EduTel News - Fall, 2000

Visual Treasures: Protecting Our Townscapes

Across the United States, cities, towns, villages and rural areas are losing their distinctive cultural, historic, and visual character. A major factor in the decline in the appearance of America's communities is visual illiteracy. The Dunn Foundation (http://www.dunnfoundation.org) is dedicated to helping people reverse this trend and relearn the value of community appearance through visual environmental education.

EduTel Communications Inc. was recently awarded funding from the Dunn Foundation for an exciting one year environmental pilot project with the Clinton Public Schools. In this project entitled Visual Treasures: Protecting Our Townscapes middle and high school students from Clinton MA will develop visual awareness and appreciation for their community.

Using curricula and materials from The Center for Understanding the Built Environment (CUBE), (http://www.cubekc.org) and working closely with the Clinton Historical Society, teachers and students will develop curricula that is particular to Clinton's townscape and meets the standards of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Students will use photography, artwork, and writing to depict the visual richness of their town, and will electronically publish selected works, including virtual postcards, on the CommunityNet web site.

To facilitate the exchange of information and ideas between participating students and other students, schools and organizations involved in Visual Environmental Education, EduTel Communications will feature a web-based Community Landscape Message Board and the Electronic Postcard Forum. The project, scheduled to begin this September, will be located at: (http://www.edutel.org/clinton)

PBTIL Teachers Publish Lessons
Eight teachers from Lowell and Methuen Public Schools participating in the PBTIL (Project Based Technology Integrated Learning) initiative have published lessons, which combine high level academic content and strategies for English language acquisition.

The lessons were produced after a year of training provided in courses at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and on site support by project staff. Teachers involved in the project attended a workshop which focused on incorporating critical and creative thinking skills into daily lessons. The workshop at the University of Massachusetts Lowell was conducted by Judy Scannell, a coordinator of Gifted and Talented Programs in the Methuen Public Schools. Judy, a teacher of more than 25 years has significant experience with second language learners. As Judy led teachers through a variety of high level activities, she assured teachers, "Your students can do this. They can. Ičve worked with them, and know they can do it."

The PBTIL project is funded through a federal grant awarded to the University of Massachusetts Lowell by OBEMLA (Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language). The project is a collaboration of The University, Methuen and Lowell Public Schools, and EduTel Communications. Professor Juan C. Rodriguez, who has many years of experience in the education of minority second language students is the principal investigator.

Students' work is published through EduTel Communications which allows teachers to take advantage of student publishing and technology integration before they have developed expertise with the technical aspects. Teachers submit students' written work, artwork, and photos. These images are then scanned, compressed, prepared for publishing, and maintained on the CommunityNet site: (http://www.edutel.org/pbtil)

Participating schools can share their school news and accomplishments with the community by sending updates for their homepages.

GraveNet Published in National Magazine

EduTel's GraveNet project is being featured in the September issue of Stone in America magazine published by the American Monument Association. The AMA (http://www.imsa-online.com/ammonas.htm) is a national trade association representing the major granite and marble memorial manufacturers and quarriers throughout the country.

Stone in America magazine, a monthly trade journal for those in the monument business provides current information on memorial design, business and sales techniques and product suppliers. The GraveNet project was chosen to be featured because of its educational value and its focus on local cemeteries for community based projects. You can visit the GraveNet site at: (http://www.edutel.org/gravenet)

Coming soon ... Dr. Splatt's RoadKill Monitoring Project!

EduTel Communications will soon be hosting the RoadKill Monitoring Project which was originally developed with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Simmons College. Details about this upcoming project and its interactive message system can be viewed at: (http://www.edutel.org/roadkill)