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avec esprit - questions and answers |
Note: many of these questions are from teachers considering the avec esprit program in May - July 2003.
| How much does it cost to run the program? There are two costs. One is the $165 for each student - money put aside for when they provide the professional development for the teacher. The other is the time release and travel costs for the two one-day workshops. As both these costs are professional development costs, it may be that the LLEN will help fund it. If the students complete the four modules, will they get a certificate? Yes, a statement of attainment isissued by CDAEG when they complete the outcomes. Some assessment is done by the Project Manager/CDAEG, based on the tasks submitted online. Others are recorded by the teacher in the classroom, on assessment sheets provided by CDAEG. What will the research focus on? The research looks at the program running in a variety of settings, firstly to see if the personal skills we have identified are valid ones, and secondly to see if the program does in fact promote their development. You will probably be asked a few questions, your contribution will be as much or as little as you wish. What is the purpose of the case study? To have a well-documented record of what we set out to do; how we did it; and what we learnt. The Case Study will include the research findings as well as our collective experience, and will enable others to do similar things. As project manager that is part of my job, with input from those involved with the program - teachers and students. I don't have very good practical skills. How will I go with the design projects? Based on our experience, you will probably surprise yourself. While the projects require a lot of thinking, they are simple to create and don’t require special skills. The first PD day will dispel all your fears. Is a workshop and tools necessary for the design projects? No. You will need an oven with a clear door, a vacuum cleaner, and tables to work on. The only tools needed are scissors, paint brushes, a digital camera and maybe a Stanley knife. The rest is supplied. Can the students design projects of their own, or do they have to do one of the six? It is preferred that they select one of the six projects. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, it promotes workplace rather than school thinking, in that the choice is limited rather that open to individual preference. Secondly, all the materials are supplied for the six projects, eliminating the need for teachers looking for particular materials to suit each student. And besides, the focus of the design projects is on the development of creative thinking and the creation of an image to present to a review panel, not a major three dimensional model. What type of worksheets are suitable for the ICT project work? The most common ones are multiple choice tests for novels, maths tests, past exam papers and so on. Anything that the teacher uses each year that can be corrected by the computer is suitable. We have more students than teachers, so how can they each have a teacher to work with? The teacher doesn't have to be from your organisation. Primary and secondary teachers from other schools may be glad to have some of their worksheets prepared for online delivery, and be shown how to do more sheets. What happens to the work that teaches get the students to prepare for online delivery? Most join the many already on the CDAEG website. Some popular ones attract more than 100 responses each day from all over the world. Some, if the teacher prefers, will be for their own use not public access. Do we need to buy special programs for the ICT project work? No. The programs we use have been written especially for us, they are ‘open source’, meaning they are free for anyone who wants to use them. Where does the yacht trip fit into the program? It doesn't have to be a yacht trip. What is important, is that it represents 'new ground' experience - young people involved in something for the first time. New thinking responses are likely when faced with unfamiliar stimuli and environments. The trip also provides a reason for working together, and promotes collective and shared success rather than an individual score. I have been involved in student enterprise for over 20 years, and have found that when young people choose to earn the money first and then decide what to do with it, they don't earn much money nor get to travel. I use the trip as an engagement strategy, and it keeps them focused and committed. Would other trips like canoeing and hiking be just as good? I'm sure they would be. My preference is that the trip is seen as a reward, and it may be that lounging on the deck of a yacht has more appeal than sore arms, heavy packs and lots of exercise. I have taken young people canoeing and hiking, but I believe in the value of what I call 'tangible success', and being seen as successful. Instead of the kids in some remote place and seen only by serious outdoors people, they walk along the jetty and step aboard as though they own it. It is also important that the young people are involved in an activity that requires them to work together, to cooperate as a team - yachts don't go anywhere without people working together. We have students with special needs, do you see the program working for them? I don’t see why not. Nearly all the activities in the program came out of my work in primary schools – some of the best examples of creative design projects were produced by kids that hadn’t had much success at anything else. I have seen functionally illiterate young people persevere at getting novels read to them so they could write ‘how well did you read’ questions to prepare online tests. Took a long time, but they got there. You can imagine the sense of achievement when they got paid for showing teachers how they could do similar sheets. I believe there is a lot about the program that lends itself to the kids whose needs are special.
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