
Should our proposal be accepted for funding, we would begin site planning and preparation immediately (Appendix E). We expect that actual equipment installation would not take place until early 1998; we would use the interim time to train the Project Team and, through them, train faculty and staff at Colfax. We would also immediately begin the initiatives with our partners, using what equipment is available. The Project Team will continue to meet regularly (at least twice a month) to coordinate activities. The general responsibilities will be as outlined above.
We envision this project as encompassing a computer network, with all classrooms having a computer connection to the Colfax Network. We also have a Computer Lab that we expect will be able to support 2430 computer connections. We do not expect that, initially, every classroom will have a computer, nor that the Computer Lab will be full of PCs. Rather we expect to be able to purchase 2430 computers that can be flexibly assigned to the Computer Lab or to classrooms as need and the curriculum projects dictate. We would envision, for example, that initially more of the computers would be centrally located in the Computer Lab to facilitate training of faculty and staff. We would expect that computers would then either "migrate" to the classrooms, or that supplemental funds would be found to purchase additional machines for the classrooms.
As noted above, a significant segment of this project is the construction of a satellite network based in East Hills. Should this model of a satellite network be effective in promoting educational opportunities in that community, we hope to be able to duplicate it in other suitable sites.
Appendices
Appendix A ‹ Project Team letters of interest and involvement
Appendix B ‹ Letters of support from Colfax Partners
Appendix C ‹ Letters of support from Colfax staff, parents, students, and community
Appendix D ‹ Proposal development timeline
Appendix E ‹ Timeline Colfax Elementary School CK:P proposal
Appendix F ‹ CK:P site visits
Appendix G ‹ Colfax Home Page
Appendix H ‹ East Hills petition
Appendix I ‹ Computers in Classroom signup sheet
Appendix J ‹ Pittsburgh Public Schools Core Curriculum Framework
Appendix K ‹ Colfax Comprehensive Educational Instructional Plan (CEIP)
Appendix L ‹ Colfax Student Body Composition
Appendix A ‹ Project Team letters of interest and involvement
Appendix B ‹ Letters of support from Colfax Partners
Appendix C ‹ Letters of support from Colfax staff, parents,
students, and community
Appendix D ‹ Proposal Development Timeline
| Jan. 24 | CK:P proposal downloaded |
| Jan. 30 | Proposal presented to Technology Committee |
| Team members visited Liberty School's CK:P project | |
| Feb.5 | Proposal presented at total staff meeting, and staff voted to endorse the project proposal |
| Feb. 6 | Project Team planning meeting |
| Feb. 12 | Visited Peabody for the RFP meeting |
| Feb. 13 | Project Team planning meeting |
| Feb. 19 | Visited Peabody CK:P Beta site |
| Feb. 20 | Visited East Hills School's CK:P site and East Hills Social Service Center |
| Met with librarians from Homewood, Hazelwood, and Squirrel Hill Branches of Carnegie Library to discuss collaborations and mutual support of Internet learning | |
| Feb. 27 | Revisited East Hills Social Service Center to formalize plans for Partnership |
| Visited Taylor Allderdice's CK:P site | |
| Feb. 28 | Visited the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, developed a plan for collaboration |
| Mar. 2 | Project Team produces rough draft of proposal |
| Mar. 6 | Project Team meeting, rough draft refined |
| Mar. 9 | Project Team finishes rough draft, sends out for comments |
| Mar. 11 | Project Team meeting, incorporates comments, organizes appendices |
| Mar. 13 | Final draft produced. |
Report to Project Team: Visit to Liberty Elementary School CK:P site
Although we had originally envisioned a computer "lab", the Liberty experience shows that computers in the classroom can also work effectively. At Liberty, the bank of computers is against one wall of the class; the teacher was able to go on with her prepared lesson, even though four adults and several children were working on the computer.
The Liberty newsgroup is great. The kids write to each other, to their teachers, and can write to others in the CK:P system. The teachers monitor the postings and provide questions in response to their postings. For example, one girl wrote about her collection of beanie babies, and the teacher wrote back, asking: "What are beanie babies? How many do you have? Who makes them? Where do you buy them? What percentage of your allowance do you spend on them?". These are practical "real world" problems that have relevance for this particular student ‹ such individualized teaching and learning is a natural outgrowth of this use of electronic mail.
Report to Project Team: Visit to East Hills Elementary School CK:P site
East Hills is another example of computers dispersed throughout the school, one or two in a
classroom. This system appears to give students more computer access than if there was just a
computer lab to be shared by the entire school. We were shown several seasonal and ongoing
Internet projects that can be used across the curriculum, like Journeys North.
Sue Fineman, Site Coordinator, explained how the computers were used during class time, and
also during off-times like lunchtime or after school. Students are encouraged to do independent
projects and use the Internet for research and data collection. She showed us charts on the wall that
her students maintain, detailing animal migrations. She felt that very little time needed to be spent
on training the students. Students were able to work independently the majority of the time.
After visiting East Hills and Liberty, our Project Team saw the value of spreading computers
around the school rather than concentrating them all in a single computer lab. We have
incorporated this model into our proposal.
Report to Project Team: Visit to Taylor Alderdice High School CK:P site
When the Project Team visited this, our closest neighborhood site, we observed a room full of Power Macs that Taylor Alderdice purchased with funds from another source. We could see the wiring that CK:P is currently installing; the CK:P computer hardware has not been put in place yet. Taylor Alderdice is using CK:P funds to wire computers in a variety of locations around the school. Sue Hirsch, Site Coordinator, talked about the importance of teachers and students being trained in computer use before being "turned loose" in the computer room. She has recently gotten web TV and has been holding a series of training sessions for interested teachers. Sue says that one of the benefits of using the technologies is that students who are not traditionally successful in school, i.e. the special education kids she works with, can experience success using educational software and the Internet. She pointed out that having the cooperation of the school librarian is important in implementing computer networking.
We have formed a partnership with Taylor Alderdice that involves having their computer-savvy students work with the Colfax Computer Club of interested students Tuesdays and Thursdays, after school. In addition to the benefits of this "students helping students" model, we look forward to working with our neighboring CK:P site, drawing on each other's expertise and experience to further our educational mission.
Survey of CK:P Sites
We gathered additional data for the design of our computer network by sending a survey by electronic mail to the Site Coordinators of all of the Elementary School CK:P sites. In it, we asked about the distribution pattern of computers at that site, specifically if the computers were "concentrated" in a computer lab or dispersed throughout the school, one per classroom. We asked if the chosen distribution patttern was successful, and what changes the Site Coordinators would make, based on their experience. The results of this survey follow.
Appendix G ‹ Colfax Home Page
Appendix H ‹ East Hills petition
Appendix I ‹ Computers in Classroom signup sheet
Appendix J ‹ Pittsburgh Public Schools Core Curriculum
Framework
Appendix K ‹ Colfax Comprehensive Educational Instructional Plan
(CEIP)
Appendix L ‹ Colfax Student Body Composition