California Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT)

Spring 2003

Gen Y students develop technological fluency while learning how to share their knowledge with others. Each student is paired with a classroom teacher who needs help integrating technology into their practice. Each student/teacher team decides on a curriculum component or lesson to enhance with technology. Students learn about pedagogy and lesson plan design while developing their communication, planning and project management skills. The partner teacher receives support for their technology projects when and where they need it � in their classroom.

Generation YES (the publisher of Gen Y) supplies the comprehensive support system � training, curriculum materials, online tool suite, coaching and project evaluation throughout the entire term of the class. The Gen Y website offers a supportive learning community, complete with collaborative project planning and reporting tools.

Generation Y Features:
Scientifically-proven and research-based � 6 years of studies by the Northwest Regional Labs (NWREL) show improvement in student achievement, teacher understanding and use of technology and attitudes.

Recognized � Rated �exemplary� by the U.S. Department of Education expert panel in technology. Only 2 out of hundreds of extensively reviewed programs were given this rare rating.

Authentic project based learning for students � Extensive curriculum materials and online project management tools support rigorous projects. Grade and subject level experts work with every Gen Y student to provide feedback on their projects in order to ensure excellence. Every student/teacher project results in technology enhanced lessons aligned to content standards that teachers report using year after year.

Sustainable technology professional development support for teachers � teachers are supported with in-classroom resources to help them realize their technology potential, and to fulfill the educational goals of the school.

ISTE NETS technology standards alignment� Generation Y classes provide a rich, project-based learning experience while satisfying application skill standards. Generation Y exceeds these technology standards, but does not teach technology skills in a vacuum. Many students traditionally left out of technology classes (girls, non-math/science majors) do extremely well in Generation Y.

Immediate Return on Investment � For less than the cost of running a one-day workshop for 20 teachers, those same 20 teachers receive support to succeed in their technology initiatives all year long.

Reduce support costs - Professional development staff can focus on the big picture knowing that teachers will be supported in the classroom. The cost benefit is also realized by reducing your tech support costs. With students helping teachers with easily solvable problems, you will realize a lower demand on scarce technology support personnel.

Supports YOUR technology plan � Gen Y student projects can focus on any hardware or software initiatives of the school. For example, investing in new hardware, such as handhelds or laptops can be a huge initiative. Even with workshops for teachers, there may be a longer than anticipated ramp-up time to integrate new hardware into daily teaching. Gen Y student projects may be directed to setting up and supporting the new initiatives, and providing �just-in-time� help for teachers learning to setup hardware, create lessons, and provide the day to day troubleshooting that tends to stall new hardware projects. Harnessing the energy and ability of these students can take your technology dreams and turn them into achievable goals.

But for that same money, you also get a technology class that meets the ISTE NETS standards, gain a cadre of students who understand the school technology from an educational perspective, and a way to reduce your site-based support budget.

Self-sustaining after two years. Generation YES supports schools with intensive training and consulting services for the first two years of the program. After the second year, schools can sign up as "affiliate" Gen Y schools and maintain their status, continue to use the online tools and participate in the national network. This plan allows schools to incorporate the Gen Y model into their infrastructure without worrying about running out of money just as the investment starts to pay off.

The Gen Y program is one of the most well-researched in education technology. Not only have the results been proven, we have continually improved and updated the program based on the feedback from real schools. The resulting program combines curriculum and support that works in school settings from urban to rural and everything in between.

Northwest Regional Education Laboratory (NWREL) evaluation reports can be found here.

The Expert Panel on Educational Technology examined evaluation data from 134 programs to determine the effectiveness of each program. These program evaluation experts found only two exemplary programs � Generation Y was one. (Click to view evaluation report)

Test Score Improvement Data - Results of comparisons of math and reading scores for Gen Y and non-Gen Y students

Northwest Regional Education Laboratory (NWREL)
Seven years of data collected by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) from the nationwide Gen Y project indicate that the program is an effective alternative for schools wishing to integrate technology into their regular curriculum and increase their use of project-based, student-centered learning practices.

�Through this model, participating educators receive individualized support as they strengthen their use and integration of new technologies. Students learn technology, communication, collaboration, and project management skills in an authentic, personally meaningful context, and many go on to further extend their skills through advanced school or community service projects.�

NWREL - Overview of Generation www.Y

NWREL: Final Generation www.Y Project Evaluation

NWREL: Survey Data, 1998-2000

More than 10,000 teachers have received technology integration support from trained Gen Y students. Surveys done on these thousands of teachers reveal that they had overwhelmingly positive responses to the Gen Y program and believed it had an impact on the way they would teach in the future.

• 89% agreed that as a consequence of Gen Y, their students learned content better

• 97% would like to work with another Gen Y student next year

• 98% reported that as a consequence of Gen Y, they would continue rebuilding their lessons to make more use of technology

• 82% reported that the Gen Y experience would change the way they teach in the future.
  

US Department of Education - Expert Panel on Educational Technology
After an extensive 2 year evaluation of hundreds of educational technology models, an expert panel commissioned by the US Department of Education awarded Generation Y an "exemplary" rating. Only one of two models to receive this award, the panel praised Generation Y for it's unique, yet effective combination of vision, curriculum, and support.

"...substantial learning gains on the part of participating students."

"The format provides a model of project-based, authentic, student-centered, multidisciplinary teaching and learning enhanced by technology."

"... the course is supported with an array of resources (some online) for coordinating teachers that can be adapted for different school settings serving all populations using virtually any hardware/software infrastructure."

Full Report (HTML) (PDF version)

Generation Y Evaluation (HTML) (PDF version)

Home Page of Exemplary and Promising Educational Technology Programs

Test Score Improvement (NWREL)
Another NWREL study compared students’ standardized mathematics and language arts test results of those students who had taken the Gen Y class with those students who had not over a three period after the Gen Y students participated in the program. The following chart summarizes the data taken over a three-year period. These tests were based on Washington state standardized tests given to these students as part of the normal events during the year. (Gen Y students = 44, non-Gen Y = 328)

• Over the three years, Math scores of Gen Y students increased 22.7% compared to average increases of 11.1% for non-Gen Y students.
• Language arts scores of Gen Y students increased 6.8% compared to average increases of 5.6% for non-Gen Y students.
• Math score achievement for Gen Y students was significantly better [p < .01.], with less than a 1% chance that this difference could have occurred by chance.

Flexible and Cost Effective

Gen Y is most often run as a daily class in middle or high school as a semester long elective. In elementary school, Gen Y is most often run as a before or after-school program over the course of a year. As an alternative for middle and high schools, Gen Y can also be run as an after-school program.

The resulting community of technology users at the school site level can save the district technology budget for more important training and support needs. In addition, the long-term classroom-based support that teachers receive can serve to extend the value of existing professional development programs. The teachers get daily help with the technology from students, levering their numbers to help serve all teachers who need assistance.

Graduates of Gen Y classes often continue to provide assistance to teachers with technology needs. The investment in Gen Y classes results in steadily increasing amounts of support available for your school for no additional dollars.

Generation YES will provide the following services to California Gen Y schools as part of each Gen Y class license.

Year One:

Training and Program Start-up

• Hands-on training session for each Gen Y teacher. During this comprehensive training, the Gen Y teacher learns about the curriculum, website, and processes that can ensure success in their building. Strategies for recruiting students and partner teachers are dealt with. On-site training is provided if 5 or more schools are participating in the same training session. Two potential Gen Y students, along with school administrators, are also encouraged to attend this training session. Otherwise, training is provided by phone with simultaneous online access.
• Stakeholder brochures allow parents, partner teachers, and administrators to better understand the Gen Y model and their role in its success.
• Gen Y video. The video provides the Gen Y teacher a means to show colleagues, students and administration various aspects of the model.

Curriculum and Program Materials

• Complete Curriculum Guide for the Gen Y teacher. This 238-page guide provides the Gen Y teacher strategies for delivering a successful program and complete activities for ten units of study. Over 70 hours of classroom instruction with leveling activities The Guide aligns all technology skills learned by students to the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS).
• Gen Y teacher resource CD-ROM contains hundreds of information pages that can be used by Gen Y students. Best practice video clips from Gen Y teachers throughout the country give hints on how to succeed.
• Student materials. A Gen Y notebook and Student CD-ROM is provided to each Gen Y student (up to 30). The CD provides examples of exemplary Gen Y projects and the notebook provides space for teacher handouts and other resources.

Support for Full Term of Class

• The comprehensive Gen Y website provides extensive tools for the Gen Y teacher and students to complete their technology-infused professional development activity with their partner teacher. These tools include student journals, the Project Organizing and Reporting Tool (PORT), archives of thousands of already completed Gen Y projects, updated information pages and resources for each of the ten Gen Y Units of Study.
• Online Collaboration Network (OCN) provides Gen Y teachers and students throughout the nation with a bulletin board and listserv where a wide-variety of educational technology issues can be discussed. The OCN is monitored and open to only Gen Y students and teachers in Gen Y schools.
• Expert consultants provide detailed feedback to every submitted Gen Y proposal. Individualized consultation supports the student and partner teacher pair with expertise regarding technology integration, content standards, and assessment strategies. This feature has proven to be an effective way to provide guided learning opportunities to teachers based on their needs.
• A toll free number that the Gen Y teacher or their students can call to receive help. The Gen Y teachers and students can also e-mail Gen YES support staff.
• Built-in California performance standards on the Gen Y website enable teachers and students to align their projects to standards.

Program Evaluation and Results

• Annual evaluation report includes detailed quantitative and qualitative data, charts and interpretations clarifying the implementation and impact of the project. These reports provide information for administration, school board officials or others interested in seeing program results.
• National collaboration with like-minded schools. California schools become part of a national group of Gen Y schools that help each other provide support for teachers as they infuse technology into their curriculum.
• A Gen Y certificate of completion for each student completing the Gen Y class. The Certificate states all skills students have acquired which can help them on job and college entrance applications.
• Optional graduate college credit is offered for partner teachers who complete a project with their Gen Y student.

Year 2:

• All services included in year one except training and curriculum guide.
• Refresher training or additional curriculum guides are available at additional expense.

Year 3 and beyond: (Affiliate status - whole school):

• Full access to the Gen Y website
• Online Collaboration Network (OCN)
• A toll free number that the Gen Y teacher or their students can call to receive help. The Gen Y teachers and students can also e-mail Gen YES support staff.
• Built-in California performance standards on the Gen Y website enable teachers and students to align their projects to standards.

Focus on self-sustainability
Previous research has shown that two years are required in most schools for the Generation Y model to be thoroughly and properly implemented. For this reason the California EETT Competitive two-year timeline is perfect. At the end of the two-year period, there will be sufficient evidence and critical mass that the bulk of the extensive support services of Generation YES will no longer be required and California EETT schools can participate for an nominal affiliate yearly license fee ($150). The nominal fee allows continued participation in the network and full use of the online tools for the entire school. In addition, Gen Y students have access to the Generation YES network and online tools for life.

Pricing

Generation YES provides the following resources at the indicated costs:
To download this list as a Word document, click here

Note: Schools may need to budget for stipends for the teacher teaching the Gen Y class under certain conditions. Other budget items to consider may be pay and expenses for the Gen Y teacher to attend training, travel, and equipment and software for the Gen Y students to use.

Generation YES is led by Dr. Dennis Harper. Dr. Harper has been an international leader in the educational technology field for over 3 decades. He wrote the first college text on computer education, RUN: Computer Education while a faculty member at the University of California. Dr. Harper has taught in universities around the world and has been instrumental in bringing the first computers into schools in numerous countries.