Table of Contents

THE TYPICAL CLASSROOM

All cameras can be manipulated to cover varying fields of view. The teacher or student has the ability to switch from one camera to the other via a control panel generally located at the teacher's work station which also houses other multimedia equipment.

Two banks of three to five monitors each are situated to provide both students and teacher visual access to other classrooms in the cluster, as well as the electronic chalkboard. Both banks of monitors display the same images. One monitor shows the teacher or the image from the overhead camera. The other monitors display the students at remote sites. The difference between the teaching classroom and the remote classrooms is that the students in the teaching classroom see the teacher both on video and live.

Audio is captured by the placement of multiple microphones throughout the classroom and a wirelessmicrophone (lavaliere) worn by the teacher. Each class is equipped with a fax to distribute the materials and assignments.

Video and audio cabling within the classroom and school may be copper, and carries analog signals. Transmission between the sites is digital via fiber-optic cable. The video and audio signals generated by classroom cameras and microphones are routed via a control panel and split - one set of signals routed to the originating classroom and the other converted to digital information for transmission to other classrooms via fiber-optic cable.

APPLICATIONS OF THE ET-LINC FIBER OPTIC SYSTEM

• Higher number of students will graduate with the recommended high school diploma.
• Students will have access to advanced science, math and foreign language classes and honors courses where low enrollments prohibit the hiring of a teacher for that purpose.
• Students can access virtually any course offered by a large comprehensive high school.
• Interactive television classes, for example at four different high schools, can combine for much greater student interaction, joint problem solving, and better educational dynamics.
• High school students can mentor and network with younger students on problem solving and real-world issues and projects throughout the region.
• Middle and intermediate school students can link through voice, video, and data on joint projects.
• Students of all ages with special needs in gifted/talented programs can team on projects that will enable them to identify problems and determine options and apply solutions to real world issues.
• The learning needs of students in special education can be addressed by linking to schools in which there are staff members with specialized training.
• Rural high school students can access advanced placement, dual- credit, and college courses, giving them a much greater opportunity to succeed in college as well as the opportunity to receive college credit at lower cost while living at home.
• Students can choose to link to tech prep programs while in high school and attend two year technical schools upon graduation.
• University staff and graduate students can mentor targeted groups of students such as females in science and engineering; minority students in math and science; bilingual and ESL students; future teachers; students considered migratory; paraprofessional school employees who can become certified teachers; males in the health occupations; females in computer sciences; etc.
• Students who have talents in the fine arts can be mentored from the university level as well as by professional artists who reside in the small communities. An Artist-In-Residence Program can extend throughout the area rather than be contained within one school district.

APPLICATIONS OF THE ET-LINC FIBER OPTIC SYSTEM

THAT WILL CREATE PARTNERSHIPS AND PROMOTE SYSTEMIC CHANGE IN THE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

• Learning centers for adults and others with restricted educational opportunities can be organized.
• Linkages can be provided:
  Between employees for training and skill improvements;
  Adult learners with East Texas State University for higher education;
  Family literacy programs such as Even Start Programs throughout the counties;
  Service providers such as the Texas A&M county extension services;
  Adult and community education classes;
  GED classes;
  Intercommunity meetings or public forums;
  Medical, legal, and other professional continuing education or recertification courses;
  Consumer safety courses;
  Intergovernmental or interagency meetings;
  Business training seminars or meetings across communities;
  Community drug and alcohol/drug abuse prevention and other health related activities;
  Emergency response training, EMS, volunteer firefighter, law enforcement;
  Manpower and job skills training or retraining;
  Hospitals, libraries and other service groups in to the network with eventual interconnection across clusters to provide a virtually unlimited range of uses for adult and youth learners.
• The teaching and support staff of local school districts can access higher education classes for certification and professional development.
• A common core of offerings can be made available including undergraduate and graduate level courses as well as seminars and institutes addressing proven strategies to help teachers restructure the public schools.
• Training institutes for professional staff can offer such strategies as cooperative learning, the quality schools models, learning styles, interdiscliplinary curriculum development, total quality management, character and ethics education for self responsibility, accelerated schools research, and classroom practices on cognitive learning.
• Training can be provided for paraprofessional employees of the schools. This includes transportation and food service departments as well as a custodial and maintenance support staff.
• Parents, another customer of the school's services, must also have access to training and skills development in parenting education and in becoming a partner in their child's education.

Staff Development Model to Establish a Distance Learning Network

Concerns-Based Adoption Model

(A workshop to lower resistance to change)

Display Transparency "Assumption of the Concerns - Based Adoption Model ".

Ask participants to read the assumptions on Handout "Assumptions" and solicit their interpretations of the four points made about change. Fill in information where necessary; the following information may be used.

Most people know how that change is a process, requiring a great deal of time and resources. The individual person is the unit of change; thus only when almost all of the staff have implemented a change can it be said that the school had changed. Rates of change can vary greatly among individuals. The message is that people are no more alike about implementing a change than in any other facet of their lives, so we should not expect uniform acceptance and implementation. When implementing a change, the individual grows in his/her skills, and in feelings and reactions toward a change.

The bottom line or conclusion to be gleaned is that people must be given prime consideration and appropriate interventions in order to successfully adopt and implement a change or innovation in a high - quality way. Providing the consideration and the interventions is the role of the facilitative leader, in support of people's efforts to change.

Display Transparency and introduce Fuller's work on handout "Fullers Sequence of Concerns: About Teaching".

Explain Fuller's three types of concerns: self/task/impact

Frances Fuller, a professor of educational psychology, was involved with a team of faculty that worked with a block of teacher education students in their final, fourth-year pre-service professional preparation. Fuller was always interested in improving her courses, and she regularly solicited feedback from the students.

In one particular feedback episode, 97 out of 100 students told Fuller that her educational psychology course was totally irrelevant to them. Being the person that she was, Fuller looked into why the other three students found the course useful. What she discovered was that the three students had Sunday School, summer camp, vacation bible school, or child care experiences prior to taking her class. Therefore, they had a different perspective on childhood concerns than the other 97 students.

From this and further study, Fuller developed the concept of student teachers' concerns about student teaching:

• Unrelated - Before the student was involved in student teaching, his/her concerns had nothing to do with teaching. Rather, interests were in things like: Will I have a car to use at college? Who will my date be for next week's party?
• Self - When involvement with student teaching began, the student's concern focused on self: Will I survive student teaching? Will my supervision and cooperative teachers like me? Will the school faculty accept me?
• Task - When concerns about self decreased, then task concerns emerged: Where do I find equipment to teach? How do I distribute materials? How do I organize for all that needs to be done for a lesson?
• Impact - When self and task concerns diminished (both of which are focused inwardly on the teacher), then impact concerns might develop (focusing outwardly to the teacher's clients, the learning) Am I using the best methods and materials for effective instruction for my class?

Expand the explanation to the seven stages of concern using the same Transparency "Stages of Concern" and Handout.

Note on Handout "Stages of Concern" and the transparency that Fuller's three - level concerns concept is correlated with the seven stages of concern that expanded on her work.

Let's review the seven stages to understand them. First, we need to remember that SoC - short for "Stages of Concern"- are our feelings, reactions, or attitude about a particular change. Second, SoC is a concept that is considered in relationship to a specific change; and third, we can learn about these feelings or reactions through what people say or express.

1. Informational Stage of Concern - How does this work? What can I do with it? How can it Help me? The individual is interested in getting information.
2. Personal Stage of Concern - Along with informational concerns, the individual typically has personal concerns - and I was thinking: How close should I stand to this thing? Will the radiation or whatever will it hurt me? Could I get too much of it? After I was assured that the oven was insulated and safe, and I had a modicum of information, I began to use the oven. My concerns moved to:
3. Management Stage of Concern - Now here I am in the kitchen, thinking of kicking the oven because I'm not sure which buttons to push when. I am frustrated because I am not sufficiently familiar with this equipment to make it work well for me. I am wishing I had never been given this machine. However, over time I have learned to use it to my advantage in a routine way, and my concerns turned to:
4. Consequence Stage of Concern - I am wondering how I can use the oven in a more effective way to produce more nutritious food for myself and for my friends whom I might impact, so I am thinking of assessing how I use it and how I might use it better. In this line of thought, I even begin to have:
5. Collaboration Stage of Concern - If I get together with a colleague and we share recipes and procedures, bring our micros and produce breakfast for our staff once a week, we will increase staff communication and in this way would have extended benefit (influence on others beyond ourselves). If I have time, energy, and the creative resources, I might develop:
6. Refocusing Stage of Concern - I am wondering if I might make a major move and use the microwave in concert with the coffee grinder and coffee maker to automatically have fresh ground coffee and healthy muffins all ready for the staff each morning upon arrival.

These concerns are developmental, with individuals moving through the stages as they gain time and experience with a change. Individuals do not move, however, in a hierarchical lock step way "up the stages", although it is highly predictable (as evidenced by the very large and deep data base on stages of concern) that in any change individuals will progress form stage 0 to stages 1 and 2, and then to stage 3. It is not predictable what will happen after that. If people get enough time and assistance (Support and pressure), they may move to stage 4 (Consequence), or stage 5 (Collaboration), or stage 6 (Refocusing). Moving to these stages does not happen very frequently.

Solicit participants' speculations about why this doesn't occur very often. Ask each table to discuss this situation and contribute one speculation.

First of all, there has been, as we have pointed out, an overall lack of understanding of implementers in change efforts. If individuals are not given time and help, they will not keep trying forever to make a new program or process work. At Stage 3 (management), they will dropout and return to the old way. They need support with ideas about how to manage, and pressure to keep trying.

Even if they do receive help and reduce their management concerns with a change, what happens: A new program, practice, or change is coming "down the pike," shifting or dividing attention from change #1 to change #2. Thus neither has a good chance of high-quality implementation. How long does it take to implement a not-very-complicated program? Three to five years, so that when multiple changes are coming along - well, you can see the problems.

A few more comments. Everyone has all the seven kinds of concerns at the same time. But at differing points in the change process, various concerns will be more intense than others. The more intense concerns are a key to how we, as facilitative leaders, need to tailor our assistance. Display Transparency "A Particular Stage of Concern is Neither Good nor Bad".

Implemented or who would I have to work with I'm not sure. (Personal) Nor do I know how I'd be expected to change (Personal) if we really get involved with this innovation.

Give five minutes of work time.

Check their work with the example below.

EXAMPLE #3
Almost every night I wonder if I'll be able to locate and organize the material (Management) I can't yet prevent surprises (Management). I am not yet able to anticipate (Management) what things I will need to requisition for next week. I feel inefficient (Personal) when I think about my use of the innovation.

Now, similarly, do Example 2 with your partner.

Again, provide work time and give correct responses.

EXAMPLE #2
Some of the students (Consequence) just don't seem to be catching on to this new individualized approach. They seem to need (Consequence) more monitoring, close supervision, and less distractions. I wonder if my aide might concentrate more on them (Consequence) as a group, and if that might help.

EXAMPLE#1

We have just been interpreting written statements that people make about their concerns. Let's turn now to statements that you wrote earlier. Refer to Transparency "Stages of Concern". Read your statements from your morning introduction. Underline your cause about concerns that it expresses.

Invite your partner to help if you wish.

Give five minutes work time. Ask if anyone has an example of an informational concern they would share with the group. Reinforce or correct the accuracy of their interpretation and labels. Continue soliciting statements of the other stages.

Group listing of concerns - where we are as a group - discussion of Creating Connections Project as an innovation.

Advantages of Shared Leadership What Leaders of Successful Change Do With "Vision as Signpost" transparency, wrap-up and Review of Leadership and Change Process.

Use "School Improvement" transparency to review role of vision as signpost for Creating Connections project.
Ask participants to share as a group then role of vision and school improvement in accomplishing the project's goals.

Refer to "If You Always Do" transparency and its implication for education in the 21st Century.

Discuss importance of "Shared Leadership Theory" and its application to this project.

Review concepts on "What Leaders of Successful Change Do" as appropriate to the Teacher Coordinators and District Planning Committee's tasks.

Stage 0 - Awareness Concerns

From Taking Charge of Change. Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
211 E. Seventh Street
Austin, Texas 78701

Lead brief discussion of the five adopter types, using the information on the handout. Ask participants to speculate about how the various adopter types might play a constructive role in implementation of telecommunications learning systems.

For instance, the Innovators (8% of the sample) and Leaders (17%) forge ahead, bringing up new ideas for consideration. If they did not act this way, the organization (school) might well remain stagnant, never growing or improving. The Early Majority (29%) is thoughtful and becomes engaged after being assured that a change is beneficial. The Late Majority (17%) can be helpful in "putting the brakes on" and causing reconsideration and assessment of change. While the Resisters are typically looked upon negatively, they could play an important part in ensuring that a contemplated change is valid and promising.

Those engaged in change become very impatient with the resisters - Fullan (1991) says that these people are not trying to be difficult but that they are frustrated because of lack of help and assistance. We will gain some additional insights into resisters as we examine further research on change from the concerns - Based Adoption Model.

Display transparency "What Leaders of Successful Change Do"
Let's return to our framework of What Do Facilitative Leaders Do? And note the fourth category of strategies - Assess/Monitor Progress. This institute segment will focus on the use of two tools for monitoring and assessing progress of a change effort.

1. Paper/pencil statements of concern about serving as a Facilitative leader, by individual participants.

Invite participants to refer to transparency "Change Is a Process Not an Event".

If change is a process, we need a means for diagnosing where we are in the process in terms of individuals involved, so that they can receive the support and assistance that they need.

As an example of how needs change, let's consider an apple tree as it changes and develops over its annual cycle. In the winter the tree is lying dormant and needs not much except water and maybe pruning. In the spring, when blossoms are developing, it has different needs, such as fertilizer and a greater amount of water. In the summer, when the fruit is developing, the tree may need protection from seasonal insects. Finally, when the blossoms have reached maturity and the fruit is ready for harvest, new needs become apparent.

This process is not unlike school change process. When a seed for change is planted, the plan for change begins to grow in the minds and hearts of the school staff; they engage in change and it begins to flower, and their efforts are fruitful. But, droughts, hailstorms, lack of rain, insects, or any number of difficulties may intrude. So it is with people who are involved in change, and help is needed for support and for pressure.

Our work here can guide us in providing that help.

1. To have a fully equipped distance learning classroom ready for production by the fall semester.
2. To have a defined curriculum of course offerings from districts and or colleges/universities.
3. To utilize the distance learning classroom at least 4 hours per day.

Activities allow the organization to achieve the objectives. Activities should be specific, list the person responsible, be measurable, and have a budget cost associated with it. Activities explain how the district or the organization will accomplish the objectives.

1. specific detailed activities
2. a time-line for the plan
3. desired results of the activities
4. evaluation procedures

Once the telecommunications or distance learning plan is written, the district or the organization is ready to put the plan into action. Along with implementation, constant monitoring and adjustment of the plan must take place.