Tuesday, August 03, 2010

North Carolina program shows how webcams can help rural teachers improve student literacy

A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill program is working to use free, over-the-Internet applications to help rural teachers gain valuable continuing education. "Beaming into classrooms in North Carolina, Nebraska, New Mexico and Texas via webcams, literacy consultants at UNC have helped 58 teachers learn new ways to teach struggling readers in kindergarten and first grade — and helped 300 children learn to read," UNC's website reports. "They are part of Targeted Reading Intervention, a program that aims to eliminate achievement gaps." Participating students received 15 minutes of one-on-one instruction a day with a teacher in person and UNC literacy expert via web chat services like Skype and iChat.

"There’s no substitute for helping that teacher right there in real time," said Dr. Lynne Vernon-Feagans, principal investigator on the project. Participating teachers visit Chapel Hill before the school year for training in Targeted Reading Intervention instruction methods. The program is funded in part through the National Research Center on Rural Education Support, established in 2004 with a five-year, $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. When compared with students at a control school, "struggling readers receiving Targeted Reading Intervention scored an average of 10-to-13 points higher than struggling readers in control schools," UNC reports. (Read more)

"Using free applications also makes this a cost-effective way to deliver professional development to remote rural schools," Mary Schulken of Education Week writes of the program on the Rural Education blog. "Such partnerships are particularly important for small schools where the resource pool is limited and there isn't always know-how (or a tech-guru) to get things set up." Vernon-Feagans told Schulken the Targeted Reading Intervention program is considered a national model for delivering professional development to rural schools via webcam technology. (Read more) (UNC Video)

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