NOTES:
- Registration
procedures are documented (or soon will be) on the Login/Registration Support
page: <www.genyes.org/entrance/registration.php>
- Preferably,
consultations between Gen www.Y students and their partner teachers should
be on-going throughout the project development process. The sooner they begin,
however, the better.
- Generation
www.Y teachers and/or partner teachers should monitor student's completion
of the on-line Project Organizing and Reporting Tool (PORT) for correct writing
conventions (spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, word usage, etc.),
as well as overall organization and alignment of project objectives, procedures
and assessment plan. The Class Management Utility enables Gen www.Y teachers
to review (and edit, if desired) individual project proposals. Further information
regarding Gen www.Y Technical Writing Standards can be found on-line at <genyes.org/genwwwy/curriculum/Writing_stds.htm>
Alternatively, students
can develop draft project descriptions using a word processing program. After
a teacher has reviewed and approved a given section of the draft proposal
(e.g., objectives, procedures, assessment plan), it can then be copied &
pasted into the on-line form.
-
Each Gen www.Y
student has access to 30 minutes of consulting time with content area specialists
with considerable technology experience. Students may request consultant assistance
or feedback at any time during the project development process, or they may
simply complete their project description, using the PORT, and request general
feedback on their proposed project.
- In
addition to responding to specific questions from students, Gen www.Y consultants
may also provide constructive feedback on (a) writing conventions; (b) organization
and alignment of project objectives, procedures and assessment plan; and (c)
ideas and content. They may also provide references to helpful resources and/or
suggestions for how a proposed project might be improved. For examples of
consultant feedback, go to <www.genyes.org/genwwwy/samples/>.
- Feedback
from Generation www.Y consultants is not intended to serve as an evaluative
tool for the Gen www.Y teacher. It is intended only to help students improve
their projects and/or the written description of their projects. In some cases,
a consultant may suggest to a student that additional work is needed on his
or her project description. Students are not required to respond to a consultant's
comments or suggestions, although they will hopefully review the feedback
with their Gen www.Y or partner-teacher. It is ultimately, however, the decision
of the Gen www.Y teacher as to whether a student should address a consultant's
recommendations.
- Development
of projects should occupy the bulk of Gen www.Y class time during approximately
the second half of the semester (for the semester version of the course),
though some class time will be spent introducing and teaching new technology
and pedagogical skills. Planning and managing this "balancing act"
between project work and instructional work is the challenge for Gen www.Y
teachers. Students should also expect to spend out-of-class time working on
their projects, particularly when it comes to meetings with partner-teachers.
The nature of the project and the preference of partner-teachers determines
whether a Gen www.Y student participates in the actual presentation of a project
to student in the partner-teachers's class. The preferred "Gen www.Y
Way" would be for the student and partner-teacher to co-present the project.
-
Near the end
of the course, students should revisit the PORT and their project description.
If they've not updated that description during the actual development of their
project, they may find that what they originally described is not exactly
how the project turned out.
Any necessary editing changes to the PORT should be made, and then students
should complete the Results section of their project description. If the project
has not actually been presented in their partner-teacher's class, they should
explain that in the Results section. As long as their Gen www.Y account remains
active, students can
return to the PORT and edit the Results sectioneven after the Gen www.Y
class has ended.
Once the project description has received its final editing, Gen www.Y editors
review the project description, evaluating it against the criteria of the
Gen www.Y Technical Writing Standards. If it meets those standards, it is
sent to the Gen www.Y Project Archives, accessible via the Gen www.Y Web site
to registered users. Particularly well written reports may be included in
the Exemplary Archive.
Project descriptions which do not meet Gen www.Y standards are returned to
students, who then have the opportunity to make corrections or editing changes
to their report. If students choose not to make such revisions, or those revisions
still do not meet Gen www.Y standards, their project description is archived
in a "private" section that is inaccessible from the Gen www.Y Web
site.
- End-of-term
activities include completion of post-surveys by Gen www.Y students, partner-teachers
and Gen www.Y teachers. The Gen www.Y Teacher Post-Survey is accessed via
a link on the teacher home page (also called the Class Management Utility).
Partner-teachers are automatically notified of their post-survey via an e-mail
message sent out by the Gen www.Y data system. Students link to their post-survey
from the PORT.