Bobby Robinson presentation 1/29/03

Reed Stewart has introduced the topics of the course and Alan Girelli has shown how we will use distance learning to present them and the questions we will all consider. My job is to tell you how the course will be run and what is expected of the teacher participants.

This 12-week course is concentrated so that you finish before the in-services teachers face MCAS tests for their students begin and before April vacation in K-12 schools. We do not meet during K-12 February vacation but we are asking you to do research during the week to qualify as a course session. For those pre-service who are away during the March college vacation, there will be makeup arrangements.

Each class session is 3 hrs, with1 1/2 hrs for distance learning following by 1 1/2 hours of discussion and interaction. Five of the distance learning sessions will originate in Boston, two in Dartmouth, and two in Lowell. Aside from the research during vacation week already mentioned, there will be two 3-hour sessions when discussion, research and unit presentations will take place at each campus without distance learning. Even when not sharing via distance learning, we will have joint discussions via threaded discussion to keep abreast of each other to make sure this pilot project stays on target.

The web pages for the course are on the MSP website which has the URL of http://www.msp.umb.edu. The Place connection is under What’s New? Bookmark it! Here you will find the syllabus, bibliography, an outline and notes on each session, special readings and a link to threaded discussion. This is a work in progress and will be added to as the course proceeds. Let's look at the syllabus for a moment. Objectives are listed: We will want to know if these objectives fit your needs or whether you have additional expectations.

Most of you are taking the course for graduate credit. expectations of you for these 3 credits or 45 PDP’s include the following: participation in classroom discussion, threaded discussion, journal notes, and unit development that incorporates material from the course, ties into the curriculum framework standards, emphasizes connection to place, especially the community or region of your school, and incorporates primary sources. You will hear more about these requirements during the discussion period following and future sessions.

You will receive the text for the course, Massachusetts, a Concise History. The other required book, Historical Atlas of Massachusetts is no longer in print. We will supply the required pages, either in hard copy or on the web pages. Your school library, however, should have a copy, and it is worth checking it out because there is much of value to review in this wonderful volume beyond what we reproduce. The bibliography is also on the course site for research purposes when you begin to consider unit topics.