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Explore the barriers and successful strategies for improving collaboration between K-12 and higher education in utilizing network applications for education. Discover the challenges of governance, interoperability, faculty involvement, and resource availability, and uncover innovative approaches to promoting dialogue and collaboration.
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Improving Dialog Between K-12 and Higher-Ed on Net Apps George Laskaris New Jersey Higher Education Network
Effective Collaboration between K-12 and Higher Ed ? Is that an Oxymoron ??
Barriers to Effective Collaboration • Little history of HE/K-12 collaboration and dialog at the highest levels of governance • Lack of statewide interoperability standards for K-12 • Local school boards have a long history of “home rule” politics which deters efforts to promote collaboration • K-12 teachers overloaded with new re-certification requirements
Additional Barriers • HE faculty are reluctant to get involved without $$ and staffing assistance • HE faculty are frequently impatient with the level of startup effort in dealing with K-12 • Few mechanisms & incentives in place to educate K-12 teachers about the wealth of content resources available from HE
Successful Strategies • Working through HE programs focused on teacher preparation & development • Federal & state grant programs providing resources to “jointly” develop standards-aligned curriculum programs • Coordinated regional support centers that bring together HE, K-12 schools and technology providers to promote teacher prep, professional development and curriculum development
Successful Strategies Cont’d • One program provides teams of 2 teachers, 12 days of hands-on professional development, plus a full day symposium on network apps designed for teachers. • Over 80 schools have participated and the teams receive materials to deliver in-service workshops to their colleagues. • Research-based programs where HE faculty and K-12 teachers collaborate in studying learning outcomes & assessment
What hasn’t worked • Making content resources developed for HE available on the network with little education and support for K-12 • Trying to take successful “locally designed” community based programs and scale them beyond the local relationships that created them. • Attempting to implement state-wide programs that conflict with local school board politics and compete for local resources
Conclusions • Those strategies that have been successful are labor intensive, expensive and take time • Still haven’t resolved many of the barriers dealing with governance structures and home rule politics • Need new strategies and approaches for improving dialog and collaboration