2005 Computerworld Honors Program

	Communities Around the World Echo Horizon School San Juan Capistrano, CA USA Year: 2001 Status: Laureate Category: Education & Academia Nominating Company: Apple Computer, Inc

	This is a year-long project designed for elementary school students who are studying their Community. The project seeks to broaden their understanding of and appreciation for their own community as well as communities all over the world. It involves classes from all over the United States, Europe, and Australia. As students study their community, they share what they have learned by writing monthly letters and creating a website with images from their community. They publish their findings online and learn from their peers how their environments are alike and different. This project was specifically designed to engage primary aged students in using the Internet in a meaningful and developmentally appropriate manner. Many online projects that currently exist are designed for older children. The focus of this project is on Community, which is an integral part of all primary social studies curriculums. Ultimately, the project has touched on a wide range of subjects including Math, Science, Social Studies, Geography, English/Language Arts, and Technology. Each month, there is a letter topic for all the classes to write about. Some of the letters have themes related to the study of community. Other letter themes serve to describe the various environments and conditions in which the participants live. Letters are shared via an email listserv. The letters often spark the children’s curiosity and lead to more questions and answers which are also shared via the listserv. The second aspect of the project is critical because it empowers non-readers to explore and learn independently without direct assistance from an adult. Each class creates a website where they post their class letters and digital pictures about each month’s theme. These pictures include QuickTime Virtual Reality images of the students’ classroom and playground environments as well as images of various locations in the community such as the Fire Station, the Police Station, the Post Office, the Hospital, the Grocery Store, etc. Students view each other's websites to learn how their communities are similar and different. The project is structured around the following themes and activities: October : Letter Topic: Introduction: who we are, where we live, what our school is like (# of students, classes, buildings, etc.). Images: Post a QTVR of the class sitting in their classroom environment. This way students can read about their partners and as well as see them in their school. November: Letter Topic: Our Play Environment - what our play yards are like and what games and sports we play. Our Favorite Olympic Sports. Images: Post a QTVR of your school yard, pictures of your favorite playground games, a graph of favorite Olympic sports. December: Letter Topic: Responsibility: How we help at school Images: pictures of students doing different class jobs January: Letter Topic: Changing Weather - What the weather is like where we live Images: Pictures of students dressed for different seasonal weather, your school at different times of the year, a chart showing typical weather during different seasons February: Letter Topic: Where we live - What our city/town and houses are like Images: Pictures of houses and other important buildings in your town (ie. city hall, a grocery store, etc.) March: Letter Topic: What is unique about where we live Images: Pictures of important landmarks (ie. a famous museum, Disneyland, etc.) April: Letter Topic: Community Helpers (Fire, Police, etc.) Images: Pictures of your local fire station, police station, library, etc.) May: Letter Topic: What we learned about communities around the world. Images: iMovie of students sharing what they learned While the project was designed to benefit young children, several other groups have been effected as a result of its existence. In some schools, this is a cross-age project in which older students help read class letters and build the "community project" website with the primary students. Through their involvement, older students build important leadership and technology skills. The project also involves the families of students in sharing the communications from the various schools involved. Participating teachers gain important technology skills and an enriched curriculum. Finally, the greater educational community has viewed the project website and heard inspired presentations from students and teachers at various technology conferences.
	The Communities Around the World project has benefited not only the children for which it was designed, but also their teachers, their families, and other teachers and students in the participating schools as well as students and educators who did not participate officially. PARTICIPATING STUDENTS The original intent of the project was to enrich primary students’ learning in social studies. The local community is a part of all primary grade social studies curriculums. However, through questions that arose naturally during the project, students have developed skills and taken a more active interest in several subject areas. • Geography: “Where do our friends live?”As they located participating schools on a world map, students’ skills in geography have grown. • Math: “What are our favorite foods?”, “What kind of money do they use in Sweden? ”,“What is a kilometer?” In math, students used graphing and computation skills to collect and share information with other classes and learned about different money and measurement systems. • Social Studies: “What is unique about where you live?”, “What are your houses like?”, “Do you celebrate Halloween in Australia?” “Why doesn’t everyone speak English or Swedish all over the world?” In addition to the social studies curriculum on their local community, students learned about communities and cultural traditions in different parts of the world. • Science: “What is the weather like where you live?”, “Why are our Australian friends on summer vacation in December?” Students learned that there are vast differences in climate around the world and how and why the Northern and Southern Hemispheres experience the seasons at opposite times of the year. • English/Language Arts - “How can we keep our sentences simple so our friends who don’t speak much English or are just learning to read can understand them?” Students developed writing skills as they contributed to class letters. They found strong motivation to stretch and test their reading skills on something that was meaningful to them. Students in countries where English is not the first language found an immediate purpose to learn English so they could read the letters without help from their teachers. • Technology- “How can we show them our classroom?”, “How will we share our field trip?” Students learned about QuickTime Virtual Reality images and created web pages with text, images, multimedia slides shows, and desktop movies to share with their new friends. “The main emphasis of my third grade social studies curriculum is local community and comparing it to other communities around the world. This is the perfect project for third graders in my district. We have had valuable learning experiences thus far locating the various communities on a map and graphing the total number of students in each community. We look forward to seeing the new pages posted this month!” -Jennie Thompson Third Grade Teacher, Fairfield West Elementary, Ohio, USA “Students learned much more about map reading, other cultures, traditions, etc. Some of them used this project as a jumping off place to look for further information about Australia and Sweden. They learned about science topics - such as the weather, and reading and writing skills were strengthened.” -Nancy Freeman, K-1 Teacher, William H. Rowe School, Yarmouth, Maine, USA “That was awesome! My kids absolutely FLIPPED when they saw your graphs! Guess what that means? WE have to get Graph Club! I can't wait. Thanks for sharing that! We are working on some poems we want to share too!” -Tricia Mosner Second Grade Teacher, Hawthorn Elementary, Vernon Hills, Illinois, USA PARTICIPATING TEACHERS Teachers who participated in the project have learned to approach subjects in new and innovative ways and have gained valuable technology skills. Monthly deadlines and ideas suggested by other schools provided the teachers with the motivation to learn the skills necessary to post text, pictures, graphs, QuickTime Virtual Reality images, and videos. The support structure provided by the listserv and local Apple Distinguished Educators meant that they were not alone in the learning process. “My teachers will be thrilled to hear that this project will continue to flourish. It really was an outstanding idea and a great initiation to Internet projects for teachers who are somewhat insecure about trying one!” - Linda Goodwin Technology Coordinator, St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Memphis, Tennessee, USA “Because of this project I have been more challenged as a learner than ever before. My class has loved sharing letters and receiving pictures from our friends around the world. With Bob’s support I have learned about QTVR, powerpoint, and most importantly, the value of friendships outside of our classroom. It is very powerful to be a part of something so much bigger than our own classroom. Having experienced this project, I know I couldn't teach without it.” -Tricia Mosner Second Grade Teacher, Hawthorn Elementary, Vernon Hills, Illinois, USA SCHOOL COMMUNITY In addition to the students and teachers directly involved in the project, the school community was also effected. OLDER STUDENTS In some schools, upper grade students assisted their younger schoolmates by reading letters to them and helping them to create QTVR images, multimedia slide shows, and web pages. These children gained valuable new technology and leadership skills as a result of the project. “It was fun learning how to make the QTVR and then showing the little kids how to do it.” 6th Grader, Echo Horizon School, Culver City, California, USA OTHER TEACHERS Other teachers in the school saw clear examples of ways that technology can be used to enhance learning. Upon seeing the dynamic applications being used by their colleagues, many expressed an interest in learning the technology skills necessary to create desktop movies, field trip slide shows, web pages, and QTVR images. Often times, seeing what another “regular teacher” (as opposed to the technology guru) is doing in the room next door gives teachers the confidence to tackle new learning. “Tricia is the one who made the whole iMovie blaze ignite. Once teachers saw the movie she made with her class, they all wanted to make one!” -Robert Hudson, Director of Technology, Hawthorn CCSD#73, Vernon Hills, Illinois, USA FAMILIES Families also benefited from the project. Students went home and shared their experiences and explored the school letters and websites with their parents. Parents were able to learn from the project and to see ways that the Internet can be used at home in a productive manner to promote their child’s learning. Some parents became involved in the project by taking digital pictures during field trips in the community and by translating letters into other languages. “Our first grade students went home and asked their families to help them go to the websites of the participating schools, their new friends, so that they could read their web page again. Parents and friends volunteered to act as translators so the Italian and Swedish children could read our web page without the help of their English-speaking teachers.” - Marian McCarthy Shaffner, Technology Coordinator, St. Brendan School, San Francisco, California, USA “I want to thank you all for all nice letters I have been reading during the year. I am the mother of Peter in Mr. Magnusson's class in Oerby School in Stockholm. Today I was for the first time on your web-site and I was really impressed of the translated Swedish letters. On the home page in Sweden they are in English.” -Ann Olsbro, Parent, Orby School, Stockholm, Sweden STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS FROM OTHER SCHOOLS The final group that has benefited from this project is students and teachers from schools which are not directly involved. Because the project was web based, it was accessible to anyone. While the listserv was restricted to official members, the school web sites were available to anyone with web access. “Anyone could "join" the project by viewing the other school sites and building their own related site. Placing the project on the web, while not totally interactive for late joiners, allowed others to "participate" in a kind of vicarious way.” -Karen Percak, Library Media Specialist/Technology Coordinator,Wildwood School, Chicago, Illinois, USA “I read about your Communities around the World project and I think your idea to get to know living conditions and environments for children in different communities is great! Do you plan to continue? I am also responsible IT (Computor) pedagogue for five schools in one part in Gothenburg. We work for using computor as a natural tool at school and to work for internationalisation and understanding. I work in a part in Gothenburg with 85% immigrants in the schools and very poor living conditions for families. I would like to hear from you again.” - Lena Johansson, Educator, Gothenburg, Sweden In addition, teachers and students have shared the project and its benefits with others at educational conferences. “Two of my students used powerpoint to present the project at the Illinois State Technology Conference last week. Despite the fact that the other student presenters were from the upper grades, these two held their own with an audience of teachers, parents and school administrators. It was so incredible to see these second graders share their learning!” - Tricia Mosner Second Grade Teacher, Hawthorn Elementary, Vernon Hills, Illinois, USA The benefits of this project continue to grow and are well beyond the scope of what was originally anticipated.
	Technology was central to the operation of this project. The teachers who organized the project live all over the world. Although they started to plan the project when they were all in the same physical location it would have been very difficult to finish their collaboration to create the project without the use of email. The Internet and email made it possible for students around the world to share information instantaneously. Links to participating schools were posted on the Communities Around the World website. Additionally, each school hosted their own website. Web pages were created and updated using programs such as Claris Home Page and Netscape Communicator. The use of a listserv made it easy for participants to email the entire group without worrying about maintaining their own list of addresses as people joined the group at different times and sometimes changed their email address. The use of QuickTime Virtual Reality allowed children to view each other’s school communities as if they were actually there. With this technology, a child from Australia who had never seen snow was suddenly standing in the middle of a snow-covered playground in Alaska and a child from urban Los Angeles was suddenly in the middle of a forest-like Australian playground. Children were also able to see that, regardless of their location, all of their classrooms looked a lot alike. Digital cameras and scanners were used by children to share images from their communities. In addition, Digital Video cameras were used in combination with programs such as iMovie, MovieWorks, and PowerPoint to create videos and multimedia presentations about what the children were learning. The display of images via the World Wide Web was critical in allowing young children, including those who can not read English, to use the computer to make their own discoveries about other children and communities all over the world without having to rely on adults to impart such information on them. For many primary students and teachers, technology was used in a completely different way that it had been in the past. While many students in primary classrooms were using technology to play basic “skill drill” games, Communities Around the World students were using technology to create, communicate, and construct their own knowledge. Technology afforded the students and teachers involved in this project with learning experiences which would not have been available to them otherwise.
	This project is exceptional because it uses the Internet to engage primary aged students in meaningful learning experiences through exchanges with other students all over the world. Many online projects that are currently available are geared toward older children. This project was a grass roots effort designed by a group of full time educators who saw a need for online projects geared toward young children. It was created when a group of Apple Distinguished Educators were participating in Camp Apple, a two week professional development session held in the mountains of Northern California. Elaine Wrenn, Technology Coordinator of Echo Horizon School, a K-6 elementary school in Culver City, California, USA, came up with the idea of using the Internet to enrich primary students’ study of their community by allowing them to find similarities and differences between and among communities around the world. She discussed the idea with some of the other educators and together they brainstormed the structure of the project. Elaine Wrenn, Karen Bryant, Computer Coordinator of York Central School in Retsof, New York, USA, David Pedwell, Coordinator of the Technology Learning and Development Centre at Woodcrest College, a K-12 school in Queensland, Australia, and Karen Percak, Library Media Specialist/Technology Coordinator of Wildwood School in Chicago, Illinois, USA met several times both in person and online to design a project which would be meaningful and accessible to primary aged students. Sharing images meant that students who couldn’t read or speak English could still learn independently from the other school websites. Sharing only one brief letter per class per month meant that some primary readers could be successful reading the letters on their own and that teachers could read the letters aloud to the less experienced readers. Next they set about finding a diverse group that would be committed to participating in the project. For this they called on other Apple Distinguished Educators to recommend and support teachers for the project. News of the project has spread to schools throughout the world. In the United States, there are schools from Alaska, California, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee. In Europe, there are schools participating from Sweden, Russia, Holland, and Italy, On the Australian continent, there are schools participating from Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia as well as from New Zealand. One concern expressed by the creators of this project is how difficult it is to get people to follow through on collaborative online projects. Everyone had a story of well-intentioned email keypals who never wrote back. This is a disappointment to the kids and also makes it difficult for teachers to plan their curriculum. By utilizing volunteer Apple Distinguished Educators, participating teachers had the support and encouragement necessary to complete the monthly activities. This gave teachers the confidence that the time and energy they and the children invested in the project was worthwhile because it would most likely be reciprocated by other schools. Others seeking to design similar projects in the future could utilize building and district technology coordinators and mentor teachers for this purpose. “This project is going better than I expected. Many online projects fail and this one is going strong” -Comment on project evaluation from participating teacher There is also no cost to participate in this project. Elaine Wrenn coordinates the project with input from the teachers involved and the project is hosted on Echo Horizon School’s website. Apple Computer provided donations of its QTVR Authoring Studio to schools so that they could share virtual reality views of their classrooms and playground environments. Interactive Solutions Inc. donated multiple copies of MovieWorks so that students could prepare slide shows of their various field trips in the community. Tech4Learning and Dan Mitchell provided listservs to simplify email communications among participating schools. The innovative ways in which technology is used to promote learning with young children and the grass roots organization and support of the project are what make it unique.
	Communities Around the World has met its original goals of providing a reliable and meaningful online experience to help young children learn about their community. It has directly impacted approximately 2000 students and has also touched the lives of the families and schoolmates of these students. In the first year of the project, 37 classes from 15 schools took part. In the second year, 31 classes from 17 schools were involved. Over these two years, 75 educators have been involved either as classroom teachers or technology support persons. In addition, other schools and educators have learned from the project by hearing about it at educational conferences and/or viewing the project web sites. As a result of the project, students and teachers have developed an enthusiasm for learning and a sense of empowerment through the use of technology. Students have enhanced reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and technology skills. Teachers have learned new technology skills and teaching practices. PARENT FEEDBACK “It has made my son more globally connected. When he hears the name of a particular city or country, he is always bringing up things he has learned from his friends in that location” -Ellen Bressack, Parent, Echo Horizon School, Culver City, California, USA “I think its a wonderful way to explore the world of technology and find out how other children live in other parts of the world.” -Jenny Boone, Parent, Echo Horizon School, Culver City, California, USA STUDENT FEEDBACK “I liked to hear about other schools and cities and what they do there” “It was exciting to learn about other people” “I liked to look at the pictures on the computer” -Second Graders, Hawthorn School, Vernon Hills, Illinois, USA “It was interesting to go on the Internet by myself.” “It was cool learning about other people all over the world, what they do, and how they live.” -Third Graders, Echo Horizon School, Culver City, California, USA “It is interesting that some schools have no trees or grass on their playground” -First Grader, Springfield State School, Springfield, Queensland, Australia “I loved to look at all the QTVRs from the schools to see what is alike and different.” “We have the same rules in our school as many other schools” “There is not so big differences between us and them” “We have to learn more English so we can read the letters without help” -Second Graders, Orby School, Stockholm, Sweden TEACHER FEEDBACK “My students & I loved the project! The kids looked forward to finding e-mail messages and reading them together. Then we discussed them, looked up the city, state, country on the map & globe, and then we all contributed to our messages. We explored our local community in a greater depth than we would have without the project to spur us on. The students seemed to gain a feeling of being part of the global community--they would hear names of the places we had received messages from on the news or in discussion with parents and were very excited to share these with the class. Kids discovered that children play & experience the same feelings in all parts of the world.” -Mary Pullen, First Grade Teacher, St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Memphis, Tennessee, USA “The kids in my class liked the project very much and so did I. Even the parents have followed the project with a big interest. It was like Christmas Day every time when we received a letter. We have learned a lot about other communities, how they live, climate, holidays and so on. We can better understand our own community when we see others. This project was also a good way - to show friendship over the world. - to create understanding for each other. - to show how easy it is to communicate even if we are a long way from each other.” -Lasse Magnusson Teacher, Orby School, Stockholm, Sweden “My kids are living for these letters. I know my kids last year were the same way. I have a little guy who moved here from another state and when he read the letter from the school in his home state he was so thrilled! (Did I mention that reading is a challenge for him but he managed to get every word of that letter!)” -comment on project evaluation from a participating teacher “The project gave a real purpose for the teacher to explore new activities with email and technology in general. This also provided her with motivation and the kids enthusiasm helped to build on this - the result was more confidence to have a go with trying new things.” David Pedwell Coordinator, Technology Learning and Development Centre, Woodcrest College, Queensland, Australia “I learned that the existing Social Studies curriculum can take on a more enlightened, enhanced, more personal role in the lives of my students when they become involved in a project such as this one. They learned, that despite some obvious cultural differences, children share the same joys, disappointments, responsibilities, and education. Their world was enlarged by making such broad contacts, and yet made smaller by the knowledge that children are children the world over. They learned that they are truly part of a global community.” -Marian McCarthy Shaffner Technology Coordinator, St. Brendan School, San Francisco, California, USA “The kids who participated in the Communities Around the World project are engaged and up to their ears in the discovery and construction of knowledge that is so essential to their learning. Sure, they could visit the fire house without a computer or camera. But within their role in this project, they could visit fire houses around the world and compare what they discovered. Through the use of digital images, movies, and QTVR’s, our students effectively communicated across cultural, language, and distance barriers to present our community to the world. The Communities Around the World Project exemplifies the role and power of technology in the primary grades.” -Robert Hudson Director of Technology, Hawthorn CCSD#73, Vernon Hills, Illinois, USA This project is fully operational but constantly evolving. It began as a grass roots collaboration between educators and continues to develop based on input from participants. Through the use of the Internet, young children have become contributing members of a global community. They are constructing their own knowledge and gaining skills necessary for lifelong learning.
	There were many challenges associated with this project. The first challenge was creating it and getting a group of teachers who were willing to commit the time and energy needed to participate. Teachers have many demands on their daily schedules and even those with the best intentions sometimes get behind. Add to that the technical skills necessary to participate in such a project and the pool of willing and able participants gets smaller. One way we dealt with this was by asking Apple Distinguished Educators to recommend and support teachers in the project. Apple Distinguished Educators are teachers and administrators from all over the world who have been recognized by Apple as extraordinary at integrating technology into the educational setting and at assisting others in this process. With this type of support, teachers with minimal technology experience were able to become involved and to learn the necessary technical skills along the way. Language and reading level was another issue the participants had to face. Students who could not read and those in non-English speaking countries relied on their teachers to read the letters. Some schools enlisted volunteer translators from the community so that the teachers would not have to translate their letters. To lessen the effect of this barrier, images were used as much as possible to communicate ideas. Some teachers experienced resistance from parents who did not want their children’s pictures and/or names displayed on the Internet. The teachers used the listserv to discuss ways to deal with this situation. Ultimately, some of the students were not pictured on the websites while others made up whimsical names to disguise the identities of both students and teachers. Another set of challenges was related to the technology. Some schools were not able to participate because they did not have the ability to publish and view websites in their classrooms. Other schools had the technology necessary to participate, but had a limited number of computers that were capable of creating and viewing QTVR images and QuickTime movies. Teachers at these schools would have liked to have had a computer for each child to browse the various school websites independently. They dealt with this by sharing images and letters in whole-class settings, by printing out letters and pictures, or by creating a schedule for children to take turns viewing the websites on the computer. For some, this actually helped them to get new equipment. “After trying unsuccessfully to enlarge and display the (QTVR) pictures on my computer, he decided that it’s not going to work so he is going to give me a more powerful computer. I have proved a need for better equipment” -Nancy Freeman, K-1 Teacher, William H. Rowe School, Yarmouth, Maine, USA The schools in Italy had Internet access but only via 28.8k modems. This made for a long wait when loading and viewing pages with video or multiple images. A few schools found themselves suddenly without Internet connections for a month or two due to school construction and reorganization. Another problem arose midway through the first year with the listserv. Some people were mysteriously dropped off the listserv and unable to send and receive letters to and from the rest of the group. This problem was ultimately remedied but caused classes at one school to lose contact with the group for a significant portion of the project. “We have had setbacks with our technology for a week. Due to construction, our T-1 line was cut. Additionally, our mail server crashed. I am going to talk with the teachers today and reassure them that they CAN participate when the repairs are complete. I know that they are quite upset and concerned about this.” -Linda Goodwin Technology Coordinator, St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Memphis, Tennessee, USA Finally, some schools had difficulty creating and posting QTVR images that were viewable on different web browsers. “We braved the cold THREE times to make a QTVR of us in the snow... such a cute idea until reality sets in. I think I am a bit out of practice..let's just say we'll be trying again.” -Tricia Mosner, Second Grade Teacher, Hawthorn Elementary, Vernon Hills, Illinois, USA “The QTVR works fine on my Mac but my principal viewed it on a Compaq and it was lopsided! Has this happened to any of you and if so, did you find a solution?” -Marian McCarthy Shaffner Technology Coordinator, St. Brendan School, San Francisco, California, USA The challenges presented by the project were viewed by the participants as just that: challenges, not insurmountable obstacles. Most teachers saw these occasions as an opportunity for their own professional development. In many cases, teachers shared their difficulties and offered possible solutions to each others’ problems via the listserv as they had developed an online community to support each other.